Fashion show 2021

Bunmeang Seng was born and raised in Cambodia and got trained as a tailor. Afterward, he studied fashion design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava and the Chanapatana International Design Institute in Bangkok where he received his Diploma. Bunmeang Seng’s designs are characterized by a great interest in silhouettes. In recent years, he has increasingly become a storyteller. His work is a search for traces of history that have inscribed themselves in the presence of his generation - more than 30 years after the Khmer Rouge regime came to an end.

In his new collection “Beauty is a liberation from suffering” Seng was inspired by the Royal Classical Dance - which is also dedicated to the shaping of silhouettes with their cutting lines, folds, and pleats. These create the illusion of movement in the collection. Seng sees the dance as a speechless possibility for healing from the past. The body expresses a comforting beauty and opens the view to a great future.
At the same time, the collection echoes sorrowful violence and fighting spirit, represented by the military details and the black rough fabric from the dark period of the country. Stunningly, Seng turned this into a magnificent creation. He used natural hand-woven cotton and bamboo made by the Cambodian Villagers and painted a picture of a contradictory present in which pain and beauty are in permanent interplay.

In Seng’s world art has the power to heal.
‘’Yet, Beauty is the most resilient thing. Beauty has this ability to grow anywhere and everywhere at any time. Beauty is a liberation from suffering.’’ - Prumsodun Ok.

Solinda Srey is a dreamer, she came a long way to find her long-lost passion for fashion and design, after taking a break from her 10 years carrier in the telecoms industry.

Her bag collection ” CAN-V “ is inspired by the shape of cans. She used day-to-day waste created by us like car tires, cement sacks, can cut details, and our pure hand-woven cotton Ikat. Each bag was made by the Cambodian local productions, who support disabled people in the community. Each bag is made with meticulous attention to detail and complements each other to complete her collection. All parts end up together forming a functional product again and creating a new piece of art.

She believes the reuse of non-disposable objects could reduce our waste, which would normally end up polluting the environment and our surrounded life.
Solinda hopes the message from her bag collection could reach everyone, to remind us that together we can build a more sustainable future for us and our next generation.

Madyna Men is 24 years old and studies interior design. But she is also interested in fashion. She was very surprised when she got selected to participate in this year’s MEDC program. Through the program, she learned a lot of new things, gained experiences, and had the chance to get to know a lot of new people.

Her bag collection „Angkorian Jewelry“ was inspired by ancient jewelry. The reason she chose jewelry in the Angkorian period ( 802-1431) is that she finds them very fascinating in their embellished structure engraved on the rings, earrings, bracelets, necklace, and lots more. Their design is kind of simple yet very elegant and powerful. Normally these kinds of jewelry are only worn by kings and queens. But nowadays some Cambodian people also wear Angkorian-inspired jewelry at some special occasions such as weddings. But of course, it is not usual to see people wearing ancient jewelry as it is very expensive and rare to find.

In her collection, Madyna only used naturally dyed and hand-woven cotton fabric, which supports poor and unemployed Cambodian women to encourage their work and to provide them a job, to support their families. The small details and accessories are made out of wood, which was hand-carved in Cambodia. The shape of the bags and the wooden details were inspired by the unique shapes of ancient Angkorian jewelry.
The intention of her collection is to give every person the chance to carry a small piece of Cambodian history and to also be able to wear and feel powerful like a royal.

Nary Vann is a Cambodian fashion designer who founded „Princess Atelier“ back in 2007. Her brand specializes in traditional costume-made gowns, but she also provides ready-to-wear looks.

Her collection “Save the Reefs“ is inspired by the bleaching corals that are slowly losing their colors while dying. Over the years, coral reefs have been subjected to a variety of stresses, including pollution, overfishing, and of course, the ongoing climate change. This has resulted in water temperatures rising, and corals around the world dying off. A world without corals will be a world in which we have a less diverse, functional, and beautiful ocean, and an accelerated climate change!

