JUMPING ON THE JAPANESE CATWALK While Tokyo has long reigned as the epicentre of Asian style and fashion innovation, Bangkok is better known for its fabulous food, a no-holds-barred nightlife and shopping. Gaby Doman asks what is needed to turn Bangkok into Asia’s next fashion hub. Photo by Nick McGrath. With its Harajuku street style inspiring the incredible outfits dreamed up by cosplay (manga-style), ganguro (doll look) and ura-hara (emo skateboarder) enthusiasts, Tokyo has fascinated and inspired creative types the world over. It is also proving the inspiration for many designers who see Thailand as Asia’s next fashion powerhouse. Supported by the Thai government which has allocated B100 million to hire world-class designers from Europe to guide Thailand in developing its own brands, the revitalised Fashion City Bangkok project will rise from the ashes next year, after a three-year hiatus. But can a city best known for its cheap knockoffs and throwaway fashions ever be taken seriously by the fashion world? “Not right now,” says Bangkok-based designer and stylist Monrissa Leenutaphong, who graduated from Goldsmiths College in London and has set up Skin on Skin in the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre. “Bangkok doesn’t have the same energy as big fashion capitals. You need to be able to express yourself without rules and regulations. Here you still have to tone it down so that people understand.” Parn Archa Nakabutara, a designer in the process of launching a men’s fashion brand produced in Thailand and sold in Myanmar, agrees. “Bangkok certainly has potential,” he says. There is a diversity of culture and people are very trendy and very aware of what’s happening but, at the moment, it’s very safe. ”
According to Leenutaphong, the main problem is a lack of adequate fashion education. Without being offered the opportunity and freedom to experiment and create, Bangkok’s industry is seriously stifled. “Lots of people are trying to challenge the ‘safe’ styles of Bangkok,” she says. “I see improvements in the magazines as they try to be arty and experimental and not play it safe. But magazines are an end product. The real changes need to be educational. Students need to be free to explore what’s in their heads and not be fed something staid.” If this education gap were addressed, Bangkok become a breeding ground for up-andcoming designers, capitalising on its proximity to cheap labour in neighbouring countries. “Bangkok has so many resources, such as materials, craftsman and culture,” says Tatsura I-washita, designer from London Brown shoes, Siam Square. “Moreover, Thai people express an interest in fashion, and the government is supporting fashion businesses and pushing Thailand as the next fashion capital.” Some things, however, are simply out of the government’s hands. “The main problem as far as Bangkok being an international or even regional fashion hub is the weather,” says Nakabutara. “You need to be able to dress for seasons, produce boots and jackets and layers to really be on the map as a fashion destination. Here, we are limited to casual clothing that’s not too hot to wear – to cotton, lace and
mesh kinds of materials. To be truly important, Bangkok needs to really nail casual clothing.”” I-washita agrees this is an important factor in Bangkok’s game of catch-up with the likes of Tokyo. “Bangkok has a narrower range of fashion, whereas in Tokyo and other cities people can enjoy layering their clothes in winter,” she says. However, there are some Thai brands that are helping to turn Bangkok’s fashion fortunes around. Central St Martins College of Art and Design graduate, Moo Piyasombatkul’s ceramic vintage glasses frames made worldwide news when Lady Gaga, Fan Bingbing and Cheryl Cole all stepped out in them. Now Bangkok-based, the designer sees potential in Sretsis, another Bangkok-based brand. “The designs are fun, they’re not seasonal and they have a very strong identity,” she says. Disaya is another brand that has really made it big in recent years. “Amy Winehouse wore one of the dresses on the cover of Back to Black,” says Nakabutara. “And since then other celebrities including Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez have also been seen in the brand.” It speaks volumes that Bangkok’s most prominent designers, including Piyasombatkul, I-washita, Disaya, Milin and Pim Sukhahuta from Sretsis, all received their fashion education in some of the finest fashion colleges in London and New York, but whether Fashion City Bangkok will enable Thailand to take on the manga mantle only time will tell. asialife Thailand 37