Thai fashion designer makes animal embroidery cool and fosters LGBT acceptance – ‘most of our customers are gay’
- An army of Bangkok housewives embroider the elaborate animal designs that adorn most of the items in Santichai Srisongkram’s Seasongcalm clothing line
- Santichai believes his clothes have a shamanistic power to transform their wearers
They say you are what you wear, and for Santichai Srisongkram the adage is more than a mere figure of speech.
The Thai fashion designer, founder of label Seasongcalm, believes the shimmering animal patterns that adorn most of the pieces in his clothing line can have transformative powers for the people who wear them, in a shamanistic sort of way.
“If you wear a tiger, you may feel like a tiger,” offers Santichai, 38, a cordial man who sports ribbed stonewashed jeans, a black denim jacket and mirrored shades. “I do believe that.”
His cool-as-a-rock-star outfit cloaks a man of manifestly shy disposition. Presumably, the pair of sumptuously embroidered gold-and-silver tigers – snarling and ready to pounce – that cover the back and half the front of his jacket are giving him some extra power.
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.