The collection is made from 100% locally hand-woven cotton fabrics, making it soft and comfortable. Furthermore, it has no negative effects on the environment, the people producing or the people wearing it.
By supporting this collection, you are also supporting women in rural areas, providing them with a reasonable income. Nary hopes that “Save the Reef” will raise awareness about the endangered coral reefs and inspire people to act more responsibly in order to save the environment before it is too late.

The bedtime story would go by a life of her mother’s early career as a tailor that she loved making clothes but never wanted her daughter to be one for the sake of a better future career. But there is always a little passion inside her daughter, and it’s getting stronger as time went on. So one day the daughter decided to show herself as the Black Swan, which no one expected to exist until it was discovered in 1697. Not only being a Black Swan but also the universal experience of a global pandemic was the greatest inspiration for that little daughter and also debuting designer, Thina Touch.

She unexpectedly got the chance to nurture her passion for fashion design and equally presented the serendipitous journey of life during the pandemic with her very first collection - The UnExpected -.

Her bag collection, which consists of 8 different bags, is made from local, hand-woven, and natural Khmer fabrics combined with recycled rice bags, adding the message of how we can turn everyday overlooked treasures into sustainable ways of design. In relation to the unexpected, we need to realize, value, and protect our environment and all that is given to us.

Channida Dy is a designer with great craftsmanship of over 10 years of experience in making luxurious, elegant, and traditional clothes. Her passion for fashion led her to pursue her career as a designer even further, improve her skills and broaden her creative horizon.

Her collection „Sound of Angkor“ is inspired by an instrument that was used during the Angkorian era. A large shoulder drum with a flat circular shape, an instrument that was used as a way opener to remove unwanted spirit in the Hindu ceremony. The significant shape and role of this drum have been the main inspiration for her collection. The drum was reinvented as a space that could be filled with everyday items instead of being hollow inside.
A strong line of a gold zipper embodies the boundaries between the drum skin and its wooden body, where it meets. The colors of her collection also revolve around the colors of the drum from brown (wood) towards skin tone.

The materials chosen are all sustainable, such as hand-woven cotton and a blend of cotton and bamboo, as well as the buttons made from coconut shells.
The drum plays a significant role in the ceremony as it projects the loudest sound. Just like the magnificent drum, the collection gives the wearer elegance and a strong and dominant appearance.

As a full-time mother of two young daughters, Sokunthea Bun has found her path in the fashion industry. Starting from taking short courses in fashion design class to participating in MEDC project. She has learned a lot in managing her time between being a housewife, mother and pursuing her dream of becoming a fashion designer.
Completing a whole process of producing 16 pieces of her “Peace of Mind” collection is considered her first big achievement she has been proud of.

The “Peace of Mind” collection is inspired by Buddhist Monk’s clothing. From pleats, gathering, wrapping, to patchwork are extracted from the technique that has been used in making the monk’s robe. The style of off-theshoulder tops, waistbelts, loose fit, and big-sized sleeves are the main parts of her collection. The mood she wants to represent is quite warm and calm, which is related to the monk’s spirit.
The collection is made from locally hand-woven and naturally dyed fabrics from the Cambodian talented villagers in Takeo province. The collection supports the women working group in the Goel Community by working hand in hand in making clothes who are mostly housewives working hard to support their families.

Her collection conveys a simple message of serenity and quotes the clothing and way of living of the Buddhist monks. The belief to choose simplicity and serenity over complexity and ornateness.

Ousaphea Kak is a Cambodian fashion designer who is 23 years old. His obsession with Cambodian mythology is the reason for his unique thinking. Since he was young, he has been told by the older generation that Khmer people are blood-related to the Naga. The reason was that the first ruler of Cambodia is a "Nagini (Female Naga)", whose name was "princess Sao Ma". She was a seven-headed Naga who is responsible for the first generation of Khmer people.The legendary tale of the Naga pass down from generation to generation, and their relationship is a beautiful mystery.

