History[edit]
Japanese pinstripe Nehru suit, 1990s.
The Nehru jacket's history can be traced back to the Mughal years when the courtier's choga be came the garment of the rich and the powerful. In its later avatars, it became the north Indian male's idea of formal wear - sherwani, achkan, the bandhgala and finally the bandi. The apparel was created in India in the 1940s as Band Gale Ka Coat (English: "Closed Neck Coat") and has been popular on the Indian subcontinent ever since, especially as the top half of a suit worn on formal occasions.
Popularity[edit]
The jacket began to be marketed as the Nehru jacket in Europe and America in the mid 1960s. It was briefly popular there in the late 1960s and early 1970s, its popularity spurred by growing awareness of foreign cultures, by the minimalism of the Mod lifestyle and, in particular, by the Beatles and subsequently the Monkees.[2][3]
Several villains in the James Bond film series, including Dr. No, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Karl Stromberg and Kamal Khan, appear wearing a Nehru jacket.
A different version, with desi vest-coat in various unconventional colors (chrome yellow and sky blue) is known as Modi Jacket. Worn by current PM of India Narendra Modi, to promote and popularize Khadi.