EXCERPTS FROM INTERVIEW WITH JEFFREY PANGPUTHIPONG
Head of Creative at WHITEFOX LABEL part of GMM GRAMMY
Head of Creative at WHITEFOX LABEL part of GMM GRAMMY
Jeffrey Pangputhipong was born and raised in Bangkok, somewhere in that glamorous middle ground “between hi-so and celebrity.” His childhood was spent in the company of beautiful, energetic women such as his mother and her friends. These captivating muses who carried that innate je ne sais quoi inspired Jeffrey. Wherever they went, the extravagant parties naturally followed.
“There used to be a lot of parties in my home, the aunties loved throwing parties and I would dance with them” describes Jeffrey. He goes on to recall one party hosted by his mother where he was particularly irritated with her because she was pining over “some man.” That man turned out to be Mick Jagger. Turns out he had had a concert and there was nowhere to go after, so naturally they ended up at the Pangputhipongs.
“I grew up with a lot of farangness.”
Jeffrey’s early life was a glittering collision of farang pop culture, foreign songs and romantic Italian films, all thanks to his mother. “My mum was a rom-com girl,” and so his introduction to cinema was through films such as An Affair to Remember rather than the usual children’s classics. But that Italianness is still in him to this day, and he believes it was what sparked his interest in fashion.
Describing something as “very Armani” was heavily ingrained in the Pangputhipongs’ vocabulary. Fashion classics such as The Devil Wears Prada also led a young Jeffrey to yearn for the streets of New York City. But it was the Prada Fall Winter 2007 collection that truly sealed the deal.
“That was the collection that *gasp*, made me love it. Sasha Pivarova. There was no internet back then - tragic. There were blogs such as style.com. But the most inspiring was Vogue.”
Arriving in London, Jeffrey stood out as the one of only two Thai students in his entire year group.
“I didn’t feel Asian,” he says. “Maybe it was scandalous that I didn’t feel Asian. One of the Asian girls came up to me and said sometimes I forget you’re Asian and I said, same. I think it was the farangness in me that pushed a lot of our neighbours away.”
Yet he wasn’t performing farangness either. His work was always laced with a certain Thai-ness, as he knew it would stand out. It was easy to rely on the fact that many of the tutors wouldn’t know what he was talking about if he were to ramble on about the mythology of the Ramakien or so on. Until he was met with fashion tutor Judith Watts who corrected him on one of the Ramas during a project about the westernization of Thai attire where he was understandably taken aback.
He carried that attitude into his final project (a “fucking mess” in his words), an online magazine called Dacherich “about attitude.” Jeffrey took inspiration from his peers at Central Saint Martins who could make thrifted clothes looks as though they were off-the-runway. That was an attitude in itself.
Dach-erich - its a form of acting. You can fake it til’ you make it! It’s the art of living and how you live fashionably. It’s the personality you project outwards.
“Everyone called me Jackie at university, because of Jackie Onassis. Because I was classy and had my own energy. It could be my Thai-ness. They like Thai people. We know our beauty and that’s what makes us special.”
SEE FULL STORY IN ARTIFACT ISSUE N°1