Aug 20 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
Dress Sense As Brand Sense
There's sound branding sense behind the old adage on how clothes make the man, writes Ambi Parameswaran, member management board, FCB Ulka
It was 1978. I was on a summer break after my first year of slogging at IIT. I thought I should show off my new found fashion sense that was the rage on the campus: a white kurta and a pair of blue jeans. So wearing my new set of clothes I wandered into the venerable Mylapore Club in Chennai's Tam Bram Capital. Much to my surprise, the guys in the motorcycle stand found my attire curiously funny. I was almost laughed out of the club and then went home to change into a t-shirt and jeans.Why does dress really matter? And how have personality brands used them? This is indeed an interesting area of study. Just as packaging design maketh the consumer product brand, dress design maketh the personality! M K Gandhi used to wear a suit when he was a student and a practicing lawyer in London and later in South Africa. But when he returned to India and joined the freedom struggle he gave up those clothes to sport the attire of the Indian farmer. His dhothi was always in spotless white and he was often bare-chested. Interestingly the cap he wore got rechristened as the “Gandhi Topi“. So while M K Gandhi could go about his business in a suit, Mahatma Gandhi the freedom fighter needed a set of clothes that was seen as a common man's attire. I wouldn't want to repeat the reportedly interesting exchange he had with Winston Churchill about his clothing habits.Incidentally, Churchill did refer to Mahatma Gandhi (and his attire) derogatively as the “half-naked fakir“. M A Jinnah with his suits and cigarettes on the other hand decided to be a contrast to Mahatma Gandhi.
Jawaharlal Nehru did something different. He combined the formal western suit with Indian nawabi attire to create the `Bundhgala Suit', which got named the Nehru suit. It stood for a modern India, yet reflected western style and taste. We now note that the Nehru suit has been reinvented in many new avatars to suit the million dollar big Indian weddings.
It was therefore very interesting to read about the buzz that Narendra Modi's half sleeve kurta has created in the apparel world. I am told that #ModiKurta even trended soon after the election results came out.
Personality brands need to see how to use dress as a signal to their various audiences. Some leaders do it with style and panache. Nelson Mandela frequently appeared in traditional African attire, suitably modified for the modern age. In his heyday, Mahatir Mohammad the president of Malaysia used to appear in Malay Batik shirts.Hamid Karzai is reported to sport the nicest of clothes his embattled country produces.
If Mahatma Gandhi adopted the farmer's attire and almost appeared as a Hindu saint -just go to Shanmukhanda Auditorium in Mumbai and see how vividly this comes out; on one wall is an illustration of Mahatma Gandhi and on the other a picture of Chandrashekara Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt -Modi has done something interesting with the humble kurta. He has trimmed it to suit the new ethos. And the Modi Kurta ap pears in many attractive colors.
So why does the half sleeve kurta suit Narendra Modi's brand persona ?
A loose fitting kurta is not the most ideal form of attire for someone who is speaking of industrialisation and liberal economics. It is loose to start with and flaps about in the wind. You cannot operate a lathe wearing the kurta. Neither can you plough the fields in one. However Indian politicians have made the white kurta the uniform of their class. It is white to signify purity, it is the common man's attire and makes the political class appear a lot more approach able. Or so they believe.
So what to do with the kurta in order to make it more suitable for the need of the hour? The half kurta does precisely that. It signifies a `rolled up sleeve' attitude. The attitude of a leader who wants to get to work in a hurry. How ever the addition of a nice attrac tive well-designed waistcoat adds a touch of formality to an otherwise informal `half sleeve kurta'.
No wonder the kurta has caught on as the #ModiKurta. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more and more politicians sporting it in the months and years to come.
Jawaharlal Nehru did something different. He combined the formal western suit with Indian nawabi attire to create the `Bundhgala Suit', which got named the Nehru suit. It stood for a modern India, yet reflected western style and taste. We now note that the Nehru suit has been reinvented in many new avatars to suit the million dollar big Indian weddings.
It was therefore very interesting to read about the buzz that Narendra Modi's half sleeve kurta has created in the apparel world. I am told that #ModiKurta even trended soon after the election results came out.
Personality brands need to see how to use dress as a signal to their various audiences. Some leaders do it with style and panache. Nelson Mandela frequently appeared in traditional African attire, suitably modified for the modern age. In his heyday, Mahatir Mohammad the president of Malaysia used to appear in Malay Batik shirts.Hamid Karzai is reported to sport the nicest of clothes his embattled country produces.
If Mahatma Gandhi adopted the farmer's attire and almost appeared as a Hindu saint -just go to Shanmukhanda Auditorium in Mumbai and see how vividly this comes out; on one wall is an illustration of Mahatma Gandhi and on the other a picture of Chandrashekara Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt -Modi has done something interesting with the humble kurta. He has trimmed it to suit the new ethos. And the Modi Kurta ap pears in many attractive colors.
So why does the half sleeve kurta suit Narendra Modi's brand persona ?
A loose fitting kurta is not the most ideal form of attire for someone who is speaking of industrialisation and liberal economics. It is loose to start with and flaps about in the wind. You cannot operate a lathe wearing the kurta. Neither can you plough the fields in one. However Indian politicians have made the white kurta the uniform of their class. It is white to signify purity, it is the common man's attire and makes the political class appear a lot more approach able. Or so they believe.
So what to do with the kurta in order to make it more suitable for the need of the hour? The half kurta does precisely that. It signifies a `rolled up sleeve' attitude. The attitude of a leader who wants to get to work in a hurry. How ever the addition of a nice attrac tive well-designed waistcoat adds a touch of formality to an otherwise informal `half sleeve kurta'.
No wonder the kurta has caught on as the #ModiKurta. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more and more politicians sporting it in the months and years to come.
