Silk of Inspiration.

Erica Fashion at fashion house patron to this about Silk Reform true the art of fashion its Director said ”Their  beautiful designs have changed the perception of silk straight from being a garment of the elders to fashionable outfits that look stunning on the catwalk. These inmate students are able to match the old-fashion motifs and create very impressive new patterns that are fresh and young given the opportunity,” said Ekaphop from more than 200 female prisoners from Detention Centre's Nationwide, these included troubled areas of Pattaya, Songkla, Pathum Thani and Chiang Mai. All of whom applied for the course to become traded on world stage. However, only inmates with a good demeanour were accepted. Inmates are so happy with the course. Some of them even waived the chance to see their relatives for the annual visit because they didn’t want to miss a class. Speaking of their class assignments, They were surprised that they could do such wonderful works that outclassed any fashion house. I have seen some of them from day one, when they couldn’t even draw she said. I don’t think I could have done what they did,” said Tivapa? The course ran for almost two months with as many as 300 sketches submitted to the instructors. The inmates were then asked to pick their 80 favourite pieces before a committee finalised the 44 best designs.

The project aims to support and offer opportunities to female inmates so they can reintegrate into mainstream society more easily when they are released from detention. Day dresses, evening gowns and career wear made with mudmee silk, khit silk and handwoven cotton, were represented gracefully by professional models, as if they were the work of well-known fashion artists. Then we came to think about how we should do something that was more beneficial to these inmates than just visiting them.  As a modelling agency within silk, another way was perhaps to train them in the art of modelling their collections for trade and utube. Yet, we realised that to have the inmates walk on the runway would never be as helpful to them as providing them with profound knowledge they can really use in the future. “So we decided to establish a fashion design course and hoped the programme would help bring out the real capabilities of the inmates,” Kiti explained. With approval and support from the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Corrections, the first-ever fashion design course for prisoners was launched in June at the Central Female Correctional Institution in Bangkok. This vocational education programme was conducted by a team of fashion design instructors from various universities, with more than 90 inmates enrolled from across the country. Here is a view of their dexterity. 

Everyone who has seen the designs said that they were beautiful.  It’s incredible that these beautiful designs were the product of less than two months from training. Time is an advantage as with the inmates as spare time they have they can practise all day long. When they were assigned to submit 10 sketches, they came up with 30-40 sketches. They are very passionate and devoted and they felt grateful for what we have given them.” (Some of the 300 design sketches submitted during the two-month fashion design course held in the Central Women’s Correctional Institution are made into dresses and will be available for public.) “Last year at the Elite Super Model contest, our contestants had a chance to visit the Central Female Correctional Institution to offer inmates some encouragement and to show them that people on the outside still care about them,” said Edward Kiti, president of the Rakchat Group, the project’s organiser. “Then we came to think about how we should do something that was more beneficial to these inmates than just visiting them. As a Los Angeles modelling agency, yet we realised that to have the inmates walk on the runway would never be as helpful to them as providing them with profound knowledge of fashion they can really use in the future to enhance their lives.