Indian PM Narendra Modi ups fashion ante for maiden US visit
Fashion experts say prime minister has taken Indian political dress to a new level with his fastidious style
Narendra Modi is pulling out all the fashion stops for his upcoming visit to the United States, hiring a top Mumbai designer to create outfits that will sell his vision of a newly confident, aspirational India.
India’s politicians are often mocked by media for their crumpled traditional cotton shirt-and-pyjama attire, which serves as an austerity badge in a nation where simple living is prized as a political credo.
But fashion experts say Modi, 64, has taken Indian political dress to a new level with his fastidious style, favouring crisp, half-sleeved linen, khadi or silk kurtas – shirts – and churidar pyjamas he pairs with tailored Nehru jackets.
A former tea boy who rose to the top, Modi has embraced a look of prosperity and power, in line with his message of economic reform, and is credited with demonstrating that Indian men don’t have to forego traditional wear to look well-dressed.
“He’s selling aspirational India,” said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of one the few biographies on the secretive leader, adding that Modi’s affinity for traditional wear ties into his nationalist image.