When Fahsion and Culture Collide

Many people may believe that fashion is only a necessity. I view it as one of the most creative way to express yourself. You do not have to speak the same language or share the same back ground to understand someone's fashion sense. It is a means of expressing your identity, your personality or your culture. Although people have so many different styles, fashion can mean a lot more than how you put an outfit together. It can tell a cultural story and history of your tradition and and your ethnic roots.

Though fashion changes constantly, some garments are more than just worn to make a statement, it is more than having clothes on your back. Some classic pieces remains with a culture and symbolizes and represents that culture. Even though fashion can symbolize a certain era, some fashion statements never fades and remains a part of that culture. A sombrero may represent the Mexican culture and a kimono is a representation of Japan. These were trends that created a long time ago, but remains in that culture til this day.

In my home country Cambodia, trend sending may not be what the country is most known for and may not be one of the fashion capitols of the world, but there lies a lot of culture and tradition in their fashion. There are pieces of traditional clothing that have been passed from generation to generations. One of the biggest time of the year when fashion and culture collide is during special occasions such as Cambodian new years and weddings. During Cambodian new years style is really big among women. One of the popular trends in my culture is called a Sampot.

One of the most popular sampot is called the Sampot Chang Kben. The Sampot Chang Kben  is a rectangular piece of cloth measuring 3 meters long and meters wide, this colorful, patterned, textile cloth were worn traditionally during special events. In earlier years, Cambodian fashion symbolized social status. Fashion was divided by the people’s differing position and social class. Traditionally hand woven dyed, with the use of natural colors from plants and minerals, the Sampot Chang Kben were representation of ranking. Before the twentieth century women of middle and upper class wore the sampot daily, while women of lower urban class and peasants wore a tube skirt called Sarong because they were too poor to afford the sampot. For my culture, the intricately made sampot represented social class and opportunity. It represented for those who were not ranked high enough or could not afford to wear them. After the practice of wearing the sampot daily died, today everyone of any class are able to wear them during special events.

My oldest sister, Angelina wearing some modern and older tradition styling of Cambodian clothing.

In Cambodia today, no matter your social status people dress up beautifully for special events like Cambodian new years, weddings, ceremonies and weekend trips to the temple. I am appreciative that myself and people who could not afford to wear them before share the same opportunity as me today. We are able to continue our tradition by dressing up in the sampot chang kben. 

 THE ANGKOR ERA:

The sampot chang kben trend dates back to the Angkor era. The sampot chang kben were commonly worn by Royal Ballet dancers who attended and serviced to the kings before the twentieth century.  Cambodian royal ballet consists of elaborately dressed dancers who use sets of gestures and poses to slowly and figuratively tell a story to entertain viewers. Dancers wore collar necklaces and unique skirts called Sampot Sarah Bhap made from silk woven together with gold or silver threads creating intricate designs and a shimmer effect when dancers perform. 

During the Angkor Era, Royal Ballet dancers wore the Sampot, it was one of the biggest props in helping them tell the story in their movements.

 Majority of the pieces are centered around the Sampot which is the skirt, the added pieces to the Sampot sometimes depends on the ocassion. There are some looks that are more modern that Cambodians wear to the temple and to weddings and there are the classic looks where the look first origanted from which is from the Angkor Era. 

WEDDING CLASSICS:

One outfit out of many during my sister's wedding.

 COLORS OF THE WEEK:

 
 During special occasions, women of Cambodia usually pick their sampot to match the traditional color for the day of the week an event is held.


Sunday- red


Monday- Orange


Tuesday- Violet


Wednesday- Greenish Yellow


Thursday- Green

Friday- Dark Blue

Saturday- Dark purple

It is wonderful to discover that fashion is more than what you put on your backs, it represents, culture, history, tradition and religion in my culture. There are meaning to the garment from the detail detail in how you wear down to the colors that you chose to wear. It is exciting to find that fashion goes deeper than being a necessity, but can also be  a means of story telling.