DADDY COOL
Pa Tuek, one of Thailand’s most popular and photographed style icons, on being fashionable in his 60s
You are prone to catching the fashion bug when you have a father who would “change his outfit four times a day, even if all he did was sit on the porch”, Pusit Patthanaprakan says of his own dressy dad. Better known as “Pa Tuek”, this snappy dresser (clad in his dad’s vintage brown jacket from 1930s London) is one of the most recognisable style icons in Bangkok’s fashion and social scene — with his bushy-beard, Bluto-esque frame and fancy hat that is just impossible to miss. The 63-year-old has unknowingly become a staple at talk-of-the-town events and the father of fashion to thousands of stylish teens across Thailand, all because he simply likes to dress up.
“People ask me, aren’t you shy when people look at you? My answer is if no one turned to look at me, I’d go back inside to change,” he says, bellowing with laughter at the idea; partly in a self-deprecating manner, but mostly at how fun the process of doing so would be.
Being the cool old dandy that he is, he proudly scrolls through his iPhone to show us his latest acquisition: a Saint Laurent beach shirt off this year’s runway he miraculously found at the second hand section in Chatuchak Market. Still, he’s not a label junkie and insists that fashion is anything but ludicrous, especially to worried parents and naysayers. “It’s not true that they won’t be able to make a living out of it — this is a really big and serious industry. The latest Balmain T-shirt I saw in London was like £20,000 (1 million baht)! I know a lot of kids that aren’t good with school but have a lot of expertise with their specialised skills.
“What I’m saying is, if you truly like something, go all the way with it and you will surely find success or get something good out of it. Who would have imagined anyone would take notice of me at this age? The press comes to talk to me every day, the younger generation come up to
talk to me — I’m not like other typical old people. I mean, I got an award [from Cheeze magazine] for being the most stylish man when I was 60.”
Pusit may have only attracted the media’s style radar a few years back — not that he ever hankered for it — but his dressy disposition has existed since he was a model in his university days. It stemmed from his love for movies and the figures he looked up to, which included obvious matinee icons of his time: Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando, but also Kukrit Pramoj and Chatichai Choonhavan.
He dreams of a stylish Thai leader and frustratingly laments: “Politicians need to be ready in that aspect too. Who’s going to want to listen to you speak in the parliament with that hair and outfit? It’s a shame for old singers also — they still have such a great voice but become outmoded because they don’t follow fashion. Even if you don’t have money, you should still develop your taste.”
“We are not dogs or ducks that don’t need to wear anything,” he adds fervently. “To dress up is a part of humanity. When you visit a city, it’s the people that show how sophisticated and civilised a nation is — not the nice buildings and nice cars.” Nice cars, however, were the way he made his fortune. At only 24, Pusit moved to London when his wife became pregnant and became a pioneer in importing expensive cars to Thailand. But his car-dealing days were also riddled with disasters, such as the 1997 meltdown, thus taking him to Japan, Africa and Russia to do whatever it took to survive: construction work, buying ivory to be carved into Buddhist amulets, importing antiques.
Today the family is “comfortable” with his wife’s tour company, but he wants to tell all his figurative sons and daughters on the style scene that they can’t only depend on flukes he was lucky enough to come across during his lifetime. “It’s not just my own daughters that I tell this to.
If I could do it all again, I would definitely sit at the front of the classroom,” he laughs.
“Don’t gallivant around and screw up — you need to take it step by step. In the meantime, never stop watching movies, because it shows what a country is thinking. After a lifetime of spotting clothes, cars, antiques, Buddhist sculptures, I want to tell kids that if you like something, you need to develop your taste. When you consume a lot of movies, music and books your taste will improve. You need to see a lot or else you’d never know what’s good or not. If you don’t see anything, you’ll think whatever it is, is beautiful, because you’ve never seen anything better than that.”
As a household in which fashion is in their bones, it is a given that both of Pusit’s (dressy) daughters are currently working in fashion in London. Their conversations run something along the lines of, “No dad, Saint Laurent is getting too commercial and common this year. Raf Simons is better now”, means the family is constantly on trend, but what may be a surprise is how Pusit is a devout Buddhist.
In fact, it is the dhamma channel that is always on, next to the three different fashion channels on other screens in his house.
Moving to Bangkok from the South to continue his higher education at 16, Pusit lived at a temple due to the lack of dormitories back then. As religion has long been in his life, he’s fully aware of both its good and bad sides, but still has the faith.
“People worry about giving alms to fake monks,” he comments. “But really, would they become monks if they weren’t that unfortunate? Don’t think too much and just share. I always teach my kids to make merit when they can — these people begging for money are angels in disguise testing them. When you think that, it’s much easier on your mind than judging them and questioning why they won’t go to work.”
Well, one thing’s for sure: kindness never goes out of fashion.
When you visit a city, it’s the people that show how sophisticated and civilised a nation is