On the World Stage
Los Angeles designer Coco Kliks helped kick off the opening celebration for Thailand Exhibition 2005, a newly launched trade show featuring products and services from Thailand.
The trade show, held June 16–19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, featured a mix of Thai fashions, furniture, home furnishings and art. But on the runway it was all Coco.
The designer showed a range of pieces from her recent collections.
“We showed a collage of things,” she said. “I wanted to show a year’s worth of wardrobe from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter.”
Kliks describes herself as half Thai/half American. She was born and raised in Thailand, but has lived in more countries than she can count. “I was around the world before I was two,” she said.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and founded her contemporary/young designer collection five years ago.
Kliks said she received an enthusiastic reaction to her runway show at Thai Exhibition 2005. “The Thai people loved the fashion show. They were excited to see a Thai girl doing good on the world stage,” she said.
“There aren’t a lot of Thai designers out there in the world market.There are a lot of Thai designers in Thailand, but here, there’s basically me, Koi and Thakoon,” Kliks added, referring to the labels designed by Los Angeles designer Nunthirat “Koi” Suwannagate and New York designer Thakoon Panichgul.
“I don’t know what those two are doing, but I would like to hook up with them at some point,” she said.
—Alison A. Nieder
