Fashion Week’s Favorite: Thakoon Panichgul
by Amanda Wines 

 

Panichgul is young but he very well may be one of the designers of our future

Born in Thailand, Thakoon Panichgul relocated to the United States with his family at the age of eleven. Having a mother who was a seamstress at Pendleton Woolen Mills definitely inspired this young man and he soon became obsessed with fashion magazines. The designer grew up in Nebraska and went on the attend Boston University at his mother’s request. He graduated with a business degree and was immediately off to New York. We all know where fashion magazines lead and that’s straight to the city!

Panichgul is young but he very well may be one of the designers of our future. As we have seen in the last ten years our designers are getting older and retiring. With the retirement comes the question of who will be there to dress us tomorrow. Luckily for us, Thakoon is here to save the day!  By the time he graduated from Boston University he already had completed a summer internship with Showroom Seven, which is a press and sale showroom. 

Wasting no time he became an assistant in the fashion features department at Harpers Bazaar Magazine and really learned the industry. Finally realizing that he was more into fashion design than he originally thought and having more experience under his belt; he began classes at Parsons the New School For Design. After graduation he earned a gig with production of J.Crew, which was his second internship in the fashion industry.

Armed with the little skills learned from pattern making and sketching classes, Panichgul did what most would consider a huge career risk

He produced a small collection and used his previous connections to show at places like Barney's and Bergdorf's the fashion Olympus of New York. And it paid off. They loved his collection, but alas there was not enough to make a buy possible. Instead he sold the lines to Ikram in Chicago and Kirna Zabete in New York. This all led to success because when the next collection was produced he was ready with a small show, hair and makeup artists and models. Surprisingly he was viewed by the editors of some of New York’s best magazines and was purchased by twenty stores directly after. The coolest part is that some of the stores who had first bought the line had employees who decided to intern with the designer.

Since introducing his first line in 2004 he quickly has become a repeat offender on the favorites category. Now we are entering 2010 and Thakoon is still designing strong looks that are loved by many. In the last few years the designer has dressed many famous women including: Sarah Jessica Parker, Demi Moore, Rachel Bilson and of course Michelle Obama. He has received much press coverage since dressing the first lady but he hardly needs it seeing as how his clothes speak for him.

 

Known for his great dresses in which he designs in basic styles with renewed detailing, he’s definitely hitting the fast track

 

Prints, floral’s, neutrals and lots of colors seem to be where Thakoon Panichgul’s mind is for his pre-spring 2010 and spring 2010 lines. This is his sixth year in the fashion business and he gets even better with each season. I have a feeling this designer is going to be around to become a classic.

This season we are seeing a lot of new prints and Thakoon was one of the first. Eighties inspired looks such as bright blues and sharp a-symmetrical lines are obvious in his Spring ready to wear 2010 collection. I personally love the a-symmetrical look because it really makes the fashion obsessed stand out from the rest. Cocktail dresses in all different patterns were insanely plentiful for the in-between season as well as nude colors. Usually we see nude colors mixed with other simple colors but added with a punch of bright they really look new.

In my opinion no one item looks exactly the same. I’m also starting to think mid-drifts are back because tube tops are getting shorter and more frequent in this runway show. Watch out or you may get yourself into the “What Not To Wear” critiques with some of these tummy baring pieces.  All the blue makes the looks seem especially light and calm which is such a nice change from all the winter mood-setting colors. If you’re looking out of your window at snow right now just remember Thakoon is bringing spring and soon

 

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Designer Thakoon Panichgul

Fashion Writer Amanda Wines

Images Thakoon Panichgul

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