The Nehru jacket is a hip-length tailored coat for men or women, with a mandarin collar, and with its front modelled on the Indian achkan or sherwani, a garment worn by Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India from 1947 to 1964.
The Nehru jacket is a variation of the Jodhpuri where the material is often khadi (hand-woven cloth). The Jodhpuri itself is an evolution from the Angarkha. Popularized during the terms of Jawaharlal Nehru, these distinct Bandhgalas made from khadi remain popular to this day.[1]
Unlike the achkan, which falls somewhere below the knees of the wearer, the Nehru jacket is shorter. Jawaharlal Nehru, notably, never wore this type of Nehru jacket.[a][2]
The jacket was first 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 the aspirational class' growing awareness of foreign cultures, by the minimalism of the Mod lifestyle and, in particular, by Sammy Davis Jr.[3] and the Beatles.[4][5] Some were also worn by Roger Delgado's version of the renegade Time Lord known as the Master on the British science fiction television show Doctor Who.
Charles Barron and Mahathir Mohamad are among the politicians who frequently wear Nehru suits.[6][7]
In 2012, the Nehru jacket was listed among the "Top 10 Political Fashion Statements" by Time magazine.[8]