Aniporn Chalermburanawong, Miss Universe Thailand 2015, explores the Shanghai Mansion through the lens of Punsiri Siriwetchapun and with the styling touch of M.L. Chatnapa Sutatsanee to represent a different vision of Thai fashion.
Many years ago, before Maynart Nantakwang opened Soda in 1978, many a fashionable Bangkok lady needed to go to their dressmakers before attending a party. In fact, to have your own personal dressmaker to custom make your dresses was the epitome of design and luxury. Along came Soda and everything changed. Now, Soda has come to represent a bohemian alternative to strict bodycon dressing.
The Soda woman and man are nomadic: he and she are as comfortable in a Moroccan souk or the markets of Jaipur as they are in Paris. He is fluent in French, can stroll the streets of Montmartre at ease, and is a frequent visitor to World’s End. Later came the diffusion line, Baking Soda and a café, which capture the very essence of what Soda is, what Soda means: love. Love Café opened at Emquartier in 2016, after 38 years, a testament to a brand that exists out of love and is inspired by freedom—the free-spirited bohemian.
The other brand whose aesthetic is exactly as the name suggests is Theatre. If the world is a stage, what we wear are costumes and there is always drama, always an occasion, and always a lasting impact. That is good theatre, and over the last three decades that is what Theatre has delivered: volume and large structure, clothes that you want to wear when you get dressed up. Sirichai “Jom” Daharanont creates a fantasy world in Theatre-traditional Thai shapes and volumes that are reinterpreted to create dramatic signature pieces that are voluminous, maximal, and exactly what it promises to be: high drama, meant to last. A brand that started as an atelier, the Theatre troupe are expert drapers and still make dresses to order.
Muse by the Good Mixer, one will remember from early days walking around Siam Center and how a visit to MUSE meant being taken to a fantasy world of ruffled dresses, and prints. Chaichon Savantrat still delivers this fantasy of gingham and prints. The jungle queen of accessories, embroidery, beads and leather is Tango. Exactly as the name suggests, it’s a tropical tango of bright colors and beads. Tango was also the go-to for sandals of suede that would lace up your calves or bags with beads and poms poms. Tango was and is a Bohemian dream of an accessories brand and remains so today.