• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Nehru Jacket

The full sleeves Nehru jacket is sometimes confused with the Mao Jacket. The Mao jacket, unlike the Nehru jacket, features a turndown collar and four flapped patch pockets, unlike the turned-up mandarin collar of the Nehru Jacket, which may or may not have pockets. The Nehru Jacket is commonly worn in India, while the Mao Jacket today is only worn by senior Party officials on important military occasions.

The Nehru jacket was popularized in the west in the 1960s by the Beatles, a British music group. Sean Connery wore it as James Bond in Dr. No, and Louis Jourdan, who played the villain role of Kamal Khan in the 007 film, Octopussy, donned this jacket in the movie.

The Nehru jacket is named after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, an important leader of the Indian independence movement, who became the first Prime Minister of India. It is perfect for Indian officials wishing to make a political or patriotic statement, especially if it is tailored in khadi. Unlike in the western hemisphere, the Nehru Jacket remains popular in Southeast Asia, especially in India and neighboring countries.

Nehru in the 1930s started with V-neck, moved to closed collars and also changed from the rounded bottom edge to the straight cut. Nehru used to call the pajama-kurta-jacket ensemble the "Congress livery". It was based on his sherwanis, but cut closer to the body and trimmed at hip-length. Because it had an upstanding "Mandarin" collar it couldn't be worn with a tie, which was its selling point. Nehru seldom wore the classic Nehru jacket himself, as he continued wearing sherwanis. It was perhaps due to the similarity between the two garments that brought the term Nehru jacket into existence.

The Nehru jacket features a collar is in the mandarin style originating in Imperial China, while the jacket front is derived from the sherwani coats worn by aristocrats in India, and by Indian grooms on their wedding day. This collar is a short ( 1-2" / stand-2-5 cm) stand-up collar that is not turned down and does not feature a lapel.

The Nehru jacket can have single or double vents, and its collar is fastened with the help of a hook, which gives a clean look to the ensemble. The jacket is mostly paired with matching trousers, but it can be worn with odd trousers. As the jacket does not display any shirt (except for the cuffs and a bit of collar), the correct shirt to wear with it would be a collarless shirt.

After the Muslim rulers came to India, long shirts with tunic collars appeared. These knee length shirts resembled modern nightshirts, and were called ‘Kurta’. Embroided kurtas were called ‘Achkans’. Frock coats were extremely popular in the Victorian era, and were a model for the direct predecessor of the Nehru jacket – the ‘Sherwani’. It married the ethnicity of the achkan with the formality of the frock coat. The sherwani was cut closer to the body, had a suppressed waist and a flared skirt.

The Nehru Jacket was a less formal alternative to the sherwani, and like its predecessor, it too found a place in the Indian man’s wardrobe. The apparel was created in India in the 1940s as Band Gale Ka Coat (English: "Closed Neck Coat") and was popular on the Indian subcontinent since, especially as the top half of a suit worn on formal occasions. In India, the Nehru jacket is often termed "band-gala" (i.e. closed-neck).

In the 1980s the Nehru jacket had an interesting second life. The sleaves were deleted to make it a more elaborate waistcoat, confusingly called the by the same name, though the term Jawahar jacket [named after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru] is also used for this. A jawahar jacket is defined in the United States/India bilateral textile agreement as a loose-fitting coat or vest of waist or hip length with or without buttons traditionally worn over kurtas or Kameez by men and women.

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is mostly seen donning a sleeveless Nehru jacket over a Kurta. The humble bandi (half-jacket) has managed to travel quite a long political distance. Once known as the Nehru acket, the desi waistcoat has been been appropriated by Narendra Modi, a man with barely concealed disdain for the Nehruvian legacy. The BJP doesn't even call it a Nehru jacket, they call it Modi jacket. Modi has an extensive collection - buttoned up, open, in unconventional colors - and he wears them on his foreign trips which Nehru did not.

