Happiest girl in the world
What in the world made me end up in Bangkok Thailand for this vehicle? Not something I could have imagined during the summer of 2019.
In that particular summer, I received an invitation to the Thai International Fashion Week, and the ‘Celebration of Silk’ event. I was offered a fully paid participation in this event. What? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the invitation, so I didn’t take too much notice. I thought it was some kind of joke. But then I got a reminder and decided to dive in anyway to see if this was real. And it was! I felt like the luckiest girl in the world and decided to grab this opportunity with both hands. The only thing I had to invest was my time and skills.
Celebration of Silk
Thailand has a rich culture in the production of hand-woven silk fabrics.
On a special night in Bangkok, in a beautiful Royal Navy hall, by the water, with lights all over … and with thousands of special guests, these fabrics formed the backdrop of a special fashion show. In this show, ambassadors and other officials from countries all over the world display a fashion design by a designer from their own country, made from Thai silk.
For this occasion I was invited to dress the Dutch ambassador Kees Rade and his wife Katharina.
Ambassador of the Netherlands in Bangkok Kees Rade and his wife Katharina, on the catwalk of Celebration of Silk in designs by Saskia ter Welle.
This was really a special evening! It was the end of an intensive week of shows (which I will write about later) and the atmosphere was great.
It was truly special to meet Rahima Dirkse, Miss Netherlands 2018, who showed one of my designs that I had created for the fashion week:
Rahima Dirkse, Miss Netherlands 2018, shows a jumpsuit designed and made by Saskia ter Welle.
Photoshoot
Since I was leaving for Thailand without my own photographer, I decided to ask Robbin van Turnhout to capture these clothes in his studio.
For Katharina, I made a dress with loose-fitting strips of fabric. The fabric is deliberately frayed at the sides, making the special colour turquoise visible. Over this, a matching coat. The shoes were expertly lined by shoemaker Van der Sluis. Unfortunately, they did not fit Katharina on arrival in Bangkok. That is the tricky part of working at a distance.
For Kees, I made a silk shirt with a silk suit. For this I only used the graphic middle motif of the fabric, and not the border motifs. This prevented the suit from getting a ‘tribal look’. This makes these clothes not only wearable in Bangkok, but also suitable to wear in The Hague or Amsterdam.
