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Published on January 4, 2008

Black and white is being seen more on the streets as people commence a period of mourning for Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, who passed away on Wednesday morning.

Skytrain passengers yesterday were in their mourning clothes, in sharp contrast to a few weeks before when they wore colourful clothing and glittering accessories for the festive Christmas and New Year.

In Siam Square and along Sukhumvit Road, shops were prominently displaying black and white clothes, now in demand from customers.

Big department stores replaced their usual displays with mourning wear. Black and white outfits dominated the men's and women's sections at Robinson on Ratchadaphisek Road.

"It's our policy to mourn the Princess. Colourful collections from Christmas and New Year seasons have been replaced by black and white, as well as dark colours," said Usara Yongpiyakul, vice president of marketing. All the company's 21 stores would do the same.

The store was crowded at lunchtime.

"I don't have enough white shirts for work, so I bought four for this mourning period. I intend to mourn for 100 days," a young man shopping at Robinson said.

Central has a similar policy. All 15 branches are toning down displays. At Central Bang Na yesterday, staff were busy replacing displays with black and white.

Year-end sale season will see shoppers spending on dark-toned clothes. High-end Siam Paragon also joined in, taking festive season displays down.

At Siam Discovery Centre and Siam Centre you can still find lively outfits. But, black and white is the flavour at the trendy malls.

The George Reche brand is encouraging people to wear black and white for a period of 100 days. Fans of the label received a mobile text message informing them it would have mourning wear available.

Thai television stations interrupted their regular programming to announce the death of the princess and show footage of her life. Newscasters appear on TV all wears black.

Most entertainment programmes on TV are postponed including soap operas and variety shows.

Channel 3 aired its Chinese series in black and white and remains colour for their logos.

MSN users encourage each other to put the rose sign in front of their usernames to mourn for the late Princess.

Some public buses have put the bus numbers on the black and white plates.

 The Nation