Royal tributes CROWN fashion week

Elle Fashion Week wrapped up five busy days of autumn-winter previews last weekend with plenty of eyebrow-raising outfits, but no show was more discussed than the deeply moving royal tribute presented by Hook’s.
The week saw 21 designers unveiling their new collections, both famous figures and rising stars. It was Hook’s “Aiyara Ten” line, though, that stirred hearts most – and produced more than a few sad tears.
Marking the brand’s 10th anniversary, founder and creative director Prapakas Angsusingha paid homage to His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej with models in classical regal wear depicting the monarch’s life and times.
Appearing onstage at the show’s end was a lifelike and life-size model of a white elephant, a culmination of the overall message that anyone can be a loyal and beloved servant of the King. All that’s required, Prapakas suggested, are good deeds, moral 
 behaviour, and care for loved ones. 

The music was suitably melancholy – His Majesty’s own compositions performed on flute and 
 oboe. 
The outfits themselves emerged from the Kingdom’s cherished past, traditional finery evolving into contemporary flair. Evening gowns were elegant and graceful and tribal costumes took on avant-garde accents. 
Also paying tribute to the royal family, Saran Youkongdee of jewellery brand Saraan showed his new “Sathit” collection, featuring ornate handiwork in Yan Lipao weaving, a nod to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s lifelong efforts to preserve Thailand’s heritage craftsmanship. 
Saran pursues an “art-to-wear” concept that promises every woman her deserved elegance and the ability to uphold traditional Thai values while at the same time appearing modern. 
The collection was the fruit of two years’ work, he said. 
“I was inspired after noticing that Yan Lipao woven bags weren’t very popular for daily use, and not even for formal events like gala dinners. I’ve tried to deconstruct that in the details, going for a simpler, more minimal and modern style, but we still use the traditional craftsmanship and materials. 

“Yan Lipao is woven into different items, such as baskets, but for my jewellery I envisioned circles and semicircles that were much smaller than what you see in a bag, so it was quite difficult for the artisans. I could only find three of them, in Nakhon Si Thammarat, who could do such meticulous work.”
The Sathit collection, sold exclusively at Club21, takes its name from the Thai word for “forever”. 
Through Elle Fashion Week, Elle magazine has been supporting Thai designers for 19 years. This year, at the dawn of the digital age, the organisers arranged for the shows to be broadcast live on all of the magazine’s digital platforms, with videos available for viewing later as well.
The better-known names on the runway this season were Asava, ASV, Everyday Karamakamet, Kloset, Landmee, Painkiller, Theatre, Tube Gallery, Vatanika, Vatit Itthi and Vickteerut. 
Newer labels included Pitchana, Kanapot Anusorn and the rising stars of the “Thai Designers Beyond Boundaries” project sponsored by the Commerce Ministry’s Department of International Trade Promotion – Chat, Jittrakarn, La Orr, Paul Direk, Navy and Q Design and Play. 
For Asava, Polpat Asavaprapha offered a stunning line called “Grace”, a name meant to evoke a gracious perspective in life. 
The brand’s signature Cape Blouse, both one-shoulder and off-shoulder, reappeared with a mix of layers on sleeveless tops and thus different dimensions. 
The soft, lightweight moss crepe fabric used in many items beautifully retains its shape, while delicate cotton lace took on familiar tones of white, beige and grey as well as the more confident zephyr blue, lipstick red and mauve. 

For its sister brand ASV, Polpat looked to the form of ballet revolutionised by Alicia Alonso in Cuba. 
His “At the Ballet” collection was filled with delicate and graceful details but also suggested the hidden strength of the human spirit. The clothes, adhering to the body however it moved, featured outlines drawn from contemporary art. 
Structurally, there was a repeated reference to the ballet tutu, even extending to one-shoulder blouses paired with flared trousers. The same allusion appeared in straight A-line skirts and in plunging and wide-neck blouses. 
For Kloset, Mollika Ruangkritya’s eye-catching “Wake Up and Rise” collection took its cues from Wong Kar-Wai’s cult movie “In the Mood for Love”, mimicking in both shapes and patterns its powerful lighting and vintage colour tones like mustard yellow, maroon and jade green. 
Glimpses from the romantic film – the female lead’s costumes, furniture upholstery, even the wallpaper – were offered in garments -replete with oriental accents. Patterns of birds and butterflies suggested freedom. Details were finely embroidered. 
It was little wonder that Mollika deemed this collection her favourite to date.
After a two-year absence from Elle Fashion Week, Sirichai Daharanont of Theatre was back with a line called “Across the Universe”, and it was that gorgeous Beatles song that provided the soundtrack to the show. The designer continues to mingle different materials to produce outstanding looks, ranging from street wear to high couture. It was indeed a show worth waiting for.
“Portrait of a Lady” was the title of the new collection from Saksit Pisalasupongs and Phisit Jongnarangsin of Tube Gallery, and the “lady” in question was one of the enchanting beauties depicted by 19th-century Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. 
Klimt is revered for sumptuously clad subjects rendered in mid-tone hues set off with swaths of glimmering gold, and that’s what the Tube duo aimed to recreate in occasional wear for women and ready-to-wear outfits for men.
The clothes were voluminous, often oversized, in black, white, navy blue and gold, with touches of yellow and purplish pink copied from the floral decoration of Klimt’s paintings. And his artful motifs were copied over through cutting and reattaching, which remade the lines and shapes. 
For her Vatanika brand, Vatanika Patamasingh Na Ayutthaya unleashed vampires onstage with a collection inspired by Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. 
These ghouls were wearing mostly street-style ready-to-wear, more modernised than we’re used to but still classic and made sexier with new materials. Silk velvet met vintage lace and sequins. 
Texan model Jerry Hall, one-time common-law wife of Mick Jagger, was the inspiration for Pitchana Ekachai’s “Glam Rock” collection. Those two were an item back in the ’70s, so it was the social trends of that era that Pitchana adapted with contemporary turns.
 Mustard yellow, dark olive green, burgundy and metallic sheen worked well on outfits that complemented the female figure and looked by turns sweet, smart or flirtatious. 
One dazzling combination was a mustard spaghetti-strap cocktail dress with cut-outs and lace-up details paired with a creamy ostrich-feather jacket. Another was a white strapless dress with peek-a-boo cuts up one side and crystal-bedecked lace from under the breasts to mid-calves. 

And if they weren’t thrilling enough for young ladies willing to take risks in the name of fun, there were also bright-red jumpsuits with deep cuts and flaring bell-bottoms.