Nehru jacket

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Jawaharlal Nehru in his preferred jacket.

The Nehru jacket is an article of clothing based on the Indian sherwani. It became popular in the West in the 1960s. It is modelled after the sherwanis preferred by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. While a sherwani typically reaches to the knees, the Nehru jacket is cut off at around hip height or upper leg, like a standard Western suit jacket.

The distinctive feature of the jacket is its stand-up collar. Its popularity in 1960s was buoyed by both the growing awareness of ethnic diversity and the minimalism of the Mod lifestyle, and particularly by the Beatles, who wore the jackets during their 1968 trip to India.

1 Notable wearers
2 In popular culture
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Notable wearers

A sleeveless Nehru jacket or waistcoat (vest), worn with tight fitting churidar pants and cotton kurta (a loose overshirt)

Johnny Carson was commissioned to wear Nehru jackets on his show during the mid-1970s, in the hopes of making them popular again.^{[citation needed]}
A popular uniform among James Bond villains. Dr. No, the first Bond villain, wears a Nehru jacket in the film of the same name. Kamal Khan also wears several Nehru jackets in Octopussy. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Elliot Carver wears the same black Nehru Jacket throughout the movie, as does Moonraker's Hugo Drax. However, Bond's arch-enemy, SPECTRE chieftain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, wears a Mao jacket in You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever.
No doubt because of its association with sophisticated villainy, the Doctor's arch enemy the Master in Doctor Who is often to be seen wearing a black Nehru jacket in his earliest appearances (starting with Terror of the Autons).
Sammy Davis Jr. claimed to have over 200 Nehru jackets.
Homi K. Bhabha often wears Nehru jackets; his shirts also often have Nehru collars despite being paired with a western-style suit.
Televangelist Benny Hinn often wears a Nehru jacket.
Steven Seagal wears Nehru jackets, as well as a variety of other Asiatic styles.