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[title]Bangkok’s conservative currents don’t erase its sensual electricity as temples and neon still share the same air. Since sex never splits from the city and sexual wellness now flows as one with luxury living – nowhere does this convergence pulse stronger than around Phrom Phong on Sukhumvit 33, specifically at The Hidden Closet.
The boutique now sits pink and pretty in RR Space, M/F, repping everything from bunny ears to barely-theres, peek-a-boo lingerie in every tempting style, plus sly little extras like blindfolds, whips and other delicious touches that ‘buzz’ up intimacy.
Masterminded by Oyy Oranan, who has self-styled her store as ‘Bangkok’s one and only luxury erotic boutique that’s seriously kinky’ – a tagline teetering on audacious yet sophisticated at the core.
I’m talking about more than just beautiful lingerie or pleasure products. It’s about curating a lifestyle around intimacy and sexual wellness. Luxury for me means quality, elegance and discretion.
The Hidden Closet transcends the transactional. Each collection feels like a love letter to the body, moving beyond intimacy into full-on body and mind wellness. Desire lives here in designer form, where sex and sensuality mingle in spaces that feel more like your cool sister’s place than a storefront.
I believe that exploring desire should feel empowering, stylish and deeply indulgent.
Over ten years in, the success is obvious but long before this business, Oranan had been tracing the dialogues polite Thai society pretended didn’t exist.
‘Even before The Hidden Closet, I was fascinated by the conversations around intimacy and sexual wellness,’ she says.
The backdrop was the ivy-clad walls of an all-girls boarding school, where from the age of 14 she watched her friends navigate the electric territory between want and shouldn't-want, between the bodies they inhabited and the desires that inhabited them.
Rarely did my girlfriends feel safe to express their desires when desire itself carried a stigma, a taboo or even felt wrong.
It was this very friction that drew her in more and more. She questioned why women were discouraged from exploring their own sexuality, why curiosity was met with shame. She wondered aloud how we might navigate it differently, safely, confidently and always prioritising our own pleasure.
That restless curiosity became an observation, then a mission. It grew, she explains, ‘into the vision behind The Hidden Closet.’
‘The vision’ – let’s zoom in:
The idea for The Hidden Closet was actually sparked by the Sex and the City series,
she tells us.
It hit her during the many episodes and seasons of four women sprawled across Manhattan.
I loved how Samantha, Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda could sit together and talk so openly about their sex lives – without shame, without judgment and always with a sense of fun.
Oranan also first sensed Thailand’s appetite for intimate apparel and accessories ‘around the time Sex and the City became a cultural phenomenon and Thai audiences really connected with the show where it sparked curiosity about exploring sexuality in a stylish playful way.’
These four New York women sparked the idea that
being comfortable with sex is natural as well as empowering
– Samantha most of all:
Samantha’s openness, boldness and confidence really resonated with me. Like her, I’ve always been curious, unafraid to explore new things and willing to talk openly about desire. That energy has definitely shaped who I am and how The Hidden Closet was born.
Bangkok then became her stage for a sensual revolution, one that was ‘something stylish, empowering and completely natural. Desire draped, sexuality striding and kink as couture.’
The Hidden Closet carved itself into existence as a freedom that is sometimes fantasy, always confidence and most importantly where prudishness goes to die.
The boutique’s eroticism made doors swing open, walls shatter, crashing fast and hard, enough to bruise a few buttoned-up Siamese sensibilities. So we ask: ever get those early judgments that this is too much for Thailand?
‘Surprisingly, not really,’ she says. Oranan somehow danced past doubt and did not get caught by the familiar chorus of ‘too much for Thailand.’
From day one, curiosity and excitement unexpectedly outweighed critique. The common refrain wasn't caution or skepticism – it was, ‘When are the new products coming in?’
That hunger for the fresh, the fun, the daring became both compass and fuel, proof that Thailand’s appetite for boldness is far bigger than anyone expected. It’s exactly what kept them, in Oranan’s words, ‘motivated to keep surprising our customers.’
