Like with many celebrities who live a portion of their life in the public eyes, there's a certain discrepancy between what people think Polpat Asavaprapha is like, and who he really is. The man in question, however, doesn't give it much thought.
"I don't even think of it as discrepancy. It's a system I laid down myself from the beginning. Everyone gets to see what I think they should see. Of course there's some misunderstandings but it's close to how I plan it," explained the man behind one of the most prominent names in contemporary Thai fashion and lifestyle that comprises three fashion lines: Asava, ASV and White Asava, and a restaurant, Sava Dining.
"Will you say you're calculating?" Life asked, to which the quick-thinking, fast-talking designer took a rare, long pause to think … hard.
"I don't feel I am. At least, not knowingly, although that's the idea people may get about me," he said, with a self-depreciating laugh. "I think that's the way humans should be … naturally. Everyone doesn't need to know everything because, it's not like knowing everything about me would make their, or my life, any better, right?"
But there's indeed a perplexing discrepancy when it comes to what many people think of him, and the man addressed mostly by his nickname "Moo". Polpat's outspokenness attracts as many haters as admirers all these past 10 years as founder/creative director of Asava and Thailand's authoritative fashion voice. Scrolling down the comments section in his Instagram posts during his two most scandalous periods -- first the airing of The Face Men Thailand for which he's a mentor, and second after the Miss Universe 2017 pageant when diehard beauty queen fanatics blamed his evening dress for Miss Universe Thailand's failure to take home the crown -- could cause anyone dread. Coupled with his brimming confidence -- which could come across as sheer arrogance -- it's not surprising the Polpat Asavaprapha seen by the public is, well, pretty bitchy.
"Very bitchy. Yes, they must think of me as very bitchy," he said, in repetition as if to make light of the situation. "But that's the way I am, you either love or hate me. And it's the same with me, I only love or hate people, that's who my parents brought me up to be -- I was raised to know what I like and dislike. You can say I'm judgemental but I was taught to have my own point of view, and to respond honestly to that point of view. So, it's OK for people to hate me because that's the point of view they're entitled to have. But I couldn't care less about their point of view either!"
But what about another, and probably, more real Polpat? Our one-hour conversation reveals quite a different person. He's confident, that much is indisputable, but Polpat's also modest in a sense that he's so at ease with discussing the many mistakes and follies he made in his life, let alone blaming nothing but his own "big head" for them.
"There's a time when Asava was too big for its own good. We kept expanding the company: opening more shops, hiring more people, renting new office space and producing more clothes than we could sell. I was overconfident with the success that came in the first few years and was losing focus. I didn't do a business plan like I had been doing. I was eating more than I could chew. It's like I was stuck in a black hole.
"Our business was in the red. I mean, everything's so red you could see it even when you're in a black hole! There were thousands of clothes left in the stock and we had supplies worth over 30 million baht."
Polpat's crisis management process started with himself. He quit his partying lifestyle and concentrated on getting his brand back on track. Facing the problem head-on, he began to liquidate inventory and return Asava to its true essence.
"I realised the problem back then was not just about business, it's also about our soul. We're losing our essence. It's the time when Milin was at its peak and Vatanika was gaining momentum, so the trend was about sexy women who dared to bare. We began to make something risqué, like they all did, and abandoned the core of Asava women.
"Of course I was warned by friends and even customers. But I was too full of myself to listen. Our loyal customers began to disappear and even as we gained a new customer base, they had no brand loyalty. When I decided we'd return to our essence, there was some opposition from my team who feared we'd lose more profits if we went against trends. But I had nothing else to lose. Thankfully, it was the right decision. We began to win back our old customers and by our sixth year, we started to have a clear direction as to who the Asava women really are."
Asava the brand might have been in existence for 10 years, but the rough image of Asava women came much earlier -- those refined Manhattan society girls who strut from galleries to parties, and whose wardrobe is defined by the style during the transitional period between the later years of Isaac Mizrahi and Marc Jacobs' earliest collections for Louis Vuitton: white blouse, grey pleated skirts, black pointy-toed stilettos and clutch bag. Although a white blouse and grey pencil skirt might no longer be the brand's staples (it's too niche, as Polpat admitted), this very vision of the quintessential Asava woman continues to permeate pages of local fashion spreads, glamorous parties and most notably, Asava's very own carefully-curated, luminous front row in the form of his favourite friends and muses, namely Suquan Bulakul, Ann Thongprasom, Taksaorn Paksukcharern, Supornthip Choungrangsee, Nualphan Lamsam, Intira Thanavisuth, Sitamanin Susamawattanakul, Duang Poshyanonda and Pattree Bhakdibutr, to name a few.
The aforementioned Asava women may be made up of the country's most beautiful and famous females, but Polpat's perception of beauty is never skin-deep. He's happy to dress women of all ages and colours with a genuine, empowering belief that true beauty comes from being comfortable in your own skin.
Not that everyone else agrees, as obviously when he carried this belief onto the Miss Universe Thailand stage designing the evening dress for the 10 finalists during the local contest, and the evening gown competition for the Miss Universe stage. Despite all the three MUTs he outfitted -- Aniporn Chalermburanawong, Chalita Suansane and Maria Poonlertlarp -- making a historical entrance into the top 10, let alone his dresses being given the top score by respectable fashion media, the internet turned against him after the Swedish-Thai beauty finished just in the top five of the Miss Universe 2017 pageant. The hardcore fans blamed his dress as a failure when it comes to enhancing Poonlerlarp's slim figure and giving her enough confidence during the top five round.
"We pick a girl who's stick thin and we should embrace her the way she is. Using a dress to add hip and breasts to a girl is obsolete -- that's not a modern way to empower women. I always told Maria she belongs to 0.00001% of human population to be born with this figure and she should be proud. I mean, if Maria couldn't be confident with her body, who else could? There's nothing to change. Absolutely nothing to fix. This is in line with Asava's message, but it might not be for everyone. Foie gras is not for everyone!
"It would be a lie if I said nothing gets to me. Internet trolling doesn't affect the core of who I am and my everyday life, but it's a little annoying. However, harsh comments and trolling don't affect my feeling the way little, random compliments could. You have to understand that people with good heart and intentions are not those who waste their time on the comments sections. They are real people living their everyday life, but they do exist. I once met an immigration policeman who, after stamping my passport, looked me in the eyes and said, 'I'm your support, Khun Moo, Maria's dress is very beautiful'. This kind of thing fills me with joy."
As preparation for his big 10th anniversary celebration on Wednesday, Polpat decided to pass the torch of dressing Miss Universe Thailand to Milin Yuvacharuskul while focusing his attention on the many projects that would come to life on the gala night, one of which is a short film by the revered Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. Careful not to reveal any details or incomplete footage to the press, Polpat vaguely described it as a "contemplation on the means by which we humans are divided".
"And the key message is quite in line with Asava -- we are divided by taste," he phrased it.
"Doing this film is my expensive indulgence. I want to reach out to people who are not our usual fashion crowd and I think collaborating with Pen-Ek is a wonderful experience. My team is also very happy because we get to do something new, something different, which they could be proud of. It's something very inspiring to them as well. I think it's essential for creative business to make sure you keep your staff inspired and motivated.
"Look at me, honestly, I really hate getting dressed. You might not believe it but getting dressed, having make-up and doing photo shoots are part of the job I really dislike. But it's something I need to do. You can't be head of a fashion company looking like a rag or you'll never be able to inspire anyone."
"Because it's part of your job?" we joked.
"Because it's part of my life. Part of the brand. Part of everything. Because my job is my life."
