Within each fashion week, there is hope for seeing fresh perspectives and new approaches to dressing. And while this season had many high points, the current scene still feels clouded by repetition. With the same players shuffling through the same design houses, the narratives circulating feel beyond familiar, they feel predictable. Enter What Do You Want New York? (WDYW New York), a collective showcase that has carved out space to platform Thai designers at New York Fashion Week for over four years. The platform,receiving continuous support from the Thai Trade Center New York (DITP), produces multi-designer runway shows aimed at expanding the conversation on global designers within the Western fashion landscape.
“Thai designers aren’t just limited to one specific aesthetic.They are expressing a full range of concepts,” says Tan Sawaddichai, project director and buyer for WDYW New York. We speak shortly after he produced Up in the Sky, their February 2026 show held at One World Observatory NYC. The venue—known as the tallest building in NYC—was a deliberate choice, “a space that mirrors the ambition of bringing regional perspectives into an international dialogue, where multiple cultures and creative points meet,” WDYW New York explains. With the event towering over the NYC skyline, the production physically embodied the rising aspirations of the international design community.
DESIGNER Landmeé PHOTOGRAPHY Dijun Wang
When asked if there is a current design aesthetic in Bangkok, Sawaddichai meets the question with a laugh and a knowing smile. The premise itself feels too narrow. Instead, he describes the vibrant and cosmopolitan pulse in Bangkok. The city has a long legacy of production & fabrication for many industries, including fashion and jewelry design—often for famed European fashion houses. Now, Thai designers have begun to establish their own studios, favoring to launch their own lines.
This season, Sawaddichai invited acclaimed Thai stylist Suthee Jonasson to collaborate. “This wave of Thai fashion designers, they are working within classic Thai construction techniques while having their designs live fully in the present,“ says Jonasson. Honoring their sense of Thai identity through nuance shows in the work. The heritage is present through craftsmanship versus overt symbolism. It is clear that what defines these designers is not a single aesthetic, but a shared sensibility of redefining modern Thai design, using their heritage as building blocks for collections that are full of dimension and imagination. Tradition and modernity can often be opposing forces, but in the case of Up in the Sky, both elements work in tandem to shape these fresh new fashion voices.
DESIGNER Sarran PHOTOGRAPHY Dijun Wan
This season’s group included designers Vickteerut, Takara Wong Studios, Landmeé and Sarran, each presenting a collection developed specifically for Up in the Sky. Vickteerut worked with ideas of structure and memory, transforming childhood paper-fold geometry into sharp tailoring and a high contrast palette. Jackets and outerwear featured bold cutouts and exaggerated lapels that seemed to peel away from models’ shoulders into poetic silhouettes.
Takara Wong Studios focused on statement pieces and separates that embraced individuality found in music subcultures. The mix of elements felt rebellious: houndstooth, plaids, fringe, faux fur and flames were layered together in the gender-fluid collection. The intentional clashing of materials championed character over polish.
DESIGNER Landmeé PHOTOGRAPHY Thanawat Chuvanichanon
Landmeé, in a collection titled Passion Changes Everything, leaned into 1980s-esque drama. The work had unapologetically campy embroideries, full skirts and more that channeled a very sensual yet romantic energy. One dress made from silver sequined fringe had rounded puff shoulders that gave the dress a heart shape, embodying the designer’s inspiration: the power of love.
Sarran closed the presentation with jewelry rooted in Thai identity and historical exchange, marking the brand’s NYFW debut. Ornate, floral-inspired designs—created using traditional Thai techniques such as metal weaving—seemed to grow out of models’ shoulders or float around their heads in clouds, each perfectly draped to the human form. Designer Sarran Youkongdee translated regional landscapes and spiritually symbolic jewelry into these sculptural art pieces.
DESIGNER Vickteerut PHOTOGRAPHY Thanawat Chuvanichanon
Beyond the runway, WDYW New York serves as a fashion incubator. Each season, four designers are supported in launching their lines at NYFW for both press exposure and consumer market access. The platform has partnered with 3NY, an independent Soho boutique operating for 17 years on Wooster St, to carry select pieces from each designer. Currently 40% of their inventory includes curated styles from need-to-know Asian designers.
As the fashion community looks ahead, the need for more diverse fashion voices has never been stronger. WYDW New York’s Up In the Sky show proved that Bangkok design is not a niche conversation, it’s one that you need to be a part of. The event presented fresh talent that moved through craft, experimentation, heritage, and global perspective, all while showing beautiful work that we’d all love to be wearing right now. ❤
DESIGNER Sarran PHOTOGRAPHY Thanawat Chuvanichanon
DESIGNER Takara Wong PHOTOGRAPHY Thanawat Chuvanichanon
CREDITS
PHOTOGRAPHER Thanawat Chuvanichanon, PROJECT DIRECTOR Tan Sawaddichai, PROJECT MANAGER Julius Stone, SUPPORTED BY Thai Trade Center New York (DITP) & Gifts Tourism Authority of Thailand, STYLIST Suthee Jonasson, CASTING DIRECTOR Max Komthongvijit, MODEL LINE-UP LEAD Jiaxin (Ella) Xu, BEAUTY DIRECTOR Viwat Phuengthai
VICKTEERUT TEAM
Teerut Wongwatanasin, Aurapraphan Sudhinaraset, Soratri Kahatthar, Takara Wong team, Thakorn Wannawong, Chalit Injew
LANDMEE TEAM
Netdaw Vattanasimakon, Sutachol Vattanasimakon, Thouchakon Vattanasimakon, Anon Singtongla, Duangpawan Luanguthai
SARRAN TEAM
Sarran Youkongdee, Manutsavin Boonyakorn, Pitshaya Praigaew, Nasongphorn Thongkukiatkul, Warrasruang Samuttaphan, Chiratha Losaprom
TAKARA WONG TEAM
Thakorn Wannawong, Chalit Injew
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