AsiaLIFE

Shopping is getting serious on Phnom Penh’s Sihanouk Boulevard. Clive Graham-Ranger browses the city’s premier fashion avenue, now home to a number of international brands. Photo by Conor Wall.

A stroll through Central, Russian and Orussey Markets or escalator rides at the Sorya Shopping Centre will lead you to more faux designer labels than you can shake a stick at.

In the rag trade it’s known as “cabbage”— a term that covers pretty well everything from knock-offs and rejected seconds to run-ons from a manufacturing line. It’s cheap, chic and runs the risk of falling apart after a few days and nights of use.

Flash the cash or plastic on sections of Sihanouk Boulevard, and you’ll walk out with something more in your shopping bags. More a dusty, four-lane city highway than chi-chi Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, it’s nevertheless the coveted address of international brands such as VNC, Eclipse, Axara Paris, Mango, Miro, and Pedro.

Potent signs of Cambodia’s newfound affluence, these shops have become the favourite parking spots for the Lexus, Mercedes and BMW set’s chauffeurs.

Local Context
Ly Souden, the 24-year-old Cambodian marketing manager of the Sovereign Retail Group that imports from Malaysia, France and Spain, says he spends about ten percent of the company’s US$100,000 advertising and publicity budget. That’s serious money in a business wholly dependent on second-guessing a woman’s quixotic whim and where a buyer’s bad judgment call can wipe out half a year’s profit in a second.

“Five years ago, out of every 10 customers, nine were high-class and rich Khmers,” says Ly. “Today, it’s seven out of 10. More people want to stand out from the crowd [by] wearing a combination of top quality, great fabrics and the unmistakable stamp of an international design house.”

In a country that has but two seasons— wet and dry—Ly says his buyers attending the catwalk shows in Europe and Asia tend to concentrate on spring and autumn lines. Colour also plays an important role in their selections.

“Our older clients go for brown, black and white while the younger ones prefer bright bold colours,” says Ly. “So we stock the full range of choices.”

With prices starting at about US$30 for a clutch bag, plastic is a necessary accessory for the serious shopper.

Dress to Impress
Across the street at number 90, New Collection is the polished steel and glass domain of Jayce Lim, Singaporean operations manager. Up several flights of black marble stairs between black marble walls, shop assistants in black move softly between neat rows of shirts and slacks, knickers and socks, and pullovers and scarves in a tidal wave of Technicolor menswear and ladies fashion.

Under his critical eye, Lim’s company’s supervisors and marketeers, brand managers, sales strategists and display and buying teams immerse themselves in the quality and strengths of the product ranges on offer.

“It is my responsibility to make sure our staff on the shop floor and in our offices have a complete understanding of the products we sell, from handkerchiefs to handbags, clutch bags to US$800 Delsey luggage,” says Lim.

“What you wear says a lot about you,” adds Lim. “For our clientele of upwardly mobile and established men and women in their twenties, thirties and forties, they believe that how they look is who they are.”

It doesn’t come cheap in this Tower of retail Babel. A Hechter shirt will set you back US$72, pants cost US$64, socks are US$16 and Cardin pullovers around the US$40 mark. The shoes start at about US$40 for a pair of casual pumps to more than US$100 for the designer high heels that stilt-walking fashionistas love so much.

“The money is in the quality of the cut, the fineness of the stitching, the softness of the material and the snugness of the fit,” Lim explains. “The label is the reason behind all that. The branding reassures buyers and guarantees an exclusive product.”

Textile Luxury
Like London’s Bond Street, Paris’s La Rive Gauche and Milano’s Quadriatero, Sihanouk Boulevard’s reputation is about to attract “haute texturist” Eric Raisina.

He will soon be launching a location at No. 28, including Phnom Penh among his showroom-bearing cities of Turin, Paris, Shanghai, Johannesburg and New Canaan.

A textile and fashion master born in Madagascar, Raisina has added his own twist of upmarket spice to the fashion scene in Siem Reap through a shop at the FCC Angkor and his Villa Boutique Workshop in Kok Chork.

His “feel the quality” textiles have graced fashion week runways around the world and been at the heart of collections by such virtuosos as Yves St Laurent and Christian Lacroix.

His brand, says Raisina, “is about [using] unique textiles to create a different collection and accessories. My customers like to have an exclusivity of texture and colour. They always like to have something different, because Phnom Penh is not big. It is a huge challenge, but at the same time it’s a very unique experience.”