Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, has been turning heads all day online thanks to the suit he wore to welcome Barack Obama during the US president’s state visit to the world’s largest democracy.
The Indian premier managed to steal focus from the American leader with a very particular type of pinstripe woven into his suit – his own name embroidered into the fabric, over and over again.
The tweet below reveals the pinstripe's writing more clearly:
Waiting for freshly minted Padma Awardee @swapan55 to explain Modi suit material as an eg of Hindu pride & resurgence pic.twitter.com/4A4fxEUTLh
— Sarvatra-gam 52 (@sarvatragam) January 26, 2015
The Indian politician, regarded as something of a style icon in New Delhi, has seen his traditional bandhgala suit become a viral hit online, where it is trending on Twitter. The US president even remarked in a toast to the PM that he wanted to wear a Modi kurta, referring to Time magazine and the New York Times lauding Mr Modi’s knee-length tunic when he visited the US last June.
Mr Modi's personal tailor said the suit was specially made for President Obama's visit. "We were told that he had loved it because it was something exclusive," he said, wishing to remain anonymous.
The personalised pinstripe look is not an original, however, as one eagle-eyed tweeter points out disgraced Egyptian politician Hosni Mubarak wore it, though arguably worse:
Oh, Modi was just copying Hosni Mubarak. That makes it so much better. RT @Vidyut @siddharth3: @samar11 pic.twitter.com/Fp7kNpBwiG
— Brown Sahiba (@Rajyasree) January 26, 2015
