"In 2010, Bangkok was in crisis, and there was a series of huge demonstrations across the city. Supporters of the ousted prime minister wore red shirts. I remember going to meet a client and accidentally wearing a red top, and they commented on it even though I'm not Thai. I found out later that one of the client's properties had been burned down by the red-shirt protesters."
"I learned about what other colors could offend the people I was working with, and in the end, one of my favorite things about Thai culture was that each day of the week has a different color. On Mondays, many people wore yellow because it was the Late King's birthday, and yellow is associated with royalty. On Tuesdays, people wore pink in honor of the late Queen Mother."
Liz Weselby, a communications executive, has lived and worked in five cities across two decades: London, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Each location required her to adapt her professional wardrobe to respect local cultural norms. In Bangkok, she discovered that clothing colors hold deep cultural significance. Wearing red accidentally offended a client whose property had been damaged by red-shirt protesters during political unrest. She learned that black, associated with death and misfortune in Thai culture, was inappropriate despite being her London staple. Thai culture assigns different colors to each weekday, with yellow representing royalty and the late King, and pink honoring the late Queen Mother. Understanding these color associations helped her build stronger client relationships.
#cultural-adaptation #professional-wardrobe #color-symbolism #international-business #cross-cultural-communication
Read at Business Insider
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