#HappyBirthdayNarendraModi: The many stylish looks of India’s Prime Minister@65

Our Prime Minister turns 65 today, but he continues to surprise us with his youthful charisma. His full-of-life sartorial sense is the perfect foil to his grey hair. We wish him a very sprightly birthday! May he stays dynamic like this forever.

On this day, we attempt to decode the NaMo style statement that has made headlines the world over.

It wasn’t just the image of the Indian politician in crumpled pyjama-kurta that got shoved aside when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. The Washington Post wrote, ‘Move aside, Michelle Obama. The world has a new fashion icon. And no, it’s not Vladimir Putin, despite his fitness regimen — it’s India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi.’

Whether in Parliament, big occasions like the Independence Day address, rubbing shoulders with business leaders or on one of his many foreign jaunts, Modi has always been impeccably turned out and his style has been examined as closely as his substance. He has been unafraid to experiment and be a little adventurous with cuts, colours and turbans. Here’s decoding the style of the man who wore a monogrammed suit to lunch with the POTUS:

Modi’s signature style

Kurtas in cotton or silk, worn over white or cream churidar and complemented with a superbly-tailored jacket or vest is what PM Narendra Modi is most often seen in. His kurtas vary in length, and the sleeves can be short or long. The typically Indian dress, crafted from Indian fabrics, ties in nicely with Modi’s ‘Make in India’ slogan.

Not a crease in sight

Modi always looks like he’s just stepped out of the dressing room. His outfits are always crisp and crease-free. He is known to change 3-4 outfits a day for different occasions.

The Modi jacket

No political leader since Nehru has impacted fashion in any way until Narendra Modi came along with his now famous jackets. They have their own hashtag #ModiJacket and are said to be crafted by the PM’s favourite designers, the Ahmedabad-based Jade Blue. Modi’s jackets are carefully chosen to complement the colour of his kurta.

The PM’s colours

The average Indian politician rarely looks beyond white. But Modi’s bucked that style trend, too. Even when he wears white, it’s usually a shade of ivory and not the stark white khadi that politicians wear. His kurtas and jackets come in every shade from pink to pale blue and saffron. While he has a particular fondness for vibrant hues such as orange and saffron, which he displayed during the campaigning, his colour palette is slightly more subdued now.

To top it off

For special occasions and while touring the country, Modi has chosen to sport colourful head gear that reflects the vibrancy of our many cultures. For his public appearances on Independence Day as well as Republic Day, he wore bright bandhani turbans from Rajasthan. In Guwahati, he pulled on an Assamese Japi and in Punjab it was a pagadi. At a public rally in Arunachal Pradesh he dared to wear a dumluk, headgear of the Adi tribals.

THE suit

Then, there was the monogrammed suit, which looked like any pin-striped suit until you looked close. Then you saw his full name, Narendra Damordas Modi, woven in gold thread into the fabric, forming the stripes. Some said it was a stunner of a style statement, others dismissed it as vulgar. In any case, the suit was auctioned for a whopping Rs 4.31 crores, with the proceeds going toward the Ganga clean-up. The PM sure knows how to pull it off!

We wish him a very healthy and happy year ahead!

Also read

Barack Obama writes about Narendra Modi in Time magazine, calls him India’s ‘reformer-in-chief’