Denton Quinn

“My garment is inspired by my southeast Asian heritage; I wanted to create and design a garment that represents not only Cambodia but the whole of southeast Asia but mainly Khmer inspired. When I was first thinking and brainstorming about my idea I really struggled and couldn’t come up with anything that really meant something to me, I then started to think about my heritage and where my family came from and that sparked an idea in my head.

I stayed up all night researching everything from ancient Cambodian warrior armour or just everyday attire from the 1400s all the way to the late 1900s. I then remember every Sunday when I was at my Grandma’s house my Grandad and Grandma would always dress up and go to wat (temple) to pray and my Grandma would always wear incredible crafted traditional Khmer clothing or even sometimes she would wear a sampot. A sampot is a long traditional cloth worn and tied around the waist. This really inspired me to make my own version of a sampot so I have modernised the sampot and I have turned them into trousers with some folds down from the waist to create leaves of banana trees, why banana the reason is simple my grandma always used to make this sticky rice wrapped in banana called noomba chek, and it was so delicious, so this brings some nostalgia for me.

I want my garment to symbolise growth and a fresh start and new beginnings.”

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2024

Photography by Natasha Boshkovski Photography

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