40 African leaders just made a fashion statement by donning Narendra Modi's signature look

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Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi (centre) with the African leaders during a dinner hosted on the sidelines of the 3rd India Africa Forum Summit, in New Delhi.

By Sonam Joshi22 hours ago

Since being elected to office last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sharp dressing and flamboyant wardrobe have consistently made headlines both in India and abroad. Yesterday, his government took his sartorial diplomacy a step further when over 40 African heads of state donned traditional Indian attire at a dinner held on the sidelines of the 3rd India-Africa Summit in New Delhi.

See also: You can take a Narendra Modi-themed tour of the UK during his maiden visit

The African leaders were dressed in raw silk kurtas, “Modi jackets” and safas (Indian headgear), a look frequently sported by Modi. The only exceptions to the dress code were the presidents of Zimbabwe and South Africa, Robert Mugabe and Jacob Zuma. The summit is being held between Oct. 26 and 29, to boost economic ties between India and African countries.
A sleeveless waist coast, the “Modi jacket” is a more colourful variant of the iconic “Nehru jacket” worn by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. For the India-Africa summit, the Indian government had specially commissioned the Indian fashion label Biba to design bespoke jackets and kurtas in various colours for each leader. Last year, the Indian PM had also gifted a “Modi jacket” to Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to India.
In interviews, Modi has described his flair for “mixing and matching colours” as a gift from god. His attention to clothes is said to extend to designer glasses, pens and watches. Most of his clothes are made by his long-time Ahmedabad-based tailor Jade Blue, who even sells a trademarked "Modi kurta", the short-sleeved cotton tunic associated with the PM.

In January, Narendra Modi wore a dark pinstriped suit with his name monogrammed in dull gold stripes during a reception for U.S. President Barack Obama in New Delhi.

Image: Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

The most famous instance Modi’s sartorial flamboyance is the pinstripe bandhgala (an Indian suit) worn by him during US President Barack Obama’s visit to India in January. Its navy-blue fabric had his full name monogrammed in tiny letters into the golden pinstripe. Following public debates about the value of the suit, which allegedly cost around 1 million rupees or $15300, it was finally sold at a charity auction for approximately 43.1 million rupees or $693,000.

Narendra Modi greeting US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on their arrival in New Delhi in January.

During the same visit by Obama in January, Modi came under the Indian media’s scanner for changing his clothes thrice in a single day, even overtaking the American First Lady Michelle Obama. This record was surpassed during Modi’s recent visit to the US in September, when he donned four different outfits in a day, between visits to Tesla Motors, meetings with CEOs such as Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, a Facebook town hall with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and a reception by the Indian community.

Narendra Modi wearing a colourful Rajasthani turban at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, on Jan. 26, 2015.

Image: Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

He has also been in the news for adopting the colourful headgear of different Indian states during his visits.
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