(Sun Fei Fei for Valentino campaign, Spring/Summer 2012)

As if the collapsed of the financial market in 2008 was not gloomy enough. We now have to hold our breath again watching another disaster unfold in Europe. Today’s high-end fashion market in the west is declining. This is why all major brands are now looking for new markets.

Most countries in Asia are now prime target for designer’s goods. This is proven by the number of high-end magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Numéro and L’Officiel with the launch of these upmarket editions from the north of Asia to the south – Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore to Indonesia.

(Bonnie Chen, Lina Zhang, Emma Wie, Zhang Xue and Ge Qi for Harper's Bazaar China)

In Thailand alone this year, French magazine L’Officiel will be another name that will launch its Thai edition serving across luxurious sectors from women products, men products, home & decoration products to jewellery and travel market – L’officiel, L’Officiel Hommes, L’officiel Decor, L’Officiel Watches and L’Officiel Voyage.

There is an interview clip by INSEAD with the Editor of Vogue China Angelica Cheung. She summed up very well the important of Vogue China to the luxury sector. I have to say that she is evidently smart and she clearly knows very well how to please her readers and her advertisers.

From the interview she talked about negative perception from ‘old-money’ toward ‘nouveau riche’. These is a perception in Asia that perceive nouveau riche as wealthy with bad taste. These are the kind of people who believe luxury means carrying a LV monogram bag or having a Burberry check pattern in their closet.

Instead of looking down on them, Cheung believes that it is better to accept and understand while help provide them with the right knowledge of luxury, she uses the word ‘educate’, as she believe that being tasteful is the process of learning.

But what is actually luxury? Is it about the price tag or is it the quality of the item? Let’s talk about this subject next time.

It’s been about 10 years since I first set foot on the fashion path. My first ever experience working as a real stylist happened with the one and only avant-garde magazine ‘DNA’. I know what you think but this magazine has nothing to do with the famous gay AUS magazine. It’s a fashion magazine that stood for individuality and for 10 years ago this was a pretty big break-through for Thai fashion. No one in fashion used digital cameras back then, we did every single fashion shoot on film and played around with polaroids.

I think it’s about time to post something to tribute it. Do something to remind me of a sweet glorious past. The magazine only lasted for 3 years. I worked there from the very first issue until the last one.

The magazine has its own two phases. The first one was ‘PROVE IT’. The magazine’s aims in the first year was to establish itself with readers, and feature artists and celebrities who stand for individuality. The next phase was ‘FEEL IT’. This was the most important and successful time for the magazine. It was the time that the magazine got bigger with fashion and stories contributed by international artists. At this time I created lots of original fashion editorials and wrote lots of features for the magazine. It was also the first time that a small Thai magazine ever had a world-famous supermodel on the cover!

The success of the magazine in Thailand was so big at the time. My name was synonymous with the magazine. It was at time that I became the heart of the magazine. Every single page would bare my identity.

10 years have past and looking back at that sweet time is only makes me proud and feel thankful for all the people who gave me that opportunity. Without those people at DNA, it wouldn’t be me today. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Looking back at those old fashion spreads makes me think how I would do it differently today. I feel that I’ve improved a lot over the years. And let’s hope I continue to do so in the future.

First picture : Photographed by Nat Pakobsantisuk | Styled by Pop Kampol

Retrospective DNA cover : Photographed by Nat Pakobsantisuk, Narongchai Wisavavaythee and Lukkana Virunanon | Styled by Pop Kampol

Alex Wek for DNA : Photographed by Mitchell McCormack

Here’s my latest piece of work for Wallpaper* Thai edition, February 2010. The theme of this cover is ‘Eco-friendly living’ – and I just realized that the cover actually looks a bit like the painting ‘American Gothic.’

Painted by Grant Wood in 1930, it’s considered one of the most important works of 20th century American art. What a coincidence! Both in the composition, pose and the message. This might be something from our subconscious; remembering our history of art classes at university.

We tried to be environmentally friendly and save energy while doing the shooting. We used the sun as our main source of light, spending 7 hours on the roof of the studio. This gave me a little bit of sun burn for a couple of days.

The clothes are spring/summer 2010 collections from Dior, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. And also lots of Thai designers that use eco-friendly materials and methods.

The magazine is out now for all Thai Wallpaper fans, and I hope everyone loves it :-))

This is my second time in Macau and it was absolutely more enjoyable than last time. I went there to do a fashion shooting with Honeymoon+Travel magazine, and Macau’s tourist board. We had the tour guide from the tourist board who was the best – all the time we were there, he treated us like royalty.

Since we were surrounded by casinos, it would have been a shame not to have tried gambling! We tried our luck on the dogs (greyhound racing) and while everyone else lost their money, I won a small fortune. I placed $10 bet and won $100.

Laos is like Thailand’s brother. Even though we speak different languages, they pretty much sound the same and I can guess the meaning. I believe our languages come from the same root.

We arrived in Vientiane in the morning when everything was calm and peaceful. The work started right away at the temples around the city. The temples here look absolutely stunning. They’re very old and very beautiful, like some kind of idyllic oriental retreats.

After many shots around the temples, we took some photos around the Victory Monument (Laos Arc de Triomphe). I noticed that people in Laos are very friendly and relaxed all the time.

I got the feeling that it would be a perfect place for someone who wants a quite life. They would find Laos to be heaven on earth.

In the night after the shooting we had a wonder around town to get a feeling to the place, and found out that a lot of teenagers go to a place called ‘Center Point’ just to have some hot soya milk and chat with their friends. How cute is that? This wouldn’t happen in Bangkok for sure. The kids in Bangkok prefer beers and cocktails to soya milk.

The magazine has already come out and I hope everyone loves the fashion pictures.