The Princess’s Fashion Royale

She’s bright, she’s beautiful – and she is royal. According to Forbes even one of the world’s most eligible young royals.

Meet Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana – a fashion designer who just created her debut collection. A collection teetering between two contradictory worlds: One bound by ancient royal rituals and ceremonies. The other committed to freedom.

The Princess recently gave account about her creations – and the love and compassion for her work.

Before her appearance at the Thailand Creative & Design Center TCDC the attending designers, architects and artists were carefully introduced into the royal protocol.

When to stand, when to sit, when to ask questions, what form of address to use. But there she came, the energetic Princess, and all she asked for was to “gonna have fun in our talk, so let’s start immediately”.

And the Princess elaborated about her love for history and tradition, about her youth: “I was like a tomboy,” she said. “I wanted to be like a boy, dress like a boy. My father,” His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, “wanted me to be a model girl. They tried dresses on me. I rushed to the bath room to hide. Little by little I got introduced into fashion.”

While her teachers at Chitlada school introduced her to history, brought her “old history books I devoured”.

History, tradition and the arts became the fundamentals for her. “The first thing to be a good designer,” the Princess says, “is an open mind towards all forms of art.”

“We’ve inherited a lot of beautiful culture from our ancestors,” the Princess says. “But how can I make it more modern, to fit the times, without destroying its beauty?”

At twenty years of age, as an arts student, the Princess explores the dilemmas of being a modern royal. Her most impressive fashion creations are testimony to the Kingdom’s rich history of culture and the arts – and the Princess’s tireless creativity. Even before the audience the energetic young woman seemed to be on fire: “I am ready to bite anybody around me,” she laughed, always asking the interpreter if she’s talking to fast.

TCDC dedicates an exhibition to the works of the Princess: Presence of the Past – Love, Contradiction and Fashion.

The exhibition gives you a glimpse of the Princess’s world of imagination. From her sketches, drawings and oil paintings, to her favorite films, books and the Princess’s chosen emblem for her collection, the peacock.

Why the peacock?

The Princess speaks of the “peacock paradox”: The peacock is a symbol of both grit and beauty. Beneath the peacock’s appearance of majestic beauty is a fierce sense of courage and self-protection. In Indo-Tibetan lore, the peacock is celebrated as a creature that thrives on poisonous plants, like enlightened beings who transform the poisons of worldly life – desire, aversion and ignorance – into wisdom and compassion.

To her exhibition the Princess introduces the visitor with these humble words: “I’ve done all I can with this collection. If they don’t show it, I’ll take it to mean I’m not good enough yet. But it’ll be an experience.”

But this her debut collection Spring/Summer 2008 at Paris Fashion Week for the House of Balmain is simply staggering.

Presence of the Past reflects a clash of disparate influences: Royal versus pop, court versus street, craft versus couture, ceremony versus fashion, duty versus passion. Combining all the warmth, softness and simplicities of Thailand with its Western contradictions and disparities.

To elaborate on this rich context, let me quote from the exhibition’s brochure.

Her most fascinating creations are about Drape versus Shape:

“Draping, wrapping, knotting and tying make up the basis of traditional Thai dress, while pattern, geometry, structure and construction make up the basis of European couture. Pitting the two traditions against each other, the Princess explores how to merge Thai silhouettes, based on natural body curves, with European, tailored contours.

Strip down a Siamese lady of the early Ratanakosin (19th century), and we find her costume – wether a simple pha thaeb bosom wrap or chong kraben pantaloon – composed of single pieces of cloth. Western dress of the same period was fitted around structured corsets and bustles, designed to enhance bodily shape and form.”

Next dilemma: “Civilizing the West”

“Part of Siam’s success in escaping colonialism involved her ability to co-opt Western forms of fashion, strategically appearing to identify with Western civilization. At heart, however, was a clash of values. While Western culture celebrated a display of the self, Siamese culture aimed at its restraint.

In fashion too, the clash was evident. Western silhouettes of the Victorian era emphasized formal, expressive posturing, while Siamese dress, based on Buddhist values of moderation, conveyed humility and simplicity. Resolving the pull between Western and Siamese sartorial values remains a key issue of the Princess’s collection.

The uneasy relationship began when elements of Western dress were introduced to the Siamese court during the reign of King Rama IV (1851-1868). By the time of King Rama V, the tailored and untailored traditions merged at court.”

Next step: Reinventing Motifs and Meanings

“In a salute to traditional ornamentation, the collection uses modified lai thai motifs throughout – as gold repousse on handbags and shoes, and as embroidery on dress borders, hems and sleeves, in a reference to classical Thai decorative arts.

Although traditional lai thai motifs were not markers of rank to begin with, through time and usage, certain designs came to be linked with royal robes and insignia. Motifs used in religious contexts, such as those representing deities, also became restricted from common use. This conservatism has resulted in a stagnation of Thai decorative design, spurring the Princess’s enthusiasm to update the art.”

Bringing us to: Being “Siwilai”

“Modern Siamese fashion began in the mid-19th century as part of a survival tactic in an era of European colonial expansion. To appear “civilized” or siwilai, in a new world order dominated by Europe, was to adapt Western symbols of dress, taste and value for local use.

Although tropical climate dictated more casual ways of dress, covering up – Western-style – became a way of appropriating the siwilai ways of the colonial powers. Geopolitics apart, the notion also came to symbolize the position and prestige of the elite in the Kingdom.

The fashion reference in the Princess’s collection are set against this historical dialog on siwilai. In particular, the Princess draws on the iconic influence of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, under whose vision Western couture houses such as Balmain, Dior and Valentino began to be inspired by elements of Thai traditional dress and textiles. With Siamese inspirations seeping into Western couture during the Ninth Reign, the “civilizing” process had reversed itself.

With Her Majesty Queen Sirikit it all had started. The Princess often notes how her collection would not be possible without the inspiration of Her Majesty. who recognized the necessity of fusing Western tailoring with traditional Thai dress, so it would become easier to wear. She directed Pierre Balmain to update several types of historical Thai consume, and designed a new code for traditional dress on state occasions.

Her Majesty Queen Sirikit first appeared on the world fashion stage accompanying His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his global state visits in 1960. Her wardrobe, designed by Pierre Balmain, was much talked about, particularly in its use of exquisite Thai silks. Soon after, the textile could be seen in collections of design houses like Christian Dior, Adele Simpson, Pauline Trigère and Valentino.”

Being Sirivannavari all of a sudden looks absorbingly fascinating.

“One of the Princess’s favorite new sketches is of a couple in embrace, but their veins and arteries entwine and expose like an anatomical study. Part neo-romantic and part surrealist, her images of choice are often beautiful, yet, on closer view, reveal a depth of emotions.

The Princess loves Scorsese movies, da Vinci drawings and stories of forbidden romance.

We enter the world of her imagination, through her own sketches and paintings, as well as the films, books, art and music which inspire her.

In between a nine-to-five roster of official engagements, she teeters between two contradictory worlds – one bound by ancient royal rituals and ceremonies, and the other committed to freedom.”

TCDC at Emporium