Nehru Jacket - Fashion, Costume, and Culture
The youth of the 1960s, unhappy with the culture and values they had grown up with, began to seek different approaches to explore other cultures. Because many of these youths opposed the war and demanded a peaceful solution, they praised the people of India, who had gained independence from the British Empire in 1947 largely through non-violent means.
White linen Nehru jacket
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| White linen Nehru jacket |
In 1964, pacifist Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), the first prime minister of independent India, was dressed in his traditional coat in Vogue magazine. Vogue was an important fashion influence, and the Nehru jacket, named after Prime Minister Nehru, began to gain popularity. The distinctive Nehru jacket is a close-fitted, single breasted (a row of buttons below the front) coat with a stand-up collar and no lapels. Around the same time, the popular British rock group The Beatles traveled to India to study meditation techniques, and soon the group members began wearing Nehru jackets and established a new fashion trend.
Royal blue linen nehru jacket
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| Royal blue linen nehru jacket |
Jackets quickly became popular. Celebrities ranging from talk show host Johnny Carson (1925–) to football star Joe Namath (1943–) wore Nehru jackets, and singer Sammy Davis Jr. (1925–1990) was described as one of his two hundred. Nehru jackets were made from a wide variety of materials other than plain cotton and wool, including brocade, vinyl and sharkskin.
Gray linen Nehru jacket
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| Gray linen Nehru jacket |
The craze of Nehru jacket came to an end in a few years. Suddenly the Nehru jacket became not only a symbol of dated and out-of-style clothing, but also of the type of person who still wore the jacket. The Nehru jacket came to represent an aging loser who was trying unsuccessfully to be hip and cool, an image that has been maintained for decades. In 1994 the rock group Love Battery released the song "Nehru Jacket", in which a person rings the bell and a Nehru jacket unsuccessfully tries to get a date. In Austin Powers 'films in the late 1990s and early 2000s, about a detective who was frozen in the 1960s and melted in the 1990s, Austin Powers' use of the Nehru jacket in his geeky Is performed to express hip and awkwardness.
Black linen Nehru jacket
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| Black linen Nehru jacket |
However, in fashion, what is considered outdated by one generation becomes trendy for another. In the late 1990s, the Nehru jacket reappeared in fashion magazines as a desired garment for both women and men. In 2002 fashion designer Ermenegildo Zegna designed a "guru suit" with a Nehru jacket, and former US President Bill Clinton (1946–) was spotted in a tuxedo with a Nehru jacket in the summer of 2001.
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