TALENT MAKES THE CUT

Concerns about the absence of former editor-in-chief Kullawit Laosuksri from last week’s Elle Fashion Week turned out to be displaced with the sun literally and figuratively shining on new chief Soraya Wattanajiamwong, who handled the four-day event at CentralWorld in style.
Fittingly for the 14th edition, the fashion week featured 14 shows in all, with such design stalwarts as 27 Friday, Curated by Ek Thongprasert, Hook’s by Prakakas, Milin, Painkiller, Playhound, Senada, Something Boudoir, Theatre, Tu’i, Vatit Itthi, the Contemporatist by OCAC offering their ideas for autumn and-winter.
Elle Fashion Week has a long tradition of introducing new face designers and this year was no exception, with the runway serving as a showcase for four young celebrity designers: Kwankao by Kwankao “Pang” Svetavimala, Kemissara by Karatpetch “Kem” Issara, Vatanika by Vatanika “Prae” Patamasingh, and Purinutt by Purinutt “Petch” Wongstapornsakul.
Saturday saw the presentation of Purinutt’s “Diamond Jubilee” collection. Designed to symbolise the beauty of women, Purinutt reinterpreted the Baroque artistic view in a dramatic show that used exaggerated lighting to create intense emotions and embroidered diamonds to add glitter to his clothes. With retro printed motifs and carefully contrasting colours, the overall semi-couture look was both elegant and stylish.
Kwankao, daughter of the famous food connoisseur Santi Svetavimala, was next up. She used lasers to project the sense of her “Beyond the Time” autumn and winter collection, which drew its inspiration from a belief that nature is the creator of time and harnesses the power of earth, water, wood, fire and gold.
Her design team of Sarawuth Bhokang and Sunisa Sriparivatin cleverly linked this imaginative idea with a symbolic five-pointed star representing the consolidation of nature’s elements. Outfits had flowing and contrasting lines and trims that created shapes and forms. The silhouette was shape-flattering, emphasising womanly curves and conveying a sense of confidence. The colour palette also drew on nature, with olive green, indigo and bright purple matched with black, white, beige, and grey. Fabrics included a silk velvet blend and shimmering silk.
The Kemissara and Vatanika collections were shown on Sunday.
Karatpetch or Kem, is the youngest daughter of real estate mogul, Songkran Issara and his wife Srivara. Trained in the UK, Kem introduced her label with the simple but stylish “Nonchalance” collection. Like the young designer’s Prefall 2012 show, “Nonchalance” is also inspired by model, singer and actress Lou Doillon and her mother Jane Birkin, after whom Hermes’s Birkin handbag is named.
Both Doillon and Birkin represent free spirited women who are independent and dare to be themselves. Contemporary and offering a total look, it also offers the wearer plenty of room to mix and match to create different looks.
The dresses shown at Elle Fashion Week were sensually feminine with curve-revealing crop tops. Dominant colours were blue, grey, copper brown, white, red, and deep teal. A newcomer to the fashion industry, Kem said after her show that she knows she still has a lot to learn but her goal is to be recognised as a Thai designer on the international stage.
“I would like to see my brand and other Thai brands tagging along and helping each other to reach the international level.”
Vatanika, meanwhile, stuck to her brand’s concept of “A Fusion of the Exotic, Irresistible and Sophisticated” and its mission “Dare all women to be special and different as all women should be”. Her motto, she says, is “Memento Mori”, meaning “Remember your mortality” and she interprets this symbolically through prints featuring broken skulls. Her main technique for this collection is draping.
The designer takes her inspiration from French artist Jeanne Claude who “wraps” bridges and buildings. She also mixes and matches different materials to create an absolute combination. In the show, the dominant colours were white, black, beige, gold, blue and light pink.
The collection featured 32 looks ranging from casual daywear, working outfits, to gorgeous evening gala dinner dresses. The finale was a bridal gown. “I plan to launch bridal collection in the near future,” said Vatanika after the event.
“I want my customers to feel that a dress is made for each of them personally.”
Vatanika considers her main challenge is time management.”I need to work on getting an order out in time with perfect quality.”