The Safari Suit: How India Reclaimed a Colonial Relic
The British military garb shaped a newly independent country’s fashion — and redefined class, identity, and power.
Textile researcher Mayank Mansingh Kaul recalls how his Kashmiri grandfather, once a young Indian freedom fighter in the 1940s, startled everyone when he chose to change his anglicized name, Lytton, to Lalit. But one thing stood out even more: the way his grandfather dressed. In sharp contrast to his Westernized siblings, who preferred their English names and three-piece suits, Kaul’s grandfather chose to wear a breezy, simple outfit consisting of a short-sleeved shirt with pockets and matching trousers: the iconic safari suit.
The utilitarian garment defined an entire era of Indian fashion and became a metaphor for a newly independent nation: practical, modest, economical, and powerful. Men opted for the outfit for the most quotidian of events to the most lavish of celebrations. But just as quickly as it spread, it quietly disappeared — which is perhaps a larger story about India itself.