ONE NIGHT IN BANGOK: Michelle Obama, Ladyboys, Thai fashion, Thakoon, & a rendezvous with the Moon
Cocktails al fresco & the best view in Bangkok: The rooftop Moon Bar at the Banyan Tree hotel
There’s nothing quite like a few days spent riding Bangkok’s Sky Train to make one feel fatally frumpy. Along Sukhumvit Road, women wear scarlett-soled Christian Louboutins to commute to work, only to stuff them into their Bottega Veneta bags when they arrive at the office, swapping heels out for bunny slippers. Even Bangkok men are so well turned out—bespoke jackets, saddle oxfords, sometimes a Rockabilly pompadour shellacked to the top of their foreheads—that I’ve begun stroking my chin for signs of insidious stubble. Adding insult to injury are Thailand’s glamazon ladyboys, many of whom do a far better job of impersonating a woman than I do:
Verklempt ladyboys at the world’s premiere transgender beauty pageant,
Miss Tiffany’s Universe in Pattaya, Thailand
With such, err, stiff competition and so little time (I started a new job yesterday and thus far am exhausted and morbidly lonely), I’ve decided nothing–and I do mean nothing–I brought to wear in Bangkok is worthy of a photo-op. Until I can a) Make an auteur friend who will take hammy fashion shots of me once a week (and that is a friend indeed) + b) Hit the weekend markets and Chiclet-sized Thai boutiques at places like Terminal 21 and Siam Discovery Center, I’ll be pilfering my Bangkok archives for today’s blog:
Top: ZARA
Sunglasses: Christian Dior
Gold Ganesh necklace: Bangkok’s Chinatown
Thailand has one of the most innovative, up-and-coming fashion scenes in all of Asia. I’ll be exploring young Thai designers in upcoming posts, but for now let me lead with a (fashion savvy) household name: Thakoon Panichgul (ฐากูร พานิชกุล). A Thai-American, Thakoon was raised in Thailand and Omaha, Nebraska, and is a favorite of our fashion-forward First Lady’s.
Thakoon has a genius for acid-flashback patterns, but there are some patterns that just shouldn’t be mixed (Michelle Obama should ask herself every morning, Does this go with American Flag?)
Thakoon Pre-Spring 2012
Another rule of Southeast Asian fashion: you can never be too rich or too girly-girl. (Although you can be too thin. But thanks to the night food vendors on Soi 38 that offer spicy papaya salad, pad thai, tom yum, et al, I may soon have my ass back.) Here I am at Bangkok’s Dusit Palace Park looking gag-me-with-a-spoon girly. I hope this outfit inoculated me and I’ll never have to sport a boob-bow again.
Minnie Mouse called: she wants her look back
Leotard top (yes, crotch-snaps and all): ZARA
Umbrella: 7-Eleven
Sabai Sabai! I love the man with the sausage pancakes
T-shirt: James Perse
Skirt: ZARA
Jeweled sandals: Phnom Penh
Thakoon Pre-Spring 2012
My favorite man in Bangkok: ‘Marco Polo’ at Wat Pho
Stay tuned next Tuesday for photos of me in a ladyboy-slaying new Thai getup, which I will challenge myself to find for under 1,000 Thai Baht ($30 US)!
Photos by Marcus Aurelius
