From Bangkok’s humid back‑alleys—where a teenager swapped dish‑soap for hostel check‑ins and learned English from backpackers—to late‑night Cartier fittings and two decadent months at London’s Edition Hotel, this story tracks a meteoric rise forged through loss. Orphaned but unbowed, he and the man he loves race from Copacabana sunsets to New York dreams, proving that heartbreak can stitch resilience, romance, and runway‑ready ambition into one unforgettable life.

A first‑round “no” from the Fashion Institute of Technology could have shut the dream down. Instead, it lit a fuse. Trading late‑night design sketches for brand plans and balance sheets, I reapplied—this time for Fashion Business—and the door swung open. Here is how a kid who once stocked water bottles in a Bangkok family shop found a place at FIT to build a fashion brand from the ground up.