The Face Thailand, the stage to create the fashion future. Really?

The Face Thailand was presented as a platform to create new models for the Thai fashion scene, but looking back from Season 1 to Season 6, the most jarring question remained the same - where have those winners gone?

Sabina in the first season was once raised to represent the new Jane model, but her name was never pushed to the international stage, as it should have been. Tisha had a strong character that became the talk of the whole country, but was only stopped as a reality star, not a fashion icon. Grace and Gina both once had their own moments, but the lights were extinguished quickly. Candy, the first transgender woman to win a championship in season 5, became just a token representation that the fashion world wanted to see, was carried on, but was finally left to become just one name on the historical page. Nobody became the main character of Thai fashion, actually.

The problem is never the winner, but it is all the failed structures. The Thai fashion media is more attached to the luxury taste of the inner circle than to create a long-term narrative for youth culture or diversity. The fashion industry itself is also dominated by the taste of the big generation and the patronage system that uses connections rather than crafts. The representation is treated as an accessory rather than a heart. While affiliation and management have almost no potential to push the winner into a global face, every season winner becomes just a prop of the show rather than a true career path.

And looking at the show's campaign, the problem is even more obvious. Instead of designing a problem to connect with the current fashion world driven by digital fashion, sustainability, AR runway or Metaverse, The Face Thailand is stuck with the old-fashioned formula as it was twenty years ago. Posts sell drinking water, cream or mobile. The size stops for years and comes back to nothing new. This is the evidence that this show never evolved with the real fashion world. So contestants are trained to be props in commercials rather than become the fashion icon of the era.

Even the position of Master Mentor, like the case of Ann Gold, clearly reflects this problem. Pulling a superstar as an image improves ratings, but a few appearances on the show cannot be called mentors in the field. This is a use of fame to "adorn the stage" rather than to mold real talent. If it is just to appear to fill the celebrity, you should stop calling yourself Master Mentor.

Today, Kwang, Heidi and BB are standing on the crossroads. Kwang is the social representation awaiting Candy, but without the supporting structure, she may repeat the same. Heidi is a complete package that represents global, but if no one pushes seriously, she may stop at the word perfect in Thailand. BB is the youth and viral energy that sustain itself through social media. But if there is no management that really understands icon molding, it is risky to burn out quickly.

In Puff's eyes, what The Face Thailand does best is create a moment of the season, but what never happens is a movement that pushes the industry forward. And if the stage finally recycles the original formula to sell sponsors, it is no different from a reality show wrapped in the word "fashion" than being a stage to create a future for anyone.

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