RECAP PART I with Duang Poshyanonda (photo album)
Duang: I am lucky to have my best friend as my business partner for RougeRouge, my handbag line, and she is also my brand manager to help me take care of the business. I also have my office in my house, so I have the time to take care of the leather while we connect through emails, social media, and LINE, which are great as they help me work much easier.
Victoria: What’s next? I mean you’ve already accomplished so many things that people can only begin to hope to achieve in a lifetime. What do you dream to do next?
Duang: I would like to work on more charity projects. I am starting to work with the Thai National Cancer Foundation, to help raise funds for cancer research. I am also hoping to be able to do more to help with raising funds for the poor, especially in the North or in the poorer provinces in Thailand.
Victoria: You also have a huge influence in the fashion world and you’re a role model for a lot of women in Thailand. How does it feel to have this much influence?
Duang: First of all, I want to thank you for thinking of me this way, but for me it feels natural, I don’t feel like it’s too much of work. I feel that fashion is fun, and I don’t find it a chore to be a fashionista. I feel that with style, there is no right or wrong. You have to be comfortable, you have to be confident with what you’re wearing.
Victoria: Who or what keeps you inspired?
Duang: I always find inspiration from art and music. My husband and his friends are musicians, and a lot of my friends are artists, and I’ve been doing a lot of projects with Thai artists in Bangkok to help promote their work through Harper’s BAZAAR. For style icons, I like the musician couple Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, and Francoise Hardy.
Victoria: For women who would like to go down this creative path, what advice would you give them?
Duang: I think inspiration is all around us. You should open your mind, read a lot of books, visit art exhibitions. When you see a picture and you feel like you have to study it a long time, longer than normal, that kind of art would be your style, your taste and what inspires you. For me, I get inspiration through music, conversation, friends and people that I meet.
Judges of the Finals: Joseph Boroski, Alfred Cointreau, Duang Poshyanonda
Victoria: Did any of the drinks from the competition today particularly stand out to you?
Duang: Today I really liked one cocktail, which was made with strawberries and champagne. He made the dried strawberries by himself, and he mixed it with Cointreau of course, and he made a lipstick from scratch. He’s from Singapore (Mike Cheong, Woo Bar), and the lipstick was like, strawberry milk chocolate. He was very creative; he asked me to apply the lipstick on my lips, and then taste it together with strawberry champagne mixed with Cointreau. It was an interesting presentation, and had a nice aroma.
Duang's favorite cocktail was by Mike Cheong (Woo Bar, Singapore)
Victoria: If you could describe your personality like a drink or a cocktail, what would it be?
Duang: My favourite cocktail is actually Aperol Spritz. I love something refreshing and I love sparkling champagne, and I love orange liqueur. Aperol Spritz comes from Italy, it’s refreshing and made with Aperol mixed with soda and topped with prosecco, and a little bit of orange.
At home I really liking mixing my own cocktails, and I always buy Cointreau, to tell you the truth, because it’s easy to mix with juices. I love to mix Cointreau with pomegranate juice and rose apple, and sometimes I like to put pomegranate seeds in it too.