Cambodia: The Next Paris?

Cambodia has long been known for its temples, such as Angkor Wat, but soon it may be at least as famous for temples of fashion — like the fabulous Ambre.

The two-story colonial house with the graceful wrought-iron windows on a leafy Phnom Penh street is the atelier and boutique of Romyda Keth, perhaps Cambodia's high priestess of fashion. Keth's feminine designs in trendy shapes — in Cambodian silk with embroidery — are so coveted that women go through considerable effort just to own one.

"We often have women falling in love with one of her dresses that we only have one of and we have to get them taken in by a dressmaker," said Liette McKerras, owner of New Zealand's Posh Fashion boutique, which stocks a small collection of Keth's designs.

Yes, in the land perhaps best known for the mass-produced garments it exports from some 200 factories (even in a restaurant in the remote floating village of Tonle Sap, clothing is displayed for sale on Old Navy hangers), it's now possible to find high-end, high fashion. In the sometimes still uneasy peace, designers are creating beautiful clothes — not to mention jobs and stability for local craftspeople.

Keth, 42, is a native Cambodian. She left her homeland in 1973, two years before the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime came to power and devastated the country. She studied design in Paris, and at 19, began creating her own collections, showing them in a small boutique. She quickly developed a loyal following of French glitterati, including actress Carole Bouquet, the former wife of Gerard Depardieu.

In 1994, she returned to Cambodia with her husband — a French biologist who'd fallen in love with the country — and four children.

"There were coup d'etats every six months," she remembered. "I was miserable."

She slowly discovered the local embroidery and silk weaving, which soon became defining elements of her designs. For several years, she shipped her work to Paris instead of selling locally. But in 1999 — encouraged by friends — she decided to open her first boutique in Phnom Penh.

"It was a challenge since there was still so much to do in the country," Keth said. "At the end of the 1990s there was still an obvious need for reconstruction at all levels but I felt that there was also an unspoken desire from both the Cambodia and expatriate female community to have a place of their own where they could find elegant dresses."

One of the challenges: the country’s wartime legacy of unskilled labor. Keth had to train all her staff personally to work to the standard she required. Currently, she employs 40 seamstresses.

Now, she says, she finds the working environment in Cambodia preferable in some ways.

"It's much easier here. In Paris, everything is difficult. You run everywhere, you spend half of your day in the car because of the traffic, it's very frustrating — and of course, it's very expensive," she said.

Eric Raisina

There are only a handful of temples off the conventional Cambodian tourist trek in Siem Reap, and Eric Raisina’s workshop — in a wooden house in an empty field outside the city — is fast becoming one of them. (And not just because the view includes temples of the postcard-variety.)

Tourists make the trek to see the French-trained, Madagascar-born couturier's fantastical creations, including "silk fur," a special heavy silk fabric he created — and of which no less than Yves Saint Laurent was a fan. It takes a day to weave just 25 centimeters of the fabric, Raisina says, and fans pay upwards of $1,000 for the privilege of wearing a silk-fur scarf.

Raisina, 40, first visited Cambodia in 1996.

"As soon as I arrived in Siem Reap, I felt a lot of energy in the city, probably for the amazing temples," Raisina said. "The energy made me feel very inspired and very good."

Soon he began consulting for Artisans d'Angkor, a nonprofit that encourages local artisans. He spent two months on the organization's silk farm, learning about the handwork done on traditional wooden machines. The next year, he took a collection — partially inspired by his time in Cambodia — to Christian Lacroix in Paris. A bustier he sold to Lacroix paid for his plane ticket back to Cambodia.

He set up a workroom and atelier on the outskirts of Siem Reap, employing two dozen Khmer. Paris kept calling. In 1999, Raisina sold 140 of his silk-fur stoles (the silk fur was inspired by traditional Khmer dress) and 15 meters of fabric to Yves Saint Laurent.

Now he designs everything from skirts to hats, using silk from Cambodia, linen from Latvia, and a special raffia material crocheted from palm trees in Madagascar, his homeland. His designs often feature the traditional Cambodian ikat style of weaving.

Sylvain Lim

Sylvain Lim began his career as a classical Khmer dancer — a career which ended when he fled Cambodia's political turmoil for Paris in 1972.

He studied fashion, then worked for Pierre Balmain and then Guy Laroche. For 12 years, he designed a French fashion line called Chacok, then in 1997, struck out on his own.

Lim, 57, first returned to Cambodia in 1994 to put on a fashion show for the Cambodian Red Cross. But he didn't return for good until 2000, when, he says, he was drawn by a sense of mission. He wanted to "give my ideas for silk and fashion" to do his part in helping to rebuild the country.

With his son, he opened an atelier for his sharply tailored, classic clothes. In a minimalist space on the ground floor of his house in Phnom Penh, he displays samples of his simple, well-cut clothes — then tailors them to size once the customer has chosen. He also designs a much more elaborate haute couture line, featuring Cambodian silk and intricate embroidery.

Though he struggles at times with the uneven quality of Cambodian materials, Lim appreciates the possibilities the country presents for his designs. He finds inspiration in traditional Cambodian craft — and he loves the hand-finished detail he has the time and money to use.

Lim doesn't just want to create clothes, though. He wants to create a legacy of designers.

"My dream," he said, "is to start a fashion school here."

(Front photo of Angkor Wat temple courtesy of ScubaBeer via Flickr. Photos of Romyda Keth designs from Rouge Boutique and Ambre.)