Up-and-coming designer Chu Suwannapha lived many lives and traversed three continents before venturing into fashion design.
This week, as Pitti Uomo’s designer project, he’s taking his Chulaap brand to yet another stage, the one with the most international visibility.
A Thailand native, Suwannapha enrolled in economic studies while cultivating a passion for fashion, somehow triggered by his family’s and four sisters’ conservative and traditional looks. After running a fashion boutique in Bangkok named after his full first name Chularp, the creative left his country and moved to Paris to attend the prestigious Esmod school.
After that, he moved again and finally found his sweet spot in South Africa.
“When I came here, I didn’t know anybody in Cape Town and I had to find a way to take care of myself, so what I did was I started working as a fashion stylist, which I had never done before,” he said, Zooming in from a factory in South Africa, busy prepping his men’s spring 2024 collection.
“That’s how I started building my name in the country,” he said, mentioning creative gigs including as fashion editor for O, The Oprah Magazine as well as freelancing for GQ, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Glamour, among other titles.
In 2015, a creative impulse triggered the birth of Chulaap and although he didn’t realize it at first, the brand’s key codes have been informed since the early days by Suwannapha’s inner circle of friends and family on both sides of the Indian Ocean.
“I think positivity and mix-and-match and how South African people look, the way they dress, the way they talk. All of this inspires me,” he said.
“The people that I know, they are quite loud people, there’s something tasty and delicious about them. They are happy people, loud-spoken, very straightforward. And that’s how I like it,” he said.
Often referred to as the “prince of prints,” Suwannapha is certainly not afraid of clashing patterns, piling them atop one another, be they batik, ombre, tie-dye, wild animal or check motifs that seemingly incorporate different cultures and walks of life.
They express the designer’s love for his adoptive country and never come across as too cliché, applied to boxy and loose silhouettes that are wearable, albeit flamboyant.
“My brand is not about just one market, or a niche market, it’s more about a bold style, lots of prints, lots of color, textures. Fashion for me has no rules, you wear whatever works for you not because of the trends telling you what to wear and what to buy,” Suwannapha said. “Just be yourself… prints and colors are the DNA of Chulaap and we won’t change.”
All garments are manufactured in South Africa using textiles sourced in the country, sometimes from deadstock, but the designer wishes he could expand production to other areas in the continent.
This is testament to his enthusiasm for and appreciation of local culture and talents. Even though he still feels like an “outsider” within the country’s creative scene, he’s all about exchange and cross-pollination.
“My brand is also always collaborating with different artists and extending the exposure and opportunity to other designers… I think that we have so many creative and talented people at the moment in South Africa, it just really depends on who they meet at the right time, and I want to give these kids an opportunity for them to grow better and bigger,” he said.
Chulaap’s spring collection is inspired by pirates, but Suwannapha made it clear there won’t be references to nautical style or pirate movies. Rather, “it’s more like my imagination of what I’d like pirates to look like if they were still alive. It’s like a new dress code for pirates, showcasing everyone’s personality,” he said.
Building on his signature loose and breezy silhouettes, the lineup skews toward a streetwear-leaning reinvention of suits with boxy blazers paired with pants or shorts, some done in corduroy. They bear prints inspired by the ocean and the undersea world, with lobster and mermaid motifs mingling with pirates’ tattoos, all done in a color palette nodding to sea life and sun-soaked summer days.
“Surprisingly I kept the collection really subtle because I think that’s where customers want to spend money on at the moment. They like something that’s not complicated, where they understand immediately what they see,” he said.
The collection will include hats done in collaboration with milliner Crystal Birch, bags with Missibaba and other accessories with Rings and Things, all South Africa-based brands.
Showcased at the Sala delle Nazione inside the Fortezza da Basso fairgrounds, Chulaap’s installation, he said, mimics a look book photoshoot and is inspired by quick and fun behind-the-scenes TikTok videos. “I wanted to show how I started in fashion, from being a fashion editor to helming my brand,” he said.
Suwannapha embraced the Pitti Uomo opportunity humbly, saying he especially looks forward to meeting people and building connections. “I always go with the flow and try to do my best. I feel honored to be invited; that alone is one of the highlights of my 2023 so far,” he said.
Chulaap currently sells its collection directly to customers via social media but it is setting up its own e-commerce site, due to debut this week. It also counts two retailers, Paradise Garage in Paris and Merchants on Long in Cape Town.