Actually, the proof of Bangkok’s hunger for erotic fashion arrived well before social media’s drumroll: ‘Before social media, The Hidden Closet grew purely through word of mouth,’ Oranan recalls.
Friends whispered to friends, visitors shared experiences and gradually a network of fascination formed. That slow burn of recognition – the moment when she realised, ‘this is actually working’ – was less a flash, more a steady excitement spreading ‘naturally’ through the city.
Now, The Hidden Closet is a playground between the self we know and the self we crave:
Think of The Hidden Closet as your ultimate personal closet – but with a twist… just like your wardrobe has everything from casual to couture, we have everything you need to express your intimacy and desires.
Here lies her genius: the refusal to compartmentalize: ‘The beauty of The Hidden Closet is that it’s all in one space, allowing you to mix, match and discover new sides of yourself.’
Her erotic business mirrors human longing itself: mercurial, multifaceted, unapologetic:
‘Some days you might want something playful and colourful, other days something sleek and seductive and sometimes you’re ready to explore your boldest fantasies.’ Here, ‘costume, fashion, seduction and fetish don’t compete,’ and desire, Oranan knows, is tactile. So we ask for a pick of ‘the most addictive texture.’
‘Silk whispers against the skin, lace teases with its delicate touch, latex commands with intensity. Leather adds edge, feathers bring playfulness and sheer mesh leaves just enough to the imagination.’ But above all, she says, ‘the most addictive texture is simply the one that makes you feel confident, sexy, sensual and unstoppable.’
Now, reporting live on the ground, who’s coming in these days?
The usual customer defies categorisation. Age, background are completely irrelevant. They all arrive curious – or in the process of becoming so – hungry to explore intimacy and sexual wellness with style and playfulness.
Some hunt for accessories to ‘reignite passion and connection.’ Some are first-time explorers stepping off the beaten vanilla. The bottom line is that ‘what binds them all is a craving for quality, discretion and a space to express themselves freely.’
When asked about being someone’s first taste of sexual freedom or fantasy, Oranan leans into the gravity of it:
It feels incredibly rewarding and humbling to be someone’s first step into exploring their fantasies or sexual freedom. Seeing someone realize that their desires are valid, beautiful and worth celebrating is exactly why The Hidden Closet exists – a privilege we don’t take lightly.
Oranan also moves through The Hidden Closet acknowledging the messiness of human desire:
Fear, excitement, even shame – all of these emotions are natural when it comes to intimacy.
That’s why The Hidden Closet exists as ‘a safe, welcoming space where people can explore freely, with a reminder that curiosity and desire are nothing to be ashamed of.’
The mission is elemental, the holy trinity of human connection:
At the end of the day, it’s about doing our best to make every person feel seen, respected and free
From every angle of this conversation, it’s clear The Hidden Closet is more than a shop. We start to wonder if Oranan is scripting a cultural shift, even therapy disguised in chic packaging.
She exclaims: ‘Exactly!’adding that the new location pushes boundaries even further: ‘With our new Phrom Phong spot, we’re hosting everything from shibari to intimate shows, just proudly celebrating sexual wellness in style.’
With a name carrying over a decade in the erotic scene, we ask Oranan to weigh in on Bangkok’s shifting intimacy landscape:
‘When The Hidden Closet first opened, conversations around intimacy were often hidden. Today there’s a growing openness and curiosity, especially among younger generations.’
Lingerie, costumes, fetish-inspired pieces – they’re now ‘being seen less as taboo and more as stylish, playful ways to celebrate individuality.’
Lastly, The Hidden Closet’s Oyy Oranan offers a final invitation:
For the hesitant, the wide-eyed or even the overexcited, everyone walks through our doors with different emotions and that’s perfectly natural. The Hidden Closet is a safe, playful space where you can take your time, explore at your own pace and maybe even surprise yourself. Come with an open mind, leave with a spark of confidence and most importantly, have fun discovering new sides of yourself!