The jacket certainly turns heads, with its tiger stripes shimmering in the late afternoon sunlight when Santichai walks around in it at a retro outdoor market in northern Bangkok. People from as far away as Colombia, Dubai and Russia have ordered customised versions of the denim jacket after seeing pictures of it online.
The pair’s “Thaiger-Man” creation has been selling well, particularly in China and Hong Kong. “Even if a design seems very hard to do at first, we’ll still do it,” Santichai notes. Usually Santichai comes up with a new idea, then Amornthep sets about executing it. A Thai woman wears Santichai’s “Thaiger-Man” jacket at an outdoor market in Bangkok where a vintage World War II-era US military plane is mounted on top of a shop. “We’re trying to create designs that are unique, imaginative and eye-catching, not just something that looks mass-produced,” Amornthep says. Although he draws inspiration from paintings of animals printed on mass-produced T-shirts that are sold widely at Thai markets, he is a stickler for minutiae.Įvery stripe of a growling tiger on a jacket and every feather of a preening peacock on a shirt has to be just so, otherwise creases and folds caused by wearing a garment could ruin the overall effect, he says. He produces each design painstakingly, taking weeks or even months. “There’s something about embroidery that lets me explore,” Amornthep notes.
Plenty of artistically inclined gay men gravitate towards Thailand’s thriving fashion industry, where they give free rein to their flamboyance and creative urges. I think you dress up not just to impress other people but to impress yourself – but you do want to stand out in a crowd – Thai fashion designer Santichai Srisongkram That’s why I’ve decided to work for these two gay guys,” he adds, referring to Santichai and Amornthep. With mine we do not talk about it,” Narongchai explains.Ī youthful 48-year-old with a bookish mien, Narongchai has never married, which, he says, is unusual for a Sino-Thai man like himself.
In Thailand’s ethnic Chinese community, many people tend to look askance at openly expressed homosexuality within close-knit family circles. “Many gay men lead double lives – straight by day, gay by night,” says Narongchai Nateewanaphun, an accountant who works for Santichai and leads a double life of sorts himself, having stayed largely in the closet.
He felt I made him lose face.”Įven in freewheeling Thailand, there is a stigma attached to being gay or transgender in certain social and professional milieus. “His beloved son playing dress-up with girls wasn’t what my father wanted. I’m his eldest child and he wanted me to be more macho,” Amornthep says. “They’re conservative and couldn’t accept the way I am. He is openly gay and his effeminate mannerisms did not please his parents. Amornthep, 29, is boyish looking with close-cropped hair, which at times he dyes platinum blond. His schoolteacher parents were happier with him selling pork on the street (which is widely seen as a lowly occupation in Thailand) than designing clothes, especially dresses. Thai fashion designer Santichai Srisongkram believes his clothing line can empower its wearers. “I had to make a living,” he says, almost apologetically. On the side, he was selling grilled pork from a street cart. The ostentatious embroidery is the handiwork of Amornthep Jithnak, an up-and-coming designer who started out honing his needlepoint skills by creating fancy wedding dresses. “But most of our customers are male, gay and under 40.” It doesn’t matter if they’re men, women, straight, gay or trans,” Santichai says. “Our designs are purposefully unisex so anyone can wear them. The Thai designer launched his clothing line two years ago and has been harnessing the power of online marketing via Instagram and other social media. Seasongcalm employee Narongchai Nateewanaphun wears a denim jacket with an eagle embroidered on the back. Each of the animals is embroidered by hand by dexterous Bangkok housewives who work part-time for Santichai. Many boast stylised images of growling tigers, gazing cheetahs, preening peacocks, swooping eagles or slithering serpents. Most are lavishly embroidered and sequinned. Called “Thaiger-Man” (by way of a pun), the jacket, which costs 18,990 baht (US$623), is part of Santichai’s street wear line, which runs to 116 styles, including T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hoodies and nightgowns.