Vadra's biceps and Modi's kurtas: Politics of fashion

Our hearts bleed for Robert Vadra. The First Son-in-law pays a heavy price for living among us ordinary people. Not only can he not acquire land deals at sweetheart prices without Arvind Kejriwal raising a stink, the much-beleaguered Vadra cannot even show off his hard-earned muscles in India. “Yes, unfortunately though I work out a lot, I never show my body,” Vadra tells TNN during Fashion Week. He’s always wearing a suit because the poor guy is always working. “I can’t flaunt my biceps in India,” Mr. Fitness mourns. He can just show them off while abroad on holiday when he wears t-shirts. That’s also a chance to wear his linens which he loves. Petty-minded people will say Vadra has many other ways to show his muscle in India but the hidden muscles of Robert Vadra are just one more item in the long list of sacrifices the Gandhi family has made for this nation. However a solution is at hand. And it can come unsurprisingly from the man who plans to solve all that ails India. Narendra Modi’s Modi kurta (now registered as a brand name) could be the answer to Vadra’s sartorial blues – it’s desi, Modi wears it to business functions and it’s got short sleeves which can be rolled up to show Vadra’s gym-toned biceps. [caption id=“attachment_1172995” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Robert Vadra and Narendra Modi. AFP.[/caption] Even better news for linen-loving Vadra. There is a linen version of the “Modi kurta” retailing for Rs 2,995. Bipin Chauhan, Modi’s stylist for the last 25 years tells Indian Express that he is scaling up Modi-kurta production and plans to sell cotton ones for Rs 995 and linen ones for Rs 1,900 so more people can own one. Vadra will be pleased to know the demand for these kurtas among NRIs is huge so he can take his linen kurta along on those holidays abroad and be at the cutting edge of a fashion wave. Meanwhile Modi might be embarking on a bit of sartorial adventure himself. Chauhan reveals that Modi is considering a Pathani suit. There is no word whether this is a calculated fashion choice aimed at minority outreach especially after that spurned skull cap. But when it happens it will probably make for as many photographs as Priyanka Gandhi walking into Parliament in white shirt and black trousers. In a political scene dominated by men in khadi kurtas and bluish-grey safari suits, all as dowdy and predictable as the Ambassador car, most talk of male fashion is usually in jest. As in Mukul Kesavan’s lexical sampler of all words Modi. modi~sh: a sense of style centred on half-sleeved orange kurtas with Chinese collars. ‘Six modish men with furry arms sat round a small table at the Centre, speaking of Turks and Trojan horses. However clothes do make the man. And the modern politicians know it. Chauhan tells Indian Express his style choices for dressing up Modi come from a conversation he once overheard. Modi said he would never compromise on his eyes, his clothes and his voice. If he just added skin to the list that could have been straight out of the metrosexual male’s dress-to-succeed guide. Modi with his alpha male persona can make his list of appearance non-negotiables sound like an extension of steely machismo. That same list on Rahul Gandhi’s lips would have made him sound like the effete dilettante heading to the beauty parlour en route to his Dalit sleepover. Rahul is doomed to perpetually combat that perception of elitism – a man to the boutique born. His fashion choices seem deliberately dowdy, desperately seeking not to draw attention. A family friend, the same age as Rahul, tells Open magazine he is “the most boring dresser” though he has a “penchant for sneakers”. But because he is a Gandhi he cannot escape attention. Our style gurus go overboard trying to make the poor guy into a style icon. “He mingles his khadi and linen with modern day ‘purani’ jeans to come up with a real cool look. Also he pays attention to his eyewear - it’s very sleek with a little golden tinge to give him an intellectual look,” designer Jai of the duo Parvesh-Jai tells IANS. Rahul’s khadi kurtas are very much a sartorial performance for that down-with-the people touch. Open reveals that he is more of a jeans and Polo or Lacoste t-shirt kinda person though he “does sometimes wear a delicious bomber jacket.” Women politicians’ wardrobes are routinely scrutinized. Indira Gandhi had a sari to match every occasion and every geographic region. Sonia likes local weaves and according to Open sports a man’s wristwatch like her mother-in-law. Shobhaa De wrote that Mamata Banerjee has an expert hair dye job. But men have largely escaped sartorial scrutiny because they mostly dressed so boringly. But men can be just as vain about how they look. And in a hotly contested election a kurta faux pas will just not do. Clothes will need to signal character. But one cannot be straitjacketed into one’s fashion choices. For example it’s clear that Gandhinagar fashions won’t work in Delhi winters. So Modi might have to give in and go for a bandhgala aka Nehru jacket even though he apparently does not like them. That could actually make for a wonderful photo-op in national unity – Robert Vadra in a Modi kurta and Narendra Modi in a Nehru jacket.