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Thailand's Asian Games Ceremonial Uniform, Designed by Princess Sirivannavari, Lights Up Tokyo Billboards
Reporter 欧亚时报编辑部
On the evening of September 16, 2026, Thailand's ceremonial uniform for the delegation to the 20th Asian Games appeared on giant digital advertising screens in three of Tokyo's busiest commercial districts — Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya — displayed alternately with images of Thailand's traditional national costume, "Chud Thai Phra Ratchaniyom" (Thai royal-style national dress). The street-level display drew crowds of commuters and tourists who stopped to take photos. Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya are known for their dense foot traffic and large commercial digital screens, widely regarded as prime advertising real estate in Japan. Timing the joint display of the Asian Games uniform and Thailand's national costume at these three landmarks was a cultural diplomacy move by Thailand ahead of the Asian Games opening ceremony in Nagoya, as well as a key promotional moment in Thailand's ongoing campaign to have its national costume inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The event in question, the 20th Asian Games, will be held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, from September 19 to October 4, 2026. For the occasion, Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports invited Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, creative director of the Thai fashion house SIRIVANNAVARI, to personally design the ceremonial uniform to be worn by the Thai delegation. The collection was created under the concept "The Art of Unity," and more than 900 Thai athletes and officials are expected to wear it together at the Games' opening ceremony in Nagoya. Since founding her eponymous label in 2005, Princess Sirivannavari has presented collections on the official schedules of both Paris Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week, making SIRIVANNAVARI the first Thai brand to officially show at Milan, and has long focused on blending traditional Thai weaving techniques with international haute couture. Her involvement in designing the Asian Games uniform continues that established design approach.
In terms of design, the ceremonial uniform consists of four pieces: a three-pocket cotton jacket, a white shirt, matching trousers, and a necktie featuring SIRIVANNAVARI's signature "Diamond Knot" motif. The white shirt carries an embroidered panel that blends Thai and Japanese cultural elements — images of Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) and a bodhi tree represent Thailand, while Nagoya Castle and cherry blossoms represent host nation Japan, embodying the collection's central theme of unity.
The choice of fabric is also significant: the uniform's core material is handwoven, indigo-dyed cotton from the "Don Koi Model" weaving community in Sakon Nakhon province, combined with handwoven cotton produced by the SUPPORT Foundation. Founded by the late Queen Mother Sirikit, the SUPPORT Foundation has long worked to support rural Thai artisans, preserve traditional weaving techniques and improve craftspeople's livelihoods. This selection carries forward Thailand's rural textile-weaving traditions, giving the delegation's uniform — cut for a clean, contemporary silhouette that allows ease of movement for athletes — a strong grounding in Thai heritage craftsmanship.
Notably, the promotional imagery shown on the giant screens in Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya featured Princess Sirivannavari herself modeling the uniform, lending her presence as a member of the royal family to the campaign and further raising public attention and discussion of the event among audiences in Japan.
Displayed alongside the uniform imagery was Thailand's national costume, "Chud Thai Phra Ratchaniyom," a defining symbol of Thailand's modern national dress system. Its origins trace back to the 1960s, when the late Queen Mother Sirikit led the development of eight sets of formal Thai dress for women suited to occasions ranging from royal ceremonies to formal social events and religious rites, laying the foundation for what is now recognized as Thailand's national costume. These garments are known for their fine hand-weaving, embroidery and tailoring, incorporating traditional silk and cotton patterns from across Thailand, and blend traditional Thai textile craftsmanship with royal court aesthetics. They have long served as an important symbol of Thai national identity and cultural heritage, and remain a classic choice for Thai women dressing formally to express national identity.
Thailand's Ministry of Culture formally began the process of nominating "Chud Thai Phra Ratchaniyom" for inclusion on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2023, and the nomination file has since been submitted for review, with a final decision expected in December 2026. In the years between submission and final review, Thai cultural authorities have used exhibitions, fashion shows and overseas promotional events to keep introducing the knowledge, craftsmanship and practices behind the costume to the international community. The decision to display both the Asian Games ceremonial uniform and Thailand's national costume on outdoor screens in central Tokyo just ahead of the Nagoya Games opening is a deliberate move by the Thai government to use the international attention generated by a major sporting event to build broader global awareness and support for the heritage nomination.
Thailand's Ministry of Culture is also set to hold a related event, "Chud Thai: Knowledge, Craftsmanship and Practices of the Thai National Costume," at the Tokyo National Museum on September 17–18, further showcasing the cultural depth of Thailand's traditional dress. As the opening act of this broader cultural program, the billboard display of the Asian Games uniform in Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya has already set a notable example of pairing sports diplomacy with cultural heritage promotion. For Thailand, the Nagoya Asian Games has become more than a sporting event — through the athletes' uniforms, the giant street screens and the cultural programming that follows, it is also a concentrated opportunity to project the country's cultural soft power internationally, letting the world see, beyond the field of competition, how Thailand continues to tell the story of its own traditions and identity.
For the Japanese public, this promotional imagery blending Thai and Japanese elements also reflects the two countries' long-standing cultural ties. Observers note that by combining high fashion design, royal involvement and the national delegation's ceremonial uniform, and by using prime advertising space in the host country's own capital to promote it, Thailand has demonstrated a mature approach to cultural public diplomacy on the international stage — one that could serve as a reference for how other countries promote their own culture around major multi-sport games.
