Modi@2: A Tale of Fashion Statements and Misstatements

Let’s talk about some rather unusual sartorial decisions that our bold PM has made in his two years at the helm.

A mini-economy started with the rise in Modi’s sartorial clout – the Modi jacket began being sold online and offline – branded brazenly with the name of its most famous ambassador.

And just like that, as with other nomenclature changes that have been happening with our roads and institutions, the Nehru jacket, too, has slowly become the Modi jacket over the last two years.

But we won’t canonise the Modi jacket or his kurta anymore. Don’t we have half the media outlets in this country to do just that ever since our well-dressed PM came to power?

We will, however, talk about some rather unusual clothing decisions our bold PM made, which saw even the fiercest fashion critics sit up and take notice.

A burgundy bandhgala was a chromatic risk the PM took as he walked out of an Air India One airplane during his maiden visit to the United States as India’s leader in September 2014. The wine colour, perhaps a tad unusual, was a good choice in retrospect.

Straight to Russia, where the Prime Minister wore what is a delightful fall dressing option – a black blazer with a red scarf underneath.

And although his black Bandhgala has remained a comforting option that he falls back on quite often, his experiments with pocket squares haven’t gone unnoticed.

Here the PM wears a black and white houndstooth-striped one.

While at the COP21, the PM chose to wear a green and white patterned pocket square.

Of course, one suit that had his name printed all over did draw a lot of scorn, but he seems to have learnt his lesson well. No other megalomaniacal sartorial sightings have been seen on the PM since.

That said, the PM who once claimed that his knack of mixing and matching different colours and textures was a “gift from God”, has faltered at times. No one wears a chequered jacket with a traditional kurta pyjama, no?

That slight fashion miscalculation can still be overlooked, but can Mr Modi’s now-infamous mullet be forgiven?

Give me a resounding no, y’ all!