New Weak, New Goals
Let’s chat with “Nin” Narintornkul Na Ayuttaya, the owner and photographer behind the Instagram account 70youngteaw and the son who believes that fashion will help his mother “Mae Teaw” overcome her Alzheimer's condition.
They say age is just a number. But the more that number increases, the more we fall in love with feeling younger again. At the age of 70, Archara Narintornkul Na Ayuttaya aka “Mae Teaw” was considered the number one fashionista. Age was never a factor in her confidence to wear and experiment with her varied wardrobe that included many bright colours.
However, no matter how young she felt, Alzheimer’s then took over Mae Teaw’s life. She started hiding under grey clothes, possibly reflecting her declining mental health and fading memory.
“Nin” Narintornkul Na Ayuttaya believes that being old doesn’t mean you have to act like it. With her son’s determination and photography skills (that have occasionally been featured in The Cloud’s Magazine), he then decided to start the Instagram account 70YoungTeaw. They documented his mother’s chic style and cool clothes that she wore for all occasions— department store strolls, café crawls, supermarket shops and street food stall visits in the alley by her house. Her outfits have been on point every time, everywhere.
The phrase “Mae Teaw is Material Girl” was then born, inspired by comparisons with Araya A. Hargate — a famous celebrity actress, model, TV personality and host in Thailand who confidently uses the phrase ‘Material Girl’ reflected via her Instagram handle “@chomismaterialgirl”.
“My mother in her 70s — it has to be fun and good with fashion. I believe fashion will help her.” Nin repeatedly mentioned.
The Instagram page is now flooded with colourful couture, but Mae Teaw’s disappearing memory remains a challenge for them behind-the-scenes. However, Nin and Mae Teaw have been wholeheartedly fighting through their struggles for the past two years.
After living with Mae Teaw, Nin admitted how it wasn’t an easy process to live together as people of different ages and from different generations. He organised the house at the same time as organising his thoughts, and then realised from another perspective that…
“We might be sick, but we can still laugh.”
We are not giving up on our forgetful memories
“There was a time we had to go to Phuket for a photoshoot. I told my mother the departure time on her ticket was 8 o’clock, so she would have to arrive at the airport at 7 o’clock. On that day, she then arrived at the airport at 8 o’clock, which resulted in missing her flight. Keep in mind, she usually flies all the time by herself.”
“Ever since that day two years ago, I’ve realised that my mother is now forgetting appointment times and easy numbers.”
Nin told us the first time he realised something unusual about Mae Teaw — from doing things slower to forgetting meetings, as well as her most beloved clothes, even though she is a woman of fashion.
“She started to forget about her beautiful clothes, only wanted to wear something that was considered comfortable in the warm climate and would be repeating the same clothes, even though she had so many hand-woven silk dresses. Her previous house had so many clothes everywhere, so much so that she had to hang her clothes in the bathroom. It was impossible for her to shower there. I think this was a sign of her illness.”
From her forgetfulness, it was clear that Mae Teaw had Alzheimer’s. One of the most heartbreaking things was she could no longer remember what she loved. Nin then made the ultimate decision to move his mother back to his place.
“Every two months, she would become slower. A hundred words would disappear from her vocabulary. In the past, I looked after my grandfather who had Alzheimer’s. No matter how much medicine from the hospital he consumed, his memories never came back. I personally think the activities they do and the clothes they wear are more important than any prescription.”
“I think that we should not give up on the brain that is about to lose memories”, said the son with full determination.
As long as love still exists, we will continue to adjust to one another
“The first six months felt like war.”
The behind-the-scenes was not as glamorous as what was shown on their Instagram page. Two people of different ages and from different generations have to learn to live with each other. Nin and his mother had to adjust their differences and come together. The fight between emotions and forgetful memories happens.
That was not an easy task. It never was.
The world-renowned tidying expert Marie Kondo mentioned previously how organising our homes can change our lives. This applies to Nin and Mae Teaw as well.
Nin decided to re-organise his house properly.
His mother’s outfits were once something that sparked joy for her. With too many items that were not organised and tidy, her clothing became a nuisance in their daily lives.
“We went ‘cold turkey.’ It took us 7 days in total, to get rid of everything: Moving clothes from her previous house to mine; keeping the ones with good quality, beautiful graphics and the fashion we enjoy; getting rid of those that were unnecessary. I hired someone to help us with this.”
“The wardrobe shrunk. It went from a massive size to a small one. We only hung clothes she would wear within the week. With limited choices, an organised wardrobe and a tidy house, it was easier for her to view and choose an outfit for the day. This became a smoother process.”
Not only was the wardrobe sorted. For the past 2 years, the house was adjusted to create a better environment in order to treat his mother’s symptoms. The structure of the house was dismantled to be open for airflow and sunshine; trees were planted so she could be closer to nature; areas for relaxing were designed to motivate new activities, such as listening to music, reading books, writing a diary, and cooking. Lately, Mae Teaw’s been into making coffee.
