SALTEYE STUDIO
Through meticulous tailoring and a fetish-friendly accents, designer Prao Leeswadtrakul is subverting femininity in fashion through her label SALTEYE STUDIO.
Leeswadtrakul has always held an interest in fashion and graduated from Parsons with a degree in Integrated Design. During the pandemic, she began sketching out what would eventually become her own clothing line. While considering the production of the pieces, she attempted to limit herself to one type of material to challenge her ingenuity and honor her slow fashion ideals. She also used her personal point of view, her interest in kink, and a desire to expand upon the notion of femininity fashion to shape SALTEYE’s aesthetic.
The resulting pieces employ subtly subversive construction to empower the wearer and seduce the viewer. Many showcase a black pinstripe pattern, evocative of powerful executives in corporate settings. Careful cutouts take cues from fetishwear, transforming blazers and pants into suggestive statement pieces. Some styles are also studded with hardware that enhance their design and have bedroom-friendly functionality.
All pieces in the ready-to-wear label aim to explore femininity independent of gender. They are handcrafted by a small atelier in Thailand and use deadstock fabric wherever possible. They also operate largely on a pre-order basis to ensure that as little waste is created as possible.
SATLEYE’s debut during New York Fashion Week in February transformed the Front Gallery in the LES into an interactive and indulgent installation. The space was draped in deadstock satin, with chains, hors d'oeuvres, and the line’s clothing suspended from the ceiling. Guests enjoyed cocktails served by latex-clad “gimp girls” and were treated to seductive live shibari demonstrations. The presentation celebrated the coalescence of nightlife, fetish, and fashion with attendees thanking Leeswadtrakul for “bringing back Weird New York.”
In the coming months, Leeswadtrakul will explore a softer side of her work with an intimates and loungewear collection. True to her low-waste ethos, she is also planning to reuse the deadstock satin used in her Fashion Week debut event in future designs and programming.
More about SALTEYE STUDIO can be found here.
