As Cambodia Fashion Week draws to a close on Sunday, one person who’ll be celebrating is Sapor Rendall, founder of the Sapor Modeling Agency, which has supplied Fashion Week’s organisers with up to twenty models a night to strut down runways dressed in everything from lampshade headpieces to elegant silk evening gowns.

Speaking on the sidelines of a poolside show by Jasmine Boutique at the Raffles Le Royal Hotel on Tuesday, Rendall told the Phnom Penh Post that she hopes the increasingly large audiences attending each Fashion Week show, will lead to  people becoming more aware of her modelling agency’s work.

“I’ve been impressed at the size of the audience tonight, I think it’s because from one event to another, Fashion Week has something awesome to show people,” she said.

Rendall, who herself worked the catwalk in a silk evening dress on Tuesday, along with 13 of her models, said she especially enjoyed wearing Jasmine Boutique’s women’s wear due to its bright textures and comfortable feel.

“Clothes made from silk are normally hard and hot. But the designers made those clothes soft and cool enough. I feel more comfortable with these silk clothes than in any silk clothes I have worn before.

“I think people can buy them and wear them in the hot season too,” she said, adding that Jasmine Boutique’s design style suited both Cambodian and Western tastes.  

Prior to them taking part in Fashion Week, Sapor said she intensively coached 60 of her models, a group which includes both Cambodian and foreigners, on what to expect.

One model, 27-year-old Sun Sreymom, told the Post that despite some initial difficulty navigating the narrow path around the pool at Raffles, she felt proud to participate in Jasmine Boutique’s show.

“I wore three types of dresses  that night, the dresses were so nice, easy to wear, not sexy, and satisfied me as Cambodian. Because I had experience modelling before, I was confident with this show.

But I had to be careful with the walkway because my shoes could get stuck inside the small gapes in the floor.”

Sun’s fellow model, 22-year- old Kouy Chan Danich, said her training at Sapor had helped her launch a career in Vietnam and Cambodia.

“I have modelled for only two years after I was trained here at the Sapor modelling school. I have a lot of experience in modelling in Cambodia, and once in Vietnam,” Kouy Chan Danich said.

She told the Post she felt nervous when trying on dresses backstage before the show, but that feeling soon passed when she saw the audience’s reaction to the show.

“Before I started, I felt a bit nervous because it’s an international fashion show and a lot of people came. But I have been getting accustomed to it because I have modelled in shows during Fashion Week.

“After we finished modell-ing, the cheers of the audiences made me proud of my profession,” she continued, adding: “I could not imagine I would have the chance to join in such international fashion show.

I think it proves there are tall and beautiful models in Cambodia.”