“On my days off, those 24 hours are all for her.”
Nin created a new environment to inspire new habits, to cure his mother’s Alzheimer’s. Her son believes muscle, body and brain movements are a better cure than prescribed medicine.
Mae Teaw’s Diary
24th April
Today I got ready at 12.30 to go to IKEA. I wanted to buy many things. Not sure if there’s enough money, but I am content with one thing: Mr. Job will buy me a big gift because I took a shower.
This gift will be a large TV. Finally! I thought in this life I won’t get to watch TV like others do. I hope from now on I will enjoy taking a shower. And be happy with spending the end of my life as a clean person, without being smelly for once.
Fashion will help my mother
“There was a day that I walked with her to Sam Yan, an area in Bangkok, to eat Lod Chong (a dessert dish originated from Java — pandan starch jelly in sweetened coconut milk, aka Cendol.) I discovered that my mother did not like exercising, but she enjoyed walking to a destination with delicious food. I then decided to add dressing up with this food activity that she enjoys.” The son noticed and seemed to have a eureka moment for this (super) fun idea.
Because of Nin, his mother then became excited about dressing up much more. The question ‘What do I wear?’ became Mae Teaw’s prompt every day. The son created a rule — no dull, boring, grey and mangy clothes when leaving the house. No matter the distance, her clothes would have to be full-on like her title — ‘the queen of fashion.’
It would be a shame for her to forget that she dressed up to go out, met people along the way and had delicious food. So, her son gladly volunteered to be her personal photographer. He has been documenting and posting these photos onto their Instagram 70YoungTeaw with heartwarming captions, where their followers receive lots of power and strength; they couldn’t help but smile.
These photos reminded Nin of some moments from his childhood as well.
“When I was younger, whenever my mother would go pick up my report card at school, I always thought she was so cool. I was so, so proud. Her outfit would stand out from the crowd, but she wouldn’t care because it was her fashion choice. Taking photos of her now is making me think of those old days that she started wearing outfits like this too.”
Even though she is losing her memory, her heart is still full of love for fashion. Today, Mae Teaw is still excited every time she sees the current fashion trends being worn by actors, TV hosts or newscasters. She is a big fan of Project Runway.
Mae Teaw not only enjoys shopping for colourful clothes. She also collects silk.
When Nin opened his mother’s old wardrobe and found expensive silk pieces that were damaged by bugs, he immediately took them to Linda Charoenlarb — Fashion Designer founder of LaLaLove who turns Thai traditional pieces into contemporary clothes. Linda uses the concept of Upcycling, reinventing many silk pieces into new colourful outfits. One of them was a dress tailored to fit for Mae Teaw to wear at her second son’s wedding, which gained a lot of positive attention from other guests as well as Mae Teaw being excited with the new tailoring herself.
“I think that we can use fashion to help her” Nin repeated.
“I believe being with anything colourful or beautiful will help move her memory, and she would not be so lonely.”
Healing sadness, enhancing happiness
Whilst scrolling through Instagram for previous photos, Mae Teaw’s memory became more vivid and lively.
“When my mother became sick, I didn’t think it would get to this. At the time when she started being forgetful, I nearly went to organise her wardrobe and make it pretty. I never thought we would have this moment today.”
I asked what changed within him during the process of that major house arrangement.
“When I taught her to be well-organised, I have to sort myself out even more. If I don’t follow through and do what I said myself as an example, she would not believe me. My room has to be neat and tidy before hers. I became a better person from taking care of her.”
Apart from reorganising their home, reorganising feelings is also something Nin has been constantly battling with.
“There was a time we went to IKEA and my mother had diarrhoea. She wasn’t able to hold it in and had to head to the bathroom immediately. Unsure of what to do, I grabbed a wheelchair hoping it would be easier for her. In the end, we were in the middle of IKEA and couldn’t make it in time. Even though we had moments arguing about being organised and in order before, in that moment I didn’t blame her at all.
But instead, I was her supportive friend. ‘It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with having diarrhoea. I’ll wash these clothes for you.’ That was the day I saw myself and realised how I can let things go better. And I remind myself to be like that more often.”
From the first day documenting photographs of Mae Teaw until now, 70YoungTeaw’s feed on Instagram features many colourful stories with vibrant clothes; calm, cool and smiley faces were recorded in squared frames.
“I enjoy seeing her dressing up a lot. It has been a healing process for me as well. To be honest, it can become stressful taking care of her and hard to let those emotions go. But when I see her out in beautiful clothes, starting to comprehend and respond to questions, I feel she has been enjoying herself during this illness rather than suffering from it.”
Mae Teaw’s fashion has not only been creating colourful moments for her son. She also brings joy to the people around her — from neighbours to shopkeepers, to motorcycle taxis, including those through her Instagram page.
New week, new goals.
When the next week comes, we cannot wait to see Mae Teaw’s new fashion collection.
New weak, new goals.
When the next time we encounter weaknesses and challenges, we can start over with new ambitions any time.
