It was a very opportune moment as a number of labels were in town to meet with manufacturers.

I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen reenactments of state repression… on the catwalk.
Impressed by the bravery of the participants and enthused by their work to speak directly about their hopes, dreams, needs.
Watch the video, check out more news coverage below. (Kudos to Workers Information Centre for organising the event.)

Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality from Heather Stilwell on Vimeo.

http://www.ruom.net/portfolio-item/garment-workers-model-brands/
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle/reality-check-top-brands
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56595
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-turn-models-on-political-catwalk-59540/
http://whatnotfashion.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/news-cambodian-garment-workers-performance-protest-this-week/
http://johnvink.com/news/2014/05/beautifull-clothes-ugly-reality/

And a round of applause for Miss Utah USA… Soben Huon, as reported by the Phnom Penh Post.

I’m tickled that Utah (often typified as conservative and lacking in diversity) is fielding a Khmer-American candidate.

Beauty pageants aren’t really my thing… some people like ballet, others prefer punk rock. But it’ll be fun to see how the contest works out.

And I wonder what my Khmer friends will think. Most families in the Cambodian countryside would be horrified to see their daughter enter a public swimsuit competition. But ‘Freshie Girl’ this ain’t.

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/04/10/cambodia-khmer-american-celebrity-joins-weblogger-community/
http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2006/03/please-help-soben-huon-first-cambodian.html
http://www.asiapundit.com/2006/04/miss_khmerica.html
http://friskodude.blogspot.com/2006/04/cambodian-american-is-miss-utah.html

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/172114/

What if she wins? No asian candidate has won the contest yet. A web search shows message boards chattering away:
http://khmer.cc/community/t.c?b=1&t=2467
http://khmer.cc/community/t.c?b=12&t=28908
http://www.khmer-network.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=3188&page=1#pid12551
http://www.aznforum.com/community//showthread.php?t=808
http://www.khmerfuture.com/index.php?module=My%20eGallery&do=showpic&pid=7308&orderby=dateD
http://tinyurl.com/7aho9

Her blog: http://sobenhuon.blogspot.com/

Above image (c) Justin Grant photography, used for purpose of review/commentary.
Tags: Cambodia,pageant,MissAmerica