The Fashionistas of Phnom Penh

I (Leanne) have never been one to be real good or keen on fashion.  I am a jeans and T-shirt kinda gal, and here in Cambodia I am a capris and T-shirt kinda gal. I am the person who always wants to buy a scarf but doesn't because I don't really know how to wear it.  Matching and knowing what type of accessories seems harder to me than learning Khmer.

Here in Phnom Penh I have now grown to be somewhat ok with my somewhat ugly clothes too.  I find that my lack of knowledge or really care to look in style has been a blessing for me in Cambodia, because fashion here is even worse than my sense of it.

Unlike other Asian capitals (Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong) Phnom Penh is far from being noted as fashionable. Wealthy Cambodia deck themselves out in rhinestone covered mickey mouse sweaters and plastic heels paired with a "jegging" type of pants.  And those without the cash to buy the fake stones just wear their pajamas all day long.  To make it even better the matching collared, long-sleeve, pant set is always in either a cartoon print or some crazy hybrid floral-tidye pattern.  These women man their shop (usually which is in their home and they are selling anything from car parts, to tomatoes, to spatulas) never have the time, energy, or cash to care what trends are in or who is wearing what.

As much as I don't understand the cartoon printed clothes or the lack of desire to get out of pajamas, I kinda secretly love that fashion is non-existent here.  That I don't have to worry about what to wear, how I look, or really if I even match.  I kinda secretly love that when I wore a new skirt when we went out to dinner last weekend with some friends, the two other women said, "Leanne you look great tonight" for such a simple thing as a new skirt. It seems simple to me here.

Nonetheless, sometimes it is hard on Chris and I to feel not so put together as we head off to work, because we are used to dressing nice and professionally for our jobs.  However, in Cambodia that task seems hard to tackle when clothes quickly turn stained, smelly, stretched out, or just plain run ragged from the mass amount of sweat, dust, and mud that our clothes come in counter with each day.  It seems that no matter how hard we try each morning, we still never look that good.

Washing clothes is a whole other thing, as much as I love our house I hate that our washing machine doesn't have a center agitator.  Thus, I have come to the conclusion that I don't really think our clothes have been really cleaned in well... about 3 years.  But again this is nothing compared to the the millions who hand wash their clothes, or better yet the millions who don't have enough money to buy pants for their children, thus leaving them running around bottomless all day long. (Another thing I don't understand is why mothers choose shirts over pants when having to choose only one piece of clothing for their child.  Personally I would choose the opposite.)

All of this to say, I love the freedom of not knowing what is in style and what is not.  All we ever know is what we see in the markets, which usually is the faulty Old Navy clothes that weren't allowed to be shipped to the States.  But I'll take it, after all I love Old Navy, and I get even better deals out here than the clearance section in Colorado Mills.

What do you like more the animal prints, cartoons, florals, or PJ sets?

And in honor of getting my hair cut today (love the $4 cost) here is an example of a Khmer barber shop in the city, and then the one we found today outside the city on our bike ride.