The fashion icon Narendra Modi, who is also India’s prime minister, took his personal flair to new levels during Barack Obama’s visit to India over the weekend.
After greeting the US president at the airport in an electric poppy-colored shawl, Modi changed into what appeared to be a conservative pin-striped bandhgala. (With its Nehru-style collar, the style is also known as a Jodhpuri suit.)
But those pinstripes were not pinstripes at all. Close-up photos revealed that they were actually tiny letters spelling out the prime minister’s full name, Narendra Damodardas Modi, again and again.
One would expect the prime minister of India, where formal clothing is commonly custom-made, to wear bespoke suits—but custom-woven fabric is quite something. The London Evening Standard recognized the fabric as one offered by the Savile Row cloth merchant Holland & Sherry.
According to the company’s website, ”the choice of decoration for the stripe is selected from our extensive colour palette and evolves through interpreting your exclusive ideas into the form of a stripe, clearly visible at close-range and softy muted from a distance.”
A salesperson from Holland & Sherry would not confirm supplying the fabric for Modi’s suit, but did tell a reporter from Quartz India that fabrics of the personalized pinstripe variety—the “signature collection“—start at 300 euros ($340) per meter.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen such a suit on a politician. Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak wore one too. Should you feel so inspired, the international tailors Tom James will use Holland & Sherry fabrics to make you your very own.