INTERNATIONAL: Oliva Kong accomplished his biggest fashion feat yet with Queen Victoria’s Spring/Summer Collection 2023 with 80 models and 100 unique outfits, presented as a kids’, men’s, and women’s collection.
The fashion show, held at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, was based on the central theme of the “Last Life of Sea Creatures,” and models could be seen walking in colorful, flowy outfits handmade with silk, sequins, and lace, inspired by the ocean, sea creatures, and sea plants. Oliva Kong, the fashion mastermind behind the show, said this theme came to him during one of his trips to the beach when he saw all the trash and the sorrowful state of Cambodia’s most cherished nature spot.
The planning phase for the show took about five months, with two months spent on execution. Former Olympic Swimmer, Hem Thonvitiny, also came on board as the Brand Ambassador for this collection.
He said, “Today, I have prepared a fashion show inspired by the life of sea creatures at the bottom of the ocean. I am [a fashion designer], and I met with Hem Thonvitiny who is a [Olympic-level] swimming athlete. So, what I have seen of her made me proud because her swimming skill is amazing. I have designed [this collection] based on the sea creatures, and so it relates to water. Therefore, it got me interested in inviting her to be the model ambassador to take fashion pictures with my designs. I also designed in the hope of [encouraging] the people of Cambodia and the world to take care of the environment. We shouldn’t throw trash in just any place. When we throw trash into the water, it will diminish the life and beauty of the ocean until there’s nothing [left anymore].”
The clothes were designed and made with recycled materials as well, according to Fousing Sem, Beauty Pageant Judge and CEO of Dynamic Event Organizer. He said he was proud to be the master of the ceremony for this event because of what Oliva is doing for the community and for the environment.
He said, “Oliva has designed in detail inspired by the ‘Last Life of Sea Creatures.’ His designs are special because he used sequins, lace, and other materials like plastic bottles and other plastic materials to upcycle for usage again because he wants to help the environment and show the people that throwing trash into the sea or how their excessive waste affects the sea and the creatures that live in it.”
This is the first time that the Olympic Stadium has given permission to any designer to host a fashion show at its swimming pool. Hem Thonponloeu, swimming coach and representative of the Khmer Swimming Federation, said that he appreciates what Oliva is doing to raise awareness about the environment and is open to helping in the future regarding building a runway on top of the swimming pool.
He said, “The [Khmer Swimming] Federation gave this opportunity to [Oliva] to host this fashion show because, one, the theme of the show is related to swimming athletes and raising the awareness of the sport of swimming, two, it is related to the environment, especially the impact on the life of sea creatures and, three, gathering donations to help orphans on the island… At first, [Oliva] requested to have the runway on the swimming pool, but we haven’t had enough study to be able to do it [safely] because this is the first time that we let him do [the fashion show]. In the future, maybe.”
Oliva said he spent about $50,000 of his own money on organizing this fashion show, including both designing and making the outfits and planning the event. He said this is his passion and no one can stop him from doing it, even without receiving sponsorship. There were actually sponsors who were interested in supporting this event, but Oliva said he could not accept them because they were not in line with his vision to encourage and help future generations. In regard to using this event to help gather donations for orphans, he said seeing kids struggling makes him feel very emotional, because he knows how it feels to not have access to even the bare necessities.
He said, “Regarding the ticket sales, 50% of the revenue will be to help the children on the island...At first, I thought that I was only going to design clothes inspired by nature, but when I visited the villages, I saw children lack [supplies for] education. They don’t have as many schools as we do in the city. So, I wanted to [organize] a charitable event to help them with education, including food and school supplies.”
The hair and makeup for the models was done by Reachny Academy Makeup & Hairstyle, who embodied the theme of the show with lots of colors, jewels and sparkles, and emulated the shape of waves in the models’ hair to reflect the flow of the ocean.
After having their hair and makeup done, the models got into their outfits for the night and first took pictures for their portfolios.
The fashion show had four phases. The first phase was a runway with Palilay bags, handmade in Siem Reap from water hyacinth. Both men and women carry these bags, and even First Lady Bun Rany Hun Sen is a fan!
The second phase was the kids' collection, which included kids as young as four walking the runway. The audience was very impressed by the young models who showed they could be as fierce as their older counterparts.
Kouy Chandanich, a professional model and actress who has been in the industry for over 12 years, has worked with Oliva Kong in the past, and said she was excited to join this event. She was proud to see Oliva’s progress since they last collaborated and said she is gleeful over the young models.
She said, “Tonight, I’m very interested because normally, there aren’t fashion shows with kids modeling. When I saw the kids walking, I was happy, overjoyed, but the other feeling is fear because they walked so well, walked with confidence, the look is right, every step they walked was with confidence. So, with this runway modeling, if we have confidence in ourselves, we can steal the show. Because when we have confidence in ourselves, we attract the attention of the guests who are watching us. Guests not only watch the outfits, but they also watch the face, the way we walk, our personality, and how we walk. So, tonight was quite exciting and never seen before.”
The third and fourth shows were men’s and women’s collections respectively. There were both local and international models walking the runway, most of whom studied at Cambodia’s Queen of the Catwalks by Oliva Kong.
One of the models, Shasne Suleimanova, said she loves that her dress is fashioned after the electrifying jellyfish. She is also passionate about the environment and hopes that everyone who comes to see the show would learn to take care of it.
She said, “So nowadays you know, eco theme is very important and we need really to think carefully about what’s happening about our environment because a lot of our sea animals disappeared, not only sea animals you know. That’s why people, they should care about our nature, care about the environment, and carefully use plastic, everything you know. Because every year we have less, like a lot of animals they disappear, and it’s really important now to think about that because if we lose it now, we will never see it again, you know. All this beauty of our world.”
Olympic athlete, Hem Thonvitiny, closed the show with a showstopper dress inspired by the ocean. She can no longer compete due to a nose problem, however, she is still involved in swimming as an instructor. She recounted how she loves the ocean and wanted to contribute to its conservation in any way she can. At the promotional shoot for the show, she said she swam in the dress as beautifully as she could despite all the cuts and hurt she got along the way.
She said, “When we did the shoot, I saw the picture I swam at the island. You can see it in the presentation clip. I swam at the island. There were difficulties. My legs got cut pretty badly because usually, we swim in swimming suit or swimming gear. This time, however, we [wore a] design inspired by sea creatures who live in the water with plastic. So I needed to jump with the dress that [Oliva] designed which is very new [to me]. When I swam with the dress, it was a little difficult, but I tried very hard so that the print picture would look like a fish. Got cuts on my hands and legs. My legs still have scars that haven’t fully healed.
It was Oliva’s idea to surprise the audience by having Vitiny jump into the pool. He wanted to show a little bit of her skill as well as the movement of his dress in the water. While she executed her jump flawlessly, it was definitely harder swimming in the dress than it seemed.
She added, “[It was difficult because] it’s heavy for me. Because we can see the fabric in water is not easy but I will try the best of my ability to capture a beautiful picture[/moment] for this event.”
While the designs all looked beautiful on the runway, many guests said that they would love to wear the outfits themselves as well.
Peter Phoeng said, “You know, I would [wear it] because I love flowy stuff especially in windy times like this. I would so wear it.”
For everyone who is interested in these one-of-a-kind designs, please visit Queen Victoria’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/QueenVictoriaiOfficial or contact 010 696 989 to book an appointment at the showroom.
Photos by Peter Phoeng Photography
