Modernity Through the Lens: The Westernization of Thai Women’s Court Dress

Abstract

Photography came to Thailand in the mid-nineteenth century and was adopted first by King Mongkut (Rama IV, r. 1851–1868) and subsequently by his son King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, r. 1868–1910). Earlier reigns had forbidden the creation of images of the king. However, King Mongkut, eager to demonstrate that Siam was a modern state on the world stage, willingly sat for daguerreotype portraits modelled after those of European royalty. These were distributed to foreign visitors to the Thai court and sent as gifts to Western heads of state. King Chulalongkorn, who became an enthusiastic patron of photography and an accomplished amateur photographer himself, commissioned countless portraits of himself and his family, especially the women and children of the court. By the end of his reign, portraits of members of the royal family, especially the women, became routine. These portraits offer an unmatched record of the dress of an otherwise invisible population and served as inspiration for Thailand’s reigning queen in her development of modern court dress. This essay, the first of its kind in English, attempts to chart the changes in court attire from c. 1860–1930, as it gradually evolved from fully Thai to fully Western.

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