A Decade of Thakoon

When Thakoon Panichgul calls something “literally awesome,” he literally means awesome. As in, bewildering, astonishing, overwhelming. The kind of awesome that pushes you forward, keeps you up and on your toes, that makes you want to be better by virtue of also making you think that you are better. For the designer, Steven Meisel shooting his clothes, Grace Coddington styling his clothes, and ten years later, an anniversary that promises a future more robust than its impressive past — that is literally awesome.

The brand’s tenth birthday is being celebrated with a capsule collection, pulling silhouettes from his decade-old archive to be sold exclusively at Barneys, which picked up his label after its 2004 launch. “Some pieces were immediately obvious,” Mr. Panichgul says. “The peony dress, and the floral sequin jacket popped into my head at the outset. For me these will always have that special pull, and feel essential in the most indulgent way.”

There’s a cut-out gown, several smart party dresses, at least two nods to his signature masculine shirting that comes spiked with just a faint splash of femininity and one sequined jacket that seems to want to tell you that in 2004, its incipient incarnation was paraded on the shoulders of a very special woman. And that of course, there’s no reason said woman can’t now be you.

Last week, I drove to Seacaucus, New Jersey, where for the first time, I was exposed to the literal brick-and-mortar photo album that is a clothing warehouse. There, one copy of every garment Mr. Panichgul has ever sent down his runway stood like soldiers, pristinely wrapped in plastic — and then in garment bags — begging to be rediscovered. On the extracts, Panichgul says, “I am always onto the next, so it’s sort of out of sight, out of mind. Like a yearbook you store away.”

Then again, though, in sight, in mind. I found the red and blue gingham puffer jacket in a garment bag marked A/W11. It gently reminded me of the first season I ever covered fashion week; when women across the West Side Highway ran up and down in this puffer — the puffer — marching to the welcome beat of warmth.

Then there were the radical disco cowboy printed shorts with metallic trim and complimenting, counter-print blouses. These reminded me of the first Thakoon show to which I was ever invited. I saw the yellow and green and red and pink striped sweaters he made for Fall ’12, the ivory boucle, shoulder-padded jackets that predate the popularity incited by Isabel Marant and the various prints — always indicative of Thakoon but never overpowering — that have been interspersed throughout every season.

Panichgul notes that his woman has evolved. “Initially I think my tendency at the start was more overtly and consistently feminine. As I have grown, and generally become more grounded, I find myself weaving an enhanced level of sophistication and depth into the language of the Thakoon collections. Like the women we dress, the expression and execution of references and the overarching aesthetic are more finely tuned.”

Of course, this isn’t a bad thing. “I know myself well, and I make decisions very quickly. I know exactly what I like. So if I look back eight years, ten years, or even two, it is a bit funny that I can see certain threads that bind my aesthetic together – they are there unintentionally. It sort of reminds me why we are here, ten years later.”

Pretty awesome.

Photos by Nicole Cohen