Fashion's fresh dimension

YOU NEED to wear those weird anaglyph glasses to view fashion photographer Wasan Puengprasert’s black-and-white 3D images in the exhibition “Siam Center Idea Avenue: Absolute Siam”, the third art show the mall has mounted this year.

Embossing areas on the photo surface creates the 3D effect in a twist on the ancient stereoscopic technique – slightly different versions of the same image for each eye. The colours are separated, red for the right eye and cyan for the left, and then they’re overlapped. The anaglyph glasses combine the two images and the brain’s visual cortex decides you’re seeing a three-dimensional scene.

Wasan came across a photo of a polar bear among some rocks – pure white on black – and applied the same idea to his human fashion models posing in bright outfits against dark rocks. In 3D, they really jump out of the picture.

“You have to set up two cameras on tripods on the same base, with each one getting a slightly different angle, left and right,” he explains.

Another session titled “Relations” involves portraits of celebrities related to different aspects of his life – music, photography, art and fashion. Among them are clothing designers Maynard Nanthakwang, Sirichai Daharanont and Jitsing Somboon, visual artist Sakwut Wisesmanee, filmmaker Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, fashion photographer Tada Varich, singer Thanachai Ujjin and actors Ananda Everingham and Jirayu Tangsrisuk.

“These photos show the real human nature without any modification,” Wasan says. “I took my inspiration from the ’60s, the golden age of the thinkers’ and writers’ movements in New York and San Francisco, the golden age of Richard Avedon the portrait artist, and the hippie trend of ‘raw’ photography. 

“But I was also inspired by the ’80s, the years of grunge and alternative music, the latter of which still leaves a trace in music and fashion. I reinterpret these trends in the moods and tones of my fashion shoots.”

In concert with the photo exhibition, clothing brands Playhound by Greyhound, Good Mixer and Tube Gallery have unveiled a muay thai collection. Playhound has resurrected track pants, popularised by Sylvester Stallone in his “Rocky” movies. The sweat pants are glammed up with a velvet screening technique and colours that ooze “that ’70s feeling”, and an old-school type font spells out words that recalls sporting achievements of the day.

Good Mixer’s funky “Spirit of Fighter” undershirts are inspired by famous Thai kick boxers, and Tube Gallery’s screened T-shirts pay tribute to the home of the punch-ups, Lumpini Boxing Stadium.

 

 

3D PEEKS

>>“Siam Center Idea Avenue: Absolute Siam” is on the mall’s first and third floors until September 10. 

n Find out more at (02) 658 1000, extension 500, and the “Siamcenter” page on Facebook.