[PHNOM PENH POST]
Cambodian youth continues to embrace South Korean fashion at a
frightening pace. But just what is it that allures the Kingdom’s
youngsters to the style?
FTER the heavy curtains are pushed aside, loud music assaults the ears
and a world of freedom and flirtation welcomes customers into its midst.
It is a planet solely populated by teenaged inhabitants, many of whom
have told their parents they are at school. Some slouch on deep sofas,
entwined in one another’s passionate embrace, some stand at the bar
smoking, others sip alcoholic beverages while eying members of the
opposite sex. As the first electronic beats of a song by South Korean
girl band 2NE1 roll from the speakers, most of the teenagers rush the
dancefloor, shimmying passionately. The time is 4pm, on a Sunday
afternoon. Welcome to Free World Club at Pencil shopping centre; the
place to be for young Korean style addicts.
One girl leaves the
bump and grind of the dancefloor temporarily, stepping outside for some
fresh air. Her style is particularly studied: long auburn hair, brown
contact lenses and glossy pink lipstick are set against a short purple
dress and fur-trimmed cardigan, while her long, slim legs teeter on
stilettos.
Nine has been interested in Korean fashion for about
one year, largely because of Korean music. Her K-pop favourites include
Girls’ Generation and Kara, both bands that trade on attractive young
women singing and dancing to pop music containing a mixture of Korean
and English lyrics.
“Everybody wants to be Korean because they have large eyes, clear skin and beautiful hair,” says Nine.
The
slim 19-year-old buys the majority of her clothing here at Pencil
shopping centre on Street 214. The mall is dotted with small shops in
thrall to Korean style and Dee, the owner of Honey Shop, is a mirror
image of most of his dedicated customers.
Dee breaks down the
basics of the Korean look: men should wear skinny jeans with a gaudy
T-shirt or shirt and a slim jacket in denim or leather to add a
rock’n’roll touch. Colourful sneakers and big sports bags complete the
look, along with an optional cap. The haircut is essential – a lock of
hair covering one eye, and the colour is ideally either red or blonde.
Women
can wear shorts or dresses, the shorter the better, and accessories are
a must: plastic jewellery, big watches, bug-eye glasses and hair bands
are the order of the day. For feet, high heels are standard, while
wearing the same sneakers as the guys heralds a hip-hop bent. Kitschy
designs in fancy colours should adorn manicured fingernails and, once
again, the hair warrants special attention. Some have a short, edgy cut
but most wear it long, either ironed straight, crimped, layered or
curled. Vanity contact lenses in green, grey or blue are the finishing
touch and cost $4.
A dress costs about $20 at Pencil;
significantly more than at most markets. At a shop known as Li Da
Collection, skinny jeans go for $12 and trainers about $10. All of the
clothes sold here come from Thailand or China. Nothing is actually
sourced from South Korea; it is too expensive to import.
Nana, a
friend of Dee, strolls around the shopping centre as she explains: “The
owners of the shops say that [the stock] comes from Korea but it comes
from Thailand. If you say that [it comes from Korea], you can make
prices higher.”
The cost of this particular sartorial fixation
brings its own problems. A complete outfit purchased at Pencil would
cost at least $50. “You have to be rich if you want to be fashionable.
It’s more a fashion for the middle class,” confirms Dee.
One area
of Korean style which doesn’t provide a sharp burn to the pockets of
its disciples is the haircuts. Most successful salons have
word-of-mouth, circulated by the cognoscenti, to thank for that success.
Korean
Style Hairdresser, located on Kampuchea Krom, is one such
establishment. The little pink shop is ably manned by its owner, Kea
Seyha, 28, who is well-known for his magical scissorship and bargain $2
prices. Kea Seyha learned the key tricks to his trade during a six-month
stint in Thailand alongside a Korean hairdresser.
“I create the
styles by myself,” he says, while continuing to cut the hair of a
customer. “I find inspiration on TV, or in publications like Ray, a
famous Thai magazine, or the Japanese magazine My Idol.”
Ca Di,
already sporting a Korean haircut, sits patiently while Kea Seyha snips
away. “[At this salon] It’s very Korean. I like K-style,” he says. “I
don’t know why I like it, maybe because the most famous people now in
Asia are Korean.”
There are also fans that live their passion secretly, like Sophea, 21, a student at Pannasastra University.
“For
me it’s forbidden to be dressed like that, and I’m not allowed to go
out very much,” she says during a break from dancing at Free World Club.
“My parents disagree with the young generation’s style. They say we
just follow foreigners.”
While some Khmer families view Korean
fashion with suspicion, there are those who embrace it. Chen Kim Houy,
45, is a case in point. Her daughter, Chen Li Da, 21, runs a shop at
Pencil and is bedecked in a short flower-print dress and heels.
“I
am happy that my daughter is modern,” says Chen Kim Houy proudly. “I
leave her to do what she wants, her father does too, and nobody says
anything in the family. [Her] clothes can be in the Korean style but [in
other ways] she stays Cambodian.”
Hallyu – the Korean wave of
entertainment – swept Cambodia three years ago, driven by the media. The
2009 launch of television channel My TV, a subsidiary of the Cambodian
Television Network (CTN), gave the movement a significant boost. It
devotes 80 percent of airtime to Korean content.
For Youk Chhang,
director of the Cambodian Documentation Centre, this issue has to be
considered in light of Cambodia’s recent past.
“They [young
people] like Korean style but they don’t know why; it’s true. They don’t
have another choice. There is a lack of options. There was no style in
Cambodia for the last 30 years, no design school, no fashion,” he says.
“They don’t need to be blonde and white to be beautiful, they don’t
realise that they are already beautiful”.
With the influence of
hallyu growing all over the world, but largely in Asia, there seems to
be no stopping the spread of Korean style. Angelia Teo, content director
of WGSN Pacific, a fashion trend-analysis and research service, says
the future will be influenced by a “superhybridity of subcultures” not
just in Cambodia, but all over the world.
“In other words, it is a
new fusion and one that is facilitated by conversations occurring
between nations such as Korea and Cambodia. We see Asia rising as a
powerhouse in this scenario and really informing aesthetics, design and
fashion,” she says.
The Cambodia Fashion Council (CFC), however,
is keen for Cambodia to assert itself on the global stage eventually. It
is one of the few organisations pushing the Kingdom towards embracing
its own unique voice in the fashion industry.
“Korean fashion in
Cambodia is just copying. They see, they like, they imitate,” says
Haniz Yasin, secretary general of the CFC. “Imitation is not good,
because fashion is all about your own personality.
“This is a big
issue. There are new designers in Cambodia. Our work is to incubate the
next generation who try to create fashion. It’s just the beginning, it
will take time.”
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