The definitive difference separating expats and Thais from tourists is that the former usually discover after a few weeks that to walk around in public near naked is not really the accepted fashion in Phuket, but then that begs an important question; What is Phuket style?

We all know that English men wear pinstriped suits with a little bowler hat, Italian men wear shirts unbuttoned to the belly button and German men wear speedos everywhere...
doing everything. Well no, they don’t, not really, well on rare occasions.

Methaya Huaihongthong, fashion designer and founder of the Methaya Beauty World suggests, “The starting point of fashion is to begin from yourself and change every day.” She advises to factor in your body shape, skin complexion, colour of clothes and nails and different accessories. She added, “I suggest colorful clothes should be worn separately as
black and white should, you should match your clothes well and make everyone look at you.”

Sounds like great advice, but we are all not fashion designers so is it more important for some than others? Chadchanit Chorkaew, a company sales representative believes fashion
is paramount to the success of her job, “I have to go out to see many people and I think how one looks affects the interaction between myself and other people.”

So, in the workplace it seems that to dress well, to dress smartly and to dress professionally is important, but is this the same thing as being fashionable? Someone who doesn’t have to conform to the office dress code and who considers herself to be quite fashionable is Raweewan Kwamriang, a sales assistant in a department store, “My style is quite sexy, I like Thai style more than others and I think Phuket people and especially teenagers are trendy and love to dress fashionably.”

Raweewan said that she liked Thai style so it seems we’re getting closer to answering our question... she was wearing skinny jeans, a bright pink top and a white leather jacket, apparently this is Thai style, but is this Phuket style?

Bangkok, could be considered to be the epicenter of Thai society, style and culture, and therefore its inhabitants could logically be referred to as the those who create ‘Thai style’,however Bangkok has a completely different climate and social zones to Phuket.

However, Wasana Thanomsak a Marketing manager of a company believes that this is not a contributing factor and said, “I think Phuket fashion is still following Bangkok. Even
though we are an international town the majority of the people I see are still wearing the same clothes.”

Khun Wasana believes that what is relevant is that although they are not dressing differently, they do appear confident which is arguably the most important aim of looking good.

Fashion conscious Khun Methaya advises us mere clothes horses that if we want to dress in Phuket style, then we should dress according to the weather, “It’s hot, so although you can wear boots, you should also wear little shorts and vests too.”

Therefore fashion should, of course, take into account where one is, and adopt a different style for either a department store, beach or market. On a sidenote, I have discovered that if one wishes to spend a hassle free day on the beach without beachboys inquiring whether you need a beach chair or want to participate in watersports all you have to do is wear socks and shoes, trousers and a smart shirt for your relaxing yet uncomfortable and stifling day on the beach.

So, one should dress according to the climate and where you are, however these gems are coming from young and pretty Thai girls, would it be the same for say, an older foreign man? Dieter Malditz, a tourist in Patong from Germany said, “I think fashion is not important and I’m not fashionable, I like quality clothes more than fashion, I don’t
care about fashion.” Mr Malditz might have been unnecessarily doing himself down though as he did not commit the most obvious fashion blunder of white man in a hot country; wearing socks with sandals and he was not wearing speedos.

“Most older tourists like me spend the majority of our time in restaurants or going shopping. I think wearing a swimming suit in public areas except the beach and to swim is not polite” he said.

Another lady who thinks that fashion is not always so important is Ramida Boonrasri, a website designer who also sells ‘fashionable’ clothes at the weekend market, she said “Fashion is only important if we need to go to a special event. I think fashion is just a guideline to make us more confident. You should dress in the way that is most suitable and the way that makes you happy, because fashion is not for everyone.”

The diverse mixture of expatriate cultures in Phuket will surely not result in a homogeneous expression of foreign fashion and attempts to identify said people would result in little more than a futile exercise in racial stereotyping. Similarly the numbers of Thai people that hail from different corners of Thailand, who work in different professions, in different sectors and with different sections of society would probably not dress the same and why would they?

Khun Methaya believes, “It’s not important to be fashionable on a normal day, but on holiday as we have the freedom to wear what we want then it’s an opportunity to truly express ourselves.”

So, this brings us back to square one, one should dress individually and express oneself in a way that makes one feel confident and happy. So if you want to wear speedos with a tight pink vest with sparkles on, why don’t you? You never know, you may just be dressing in the height of Phuket fashion and Phuket style.