Inside Thai print designer’s colourful wardrobe, where her split style personality shines through
- London-based Lisa King loves wearing scarves showcasing her own vibrant designs, having launched her own collection five years ago
- Also a swimwear designer, she says that living between London and Bangkok has led to her developing two very distinct, separate styles
Scarves are experiencing a fashion comeback and Thai print designer Lisa King is perfectly poised to make the most of it.
The London-based designer invariably has one of her own vibrant designs knotted around her neck or tied to her bag. It is how conversation gets started with retail buyers when presenting her scarf collection, which she launched five years ago.
She has diversified into swimwear, with her abstract, printed bikinis selling through Thai resorts.
She describes Railei Beach near Krabi, an area on Thailand’s southwest coast where her family has a Balinese-style house, as the spiritual home of the Lisa King swim brand, which she believes fills a gap in Thailand for quality swimwear.
A walk through her wardrobe illustrates King’s love of print and colour, which she says she inherited from her Indonesian mother, Farida, who married an Englishman and moved to Bangkok to raise King and her sisters.
“My love of textiles comes from my mother, who had a buying agency sourcing locally crafted textiles, ceramics and jewellery for American stores,” she says, adding that she joined buying trips as a child. “When she died two years ago, she left me 150 kimonos, a massive lacquerware collection, a 40-year collection of batiks as well as her jewellery, which I love wearing.”