The Lost Boy

Keeping up appearances in Thailand

Regular readers of this blog may be aware that I usually take a very negative stance when it comes to “celebrity” or “high society” in Thailand. I tend to criticize anything involving Thailand's models or soap stars or hangers-on because the phenomenon is so surreal and superficial, more so than in any other country I have been to.

When looking at classes recently, I touched on how some members of Thailand's middle classes actively strive to move up the social ladder, or at least appear to do so. The apparent accessibility of elite culture and lifestyle is something I find interesting and it came up again recently when I happened upon a website called Luxury Club Thailand, dubbed Thailand's “most exclusive luxury online lifestyle English magazine and networking hub”. Kablam!

The Luxury Club, which you can apparently join for free, appears to be a monthly e-Zine appealing to men and women from “22 to 55 years old” who want to keep up to date with “the best luxury products and services available in Thailand to help you make your lifestyle as fun, meaningful and rewarding as possible”. It's basically a not-very-good tool for bridging the gap between middle and upper class. By default, members of the upper class don't need websites like Luxury Club.

Among the curious articles this month is an interview with "The Mario", or Mario Maurer as his mother calls him, who is, of course, a half-Thai actor and model. At this point you might be expecting me to take a pop at The Mario, but all that's really necessary to make my point is to pull out a few choice paragraphs from the article.

You probably already know a lot about Mario. He raps to LL Cool J’s songs in the shower (Hush), he had a rap album with his brother a while back. He chills out to Sugar Ray’s songs. He chooses his own outfits every day, with little help from the famous designers who have lined up clothes for him. He collects sunglasses, the one he’s carrying today was bought from the street—he says it’s cheap but it’s vintage. He also loves vintage cars, particularly the Volkswagen family.

The bottled water arrives and Mario reaches for it himself, indicating that it’s a task he needs no help with. This comes as a surprise to us, considering that his right middle finger is plastered from an injury earlier in the day. There was still a little blood seeping through his band-aid.

When asked what he wants to buy if money were no object, Mario ponders a bit. Then, he comes up with a response that sounds freshly formed but certain.

“I want a house at the beach with an ice-skating rink and a garage for my vintage cars,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be large, just one acre is enough.”

I must have come across 1,000 Marios during my time in Bangkok.

Another article features a riveting BB chat convo with Isareit Chirathivat and Melanie Giles Clapp. You might be wondering who these two “celebs” are. The article actually doesn't say. Isareit Chirathivat is a third-generation member of the Central Group-owning Chirathivat clan, while Melanie Giles-Clapp is director of marketing and development at The Siam hotel. And what pearls of wisdom do these high-flyers have for us?

Mel – The Siam: Hiya! Vintage is for keeps!! Everything we see today came from somewhere and was inspired by something, most things have value in itself. Often in design of anything, we look to the past for inspiration and that’s why history of fashion/ architecture/mechanics etc is always an integral part ofstudy… I think in the past people had more time(no internet, no BB, longer concentration spans haha!) So they made things more carefully and with greater emphasis on beauty.

Isareit (Gae): Sorry vintage is not exactly me but my wife has probably 10 vintage jackets. But we once got a (Charles) Eames chair, we got there before as well from these markets. It is still around. Not too vintage but nicely kept and maintained.

Mel – The Siam: P’Noi also collects old cameras and inherited a few from Lung Petch Osutanugrah. He loves Leicas, we even have a second grand Persian cat we found at Chatuchak in a dog store, a Russian Chinchilla called Leica!!

Noo Luxury Club: So the cat is named like a vintage camera! You are a real Vintage enthusiast!

Isareit (Gae): Sorry gotta drive now…

Glamor SS: Okay, enjoy the drive! That is a good side note: Don’t BB while driving, even when the conversation is addictive (like this one)!

Groundbreaking stuff there.

Cod Satrusayang recently wrote for CNNGo about Thailand's “unhealthy cult of celebrity”.

Increasingly people are achieving fame just because of their last name, among other silly trivialities. It shouldn’t really be surprising — after all this is the country with half a dozen magazines of all languages celebrating the intemperance of high society.

That sums it up really. There is a very real emphasis on image and being seen in the right places and with the right people doing the right thing, and hence websites like Luxury Club can offer a helping hand.

This culture of celebrity/high-society worship wouldn’t be so concerning if it didn’t impact and influence the younger generations. All it does is provide negative, unattainable role models that young people try to emulate.

While the middle classes may harbour a serious amount of negative feeling for the upper class, there is, as mentioned elsewhere, a certain level of hypocrisy in this resentment. The middle classes are clearly able to draw lines above and below them, but the line above is seen as permeable. The line below, however, may as well be made of stone. The Women's Will Power Phuket Charity Group perhaps provides the best at-hand example of this: A group of middle-class women “support” the impoverished by modelling and holding glamorous social events. This then brings us back to the middle classes and their obsession with charity.

As always, I'm open to other people's ideas on this.