Ousapheas collection "Nagini" is inspired by the interaction between the Naga and the human in daily activities including fishing, farming, and beliefs. The main color of his collection is green, which is the color of nature and also the main theme of Naga when it comes to their common skin color, and the environment “Ba Dal” (Naga Dimension) they live in.
This collection focuses on the Cambodian traditional hand-woven fabric „Ikat", which has been used for many years. Mixed with textured and naturally dyed green fabric, that represents the beauty of Cambodia's nature.

Our young fashion designer, Rathida Lim, had an eye for fashion since her childhood. Growing up in a family that operates fashion-related businesses, she has always had a burning desire for creating beautiful things. Her dream is to create not only beautiful masterpieces but those pieces must be environmentally friendly too. To fulfill her dream, Rathida decided to enroll at MEDC, this is where her journey in the fashion realm began.

During her participation at MEDC, Rathida has created her first bag collection known as “The untold beauty”. This collection is inspired by the Pailin Peacock Dance, a long-standing legacy from the Kola ethnic group, who live in the region of Pailin, the only place in Cambodia where peacocks live. In Cambodia, peacocks are well-known for their beauty and they are also a symbol of happiness.
As the name says it all, the designer believes that beauty is inside-out, so not only that each piece of her collection was made with diligence and detail, it was also made with eco-friendly materials such as Ikat fabric, handwoven cotton, and bamboo.

Rathida believes that, in our contemporary world, it is quite common for everyone to experience self-doubt, depression and easily lose self-confidence. Her collection will serve as a reminder that, just like a peacock, your beauty is multiplied when you spread your wings and show the world who you are.
Every peacock feather is flawed but collectively they create a beautiful masterpiece. “Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.”

From a very young age, our designer Pengsung Pav started to design clothes in his free time. He loves to design women's clothes but unfortunately, he could not pursue his passion due to surrounding factors. After high school, he decided to follow his dreams and went on to study fashion design.
A few months later he saw the opportunity to take part in this year's MEDC program. As he is still at the start of his designer career this is his first time designing what he loves and making it a reality.

Pengsungs’s bag collection „The glow of sharpness“ is inspired by the sad feeling inside of him. In most of his bags, you can see the different shapes that are like broken objects, like weapons that can crush any time. He wants to communicate the pain and suffering of feeling like a broken object like something is missing and one is incomplete.

Pengsung has created this collection, which is made from locally hand-woven cotton, to empower others that feel like him. He wants the person, which is wearing his bags, to feel strong and confident. He wants them to use his „broken pieces“ and „weapons“ to be strong enough to overcome any challenges that are put in one's way.
He believes that by conquering pain we grow stronger. And everything that you encounter on your path will prepare you for the future.

Sopheavy Pheap (Wee) is a former Humanity NGO staff, who had to quit her job to take care of her newborn son. Without knowing anything about motherhood she was overwhelmed and ended up being diagnosed with a mental illness. To recover from this nightmare, she kept asking herself “What do you want to do with your life? What is your passion?“. One day she learned how to make beautiful Jasmin flower strings and how to fold Lotus flowers. While making the beautiful flower arrangements she fell in love with creating. She asked herself: ”Why don’t you design something to makes you feel calm and relieved?“
Just 2 days later she made the decision to enroll at a fashion vocational training center (the MaPa academy), she went on to continue as a participant in this year’s MEDC program. She, fortunately, is now mentally in a healthy space and could create her first 16 pieces garment collection.

Her collection „From plant to fabric“ is dedicated to the sustainable hippie lifestyle. To be at peace with nature, creativity, and freedom letting yourself feel free and full of energy. For her collection, she used unique hand-woven Ikat and pure cotton fabrics with naturally dyed colors. Inspired by the authenticity of her fabrics, she used circle-cut flat patterns to create garments with genuine features that embody the idea of ageless designs.

Her message is to live your life whichever way you want and to do everything you want to do as long as you don’t harm others or the environment.

