Abstract:
This article studies clothes trading from the reign of King Vajiravudh to the World War II period, in order to show that throughout the time of the reign of King Vajiravudh to the 5-year period after Siamese Revolution 1932, the trend of modern, or Western, clothing fashion was fairly popular and acceptable among Bangkok people. This influenced the habit of procuring “imported” clothes from the stores. When Siam reached the time of Field Marshall Plaek Phibunsongkhram’sgovernment, the dressing code was prescribed for Thai people to follow state convention. The study finds that clothes trading in the early of Phibunsongkhram’sgovernment, Thai people still liked to buy readymade clothes or order custom clothes from tailor and dressmaking shop. However, the turning point of clothing culture began when Thailand was in the midst of World War II which caused the problem of fabrics and clothes deficiency in Thailand. Therefore, the clothes trading in this time was shifted to the used clothes trading. Nevertheless, after the War ended, the clothing business had gradually restored its former situation.