Narendra Modi is very particular about his look. Every politician wears the staple kurta with jackets, but Modi does it with a difference. The fact that Modi has stuck to Indian attire and spiced them up instead of adorning western clothes has been appreciated. Modi's Nehru jackets have become quite popular. "Nehru jackets are really in nowadays and be it youngsters or elders, everyone is following the trend," Ruchi Verma, 21 a student at Noida's Satyam Fashion Institute, said.

As Chief Minister of Gujarat, he wore the Jacket - called koti in Gujarat - for the more formal look over his trademark half-sleeved Modi kurta. It become a mandatory part of his attire after he became Prime Minister, as a plain kurta looked a little casual.

With his crisp, half-sleeved silk, khadi and linen kurtas and churidar pyjamas, coupled with finely-tailored Nehru jackets, often in bright, eye-catching colors, Modi shunned the shabby and crumpled kurtas and dhotis/pyjamas — the staple political costume of the traditional Indian politician. Modi’s signature half-sleeve kurtas (and churidaars), are his calling card as a style icon, and reflects his can-do attitude and readiness to try out new things. Modi’s kurta and Nehru jacket pairings are always a hit.

During the January 2015 tour of US president Barack Obama, Modi sported bright-colored Nehru jackets, something rarely expected from a politician. The prime minister's signature look comprises a traditional kurta made of either cotton or silk, usually paired with a vest. When the prime minister went to personally receive the Obamas at the New Delhi airport, he sported his signature vest, called the Modi kurta. He also incorporates his ambitious "Make in India" campaign in his style quotient by injecting Indian art and weaves in his ensembles. His bandhgala coats seemed to boost his appeal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, often seen in colorful waistcoats, has drawn up an elaborate plan: to gift world leaders bespoke “Modi jackets” especially stitched for them in India. In November 2018 the first recipient was Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea, who New Delhi is evidently keen to befriend as a strategic and business partner. He uploaded a picture clad in a “Modi jacket” and tweeted that the “gorgeous garment sent by Modi can be worn easily in Korea and fits perfectly”.

Neither the External Affairs Ministry nor the Prime Minister’s Office has revealed the names of presidents and prime ministers Modi intends to send waist-coats named after him. But it has been reliably learnt that Modi has entrusted the job to the Ahmedabad-based Jadeblue Lifestyle India Ltd which markets “Modi jackets” and “Modi kurtas” through 22 stores – including some at airports – in 18 cities across India. Jadeblue managing director, Bipin Chauhan, admits sending the “Modi jacket” to Moon on behalf of the Indian PM but refuses to divulge details. Inexplicably enough, the names of other world leaders about to receive “Modi jackets” is being kept under wraps.

This unleashed a storm on twitter with many accusing Modi of trying to pass off “Nehru jackets” worn by India’s first prime minster Jawaharlal Nehru as “Modi jackets”. Congress Party stalwart Nehru is an iconic figure for the role he played in the independence movement and subsequently as free India’s first prime minister. He was the premier for 17 long years; his name is usually mentioned in the same breath as Mahatma Gandhi’s who brought down the curtains on British rule through non-violence.

Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, tweeted: “It’s really nice of our PM to send these (jackets) but could he not have sent them without changing the name? All my life I have known these jackets as Nehru jackets and now I find they have been labelled ‘Modi jacket’. Clearly nothing existed in India before 2014.”

Congress Party spokesman Manish Tiwari too tore into Modi. “The BJP prime minister is notorious for stealing what belongs to others and pass it off as his own. Many projects launched by the Congress government are being portrayed as his brainchild. Modi stole Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles. And now it is Nehru’s jacket’s turn.”

Jadeblue’s Chavan, who has been designing Modi’s clothes since his days as Gujarat chief minister, concedes that the jackets under the spotlight were originally worn by Nehru but insists that Modi has popularized them after becoming PM in 2014. “Nehru started wearing them. Other leaders like Sardar Patel also wore them. But the jackets came to be associated with Nehru. During Nehru’s time, only the elite wore them”, Chavan told Indian Express. “But Modi has popularized it and taken it to the masses…Modi brought in color and a new design, making it a statement even among corporates. The ones we sell are Modi jackets. It’s a bit longer and more comfortable than Nehru jackets.”