New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the new ‘fashion icon’ for the US media and his signature look — a traditional kurta and sleeveless jacket — has become a style statement. Three major US publications — Time, the New York Times and the Washington Post — have lauded Mr Modi’s dressing style. The New York Times, in an article titled “A leader who is what he wears,” said, “Even by the standards of a world that has seen blogs devoted to Michelle Obama’s dress sense, the pre-election mak-eovers of Francois Holla-nde and Dilma Rousseff, and the canonisation of Nelson Mandela’s shirts, the image-craft of India?s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its fashion fallout has been something of a case study."
The article said that even by “India’s standards where leaders have perhaps understood the use of clothing as a communication device better and longer than any of their international peers...Mr Modi stands out." “Objectively speaking, the Modi kurta itself does not exactly represent an extraordinary aesthetic advance; rather it symbolises a set of values. And therein lies its allure,” it said. The Washington Post, me-anwhile, said, “Move aside, Michelle Obama. The world has a new fashion icon. It’s not Vladimir Putin, despite his fitness regimen — it’s India’s new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.” The Time magazine said, “Narendra Modi is apparently the next big thing in Indian fashion.”
