“Modeling Is My Passion”, Fashion Model, Napaphat Meephian (Guapa)
Napaphat Meephian is a fashion model based in New York. Originally, from Ko Samui, a tropical island paradise off the coast of Thailand. She recently moved to New York City. She goes by the stage name, Guapa. Guapa actually never decided to be a model, it just happened accidentally. She moved to Bangkok for work after she graduated from college. There she was discovered by a professional Canadian photographer Dave on Instagram. They collaborated together and that is how it all started and grew from there.
“My modelling career was greatly affected by the pandemic. I had work lined up before the pandemic and it got cancelled. But I did not give up. I vigorously tried to connect with as many people as possible to build my network. I just got myself ready because I knew that the pandemic would upside and traveling would open back up again”.
Guapa on her way has always received criticism. Though, she was never skeptical about herself. She always strived to listen and not take what others say to heart. She then push herself to improve in any way that she could. Further, she never gave up, but kept doing things, and improved herself to be a better person. She took the criticisms positively and used them to improve herself.
Guapa has been in the modeling industry for four years. She started in 2018 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Prince of Songkhla University, Phuket Campus, Thailand. Besides doing modeling, Guapa still maintained her day job, which is a business development executive for a start-up telecommunication service sectors company in Bangkok. Modeling has made her meet people from different cultural backgrounds and grow her network. She has even traveled to India, fulfilling one of her dreams of visiting the country.
“I get to meet many people and travel to different and beautiful places. By getting to meet and know different people, I have an opportunity to learn and grow.
I have visited India. One of my dreams is to visit one of the wonders of the world the Taj Mahal. I loved my trip last time in India. What I liked the most was the Indian food and people. Also, I made many new friends there”.
Guapa considers social media as an important aspect of modeling. It is critical in giving a platform for models to find work more easily. That is how she first became the model. Food and fashion are her two passions. She often finds the two intersecting. Moreover, she is interested in decorating things to make them more attractive. Every time when she cooks, she always decorates the food to make the presentation more attractive. Since Guapa was five years old, she loved sketching clothes. But unfortunately, she has not had a chance yet to focus on designing, but she plans to at some point in her life.
Before starting any new project, the first thing Guapa does is to communicate with the team. She tries to understand what the theme is and the goal of the project. Moreover, she likes to prepare for all aspects of the shoot, from hair to makeup, overall look, style, and etc. Guapa exercises well to keep her body and mind ready to work at any time. Talking about sustainable fashion awareness, Guapa said,
“Fashion can also do a major agent for environmental protection. Large fashion companies often pledge to funds towards environmental and wildlife causes. They also use media power, models, and super stars to draw attention to important environment issues. In the recent decades, they have also established and enforced better environmental standards throughout their supply chain, which has helped in countries like mine to ensure less pollution from clothing factories”.
Guapa is not much familiar with the American fashion industry yet. In her observation till now, the industry is particular about the environment. The industry is helping to improve environmental practices mainly through their foreign supply chain. Also, they are drawing attention to environmental and animal welfare causes.
Guapa would like people around the world to be more opened-minded. By understanding each other more, all can appreciate and respect each other’s differences and work better together. In these four years, she has not been part of any big project. But has done better than expected and is improving.
“I cannot say I have had any major achievements thus far. But one thing that I am proud of is that my first photographer has complimented that I have made a lot of progress since I started modeling. I am also able to find more opportunities to work. So, I think this shows that I am improving in my craft. It has not always been as easy as it seems. As I am petite (my height is just 5’1), there are many barriers and a lot of competition. But the world is an open-minded place. I hope one day that, no matter size, height, gender, ethnicity, everyone can walk on the runway. I do believe it is going to happen”.
Also Read: “Fashion is about authenticity and personality”, Fashion Model, Aline Tabata – World Model Hunt
The interview has been taken and written by Devyani.
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