Young designers show their stuff
Photos by Itsarin Tisantia, courtesy of Crow
In recent years, fashion design has been gaining popularity among students and the younger generation in Thailand. To help promote this profession, Crow magazine, in cooperation with business partners like B-ing, Pen Collection, The Face Aesthetic Clinic and AJ DVD, recently organised the CROW Young Designer 2013 Awards in Bangkok.
Talented young Thai designers submitted a number of fashion designs, including three sets of male and female clothes. A panel of judges awarded first, second and third prizes.
“This competition enables fashion design enthusiasts to put their creativity into practice,” Siramon Srikhieo, the event’s organiser explained. “We also expected the participants’ dresses could be worn in daily life, not only in some fantasy dream.”
PRECIOUS PRIZES
In addition to gift sets and vouchers provided by the corporate sponsors, the first-place winner also received a cash prize of 50,000 baht, while the second- and third-place winners each received 5,000 baht. All winning designs were sold at an auction at the end of October, bid on by celebrities and other exclusive guests.
“20 percent of the revenues generated from the auction were paid to the three winning teams, while the rest was contributed to charitable organizations,” Siramon said.
CHIC CONCEPTS
The competition’s main concept refers to the acronym C-R-O-W, which stands for Climax, Romance, Opposite and Wisdom. Each team could select one of these characteristics to present their designs based on their individual point of view.
WINNING VOICES
The Beauty Killer dress by Mark Crown won the first prize. He chose the theme Opposite, in which he suggested his set of snake-print dresses could represent both the dead and the devil. “When facing snakes, humans have no idea whether the dreadful animals will be friends or enemies, willing to killing us,” he said.
Naticha Dharasarn, 21, and Jutamanee Manisararas, 24, who won the second prize, also chose the theme Opposite. They are both students at Bunka Fashion Academy in Bangkok.
“People in general think that crows all have black feathers. However, rare crows have white feathers as a result of their genetic defects,” they said. They made the male dress black and the female dress white.
Twenty-year-old Kophong Sriphimso, who won the third prize, presented his designs based on the theme of Climax.
“I was inspired by the traditional costumes of Surma and Mursi hill tribes in Ethiopia,” he said.
The Rangsit University student said fashion design has an immense influence on Thai teens’ behaviours.
“The study of fashion design should arise from your inner inspiration, not from going with the flow. Follow your heart, and you’ll be happy doing it,” he said.
Exercises
Read through the story. Then fill in the blanks with the correct words.
1. Kophong Sriphimso is studying at _____________________ .
2. The first winning team would receive a cash prize of ________________ baht.
3. Naticha Dharasarn is _________ years old.
4. Kophong Sriphimso’s dress set was created based on the theme of ____________.
Vocabulary
- voucher (n): a printed piece of paper that can be used instead of money to pay for something, or that allows you to pay less than the usual price of something
sponsor (n): a person or company that pays for a radio or television programme, or for a concert or sporting event, usually in return for advertising
charitable (adj): connected with a charity or charities
dreadful (adj): causing fear or suffering
defect (n): a fault in something or in the way it has been made which means that it is not perfect
immense (adj): extremely large or great