Sokthen Sao is a professional Make-up artist with more than 6 years of experience. Since his younger age, he has always dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. He is very happy to be part of this year's MEDC program, which gave him the opportunity to learn more about fashion and sustainability.

His collection “MOTHER OF LITERATURE” is inspired by the Khmer alphabet and literature. He decided to use the Khmer letters and the magical drawing „YOAN“ as his inspiration because he wanted to show the greatness of it. Khmer literature is a national identity and the legacy is thousands of years old, inscribed on numerous inscriptions at temples that have been preserved and protected by generations of Cambodian ancestors to this day. The magical drawing „YOAN“ comes from a combination of different literature and „YOAN“ signs.
The Word “ eម “, which is in the middle of the magical drawing, means „The head“ or „The leader“ in Khmer language, and stands for a woman. The two circles represent a man and a woman and the four signs around the circles illustrate the four sublime states of Buddhism: Metta, Karuna, Mudita, and Upekka.

Metta: Love or Loving-kindness.
Karuna: Compassion
Mudita: Sympathetic Joy
Upekka: Equanimity

His intention is to promote, learning about reading, writing, listening, and researching the Khmer history. He also implements the number 33 in his collection, because the Khmer alphabet has 33 (thirty-three) consonant characters. He chose to use the color gray, which stands for infinity and timelessness, and the color brown as a symbol of humanity. His collection is made of locally hand-woven cotton, bamboo, and ikat fabrics. By buying this collection you support the great handicraft of Cambodian people with disabilities and poor women and help them to provide a job and encouragement.

Panha Sok is a Cambodian fashion designer who has established the local Clothing Brand „Ghechie“. She got a Bachelor degree in fashion design at the Phnom Penh international institute of the arts. Her designs focus on women’s wear such as evening dresses, ready-to-wear clothes and uniforms. „Ghechie“ also provides unique, customized designs.

Her „Sbek Thom“ Bag Collection was inspired by Cambodia shadow theatre ( Khmer - IPA: [lkhaon nan sbaek], Lakhaon Nang Sbek). “Sbek” meaning Leather in Khmer. „Sbaek Thom“ is a considerable ancient art of Cambodia, that contains traditions and art values which is a sacred art and deeply rooted in Khmer society since the Angkorian period. Nowadays this performance and art are almost forgotten by the majority, especially by Cambodian people because the theaters rarely show any performances. Therefore she would like to conserve this wonderful historical art by bringing this concept into her bags collection.

The materials which have been used are leftovers of cowhide leather and naturally dyed hand-woven cotton fabric. The shapes of the bags are also inspired by different temple walls, which have a lot of beautiful carvings on them. The main color of her collection is red, which was inspired by the fire used to create the shadow plays. Because the shadow theatre performance traditionally takes place outdoors at night with a large white background, which is held between two big bamboo sticks in front of a large fire. The shadows of the puppet’s silhouettes are projected onto the white screen. The animators bring the puppets to life with precise and rehearsed dance steps.
She hopes this collection will make people feel confident and proud carrying the design of our oldest traditional arts into the future.

Sengoudom Soung is a banker who is passionate about fashion design and does his best to catch up with his dream of becoming a designer. In 2016 he studied as a tailor at Scarlet Tailor Shop. After that, he worked a part-time job as a tailor in a tailor shop in Phnom Penh. Two years later, he graduated in fashion design at the Mapa Fashion Design Academy. Recently he participated in this year's MEDC program.

His collection “Water Lily” is inspired by a kind of plant that can grow in dirty soil or mud but provides a very beautiful flower, called Water lily. This collection is talking about human values regardless of their origin. All people are beautiful and special, just like a Water lily. Sengoudom used naturally dyed and hand-woven cotton fabrics that are woven locally in Cambodia by unemployed housewives or people with disabilities to help them earn some money to support their children and families.

His collection consists of many floral details that have been cut out of different fabrics and applied to his designs in a creative way.
The details should represent the water lily and always encourage and remind the wearer that you can achieve anything no matter where you come from and that every person is unique in their own way.