Podcast with Shefalee Vasudev, “Stories We Wear: Status, Spectacle and The Politics of Appearance”
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, is known for his outfits. Since rising to become India’s head of government in 2014, photographers and journalists have long followed his clothing styles, each saying something about India. It’s part of a long tradition of using clothing to make a statement about India—and about defining a political brand. Nor is it unique to India–remember Obama’s tan suit, or now the MAGA red cap?
That observation is part of Shefalee Vasudev’s recent book Stories We Wear: Status, Spectacle and The Politics of Appearance (Westland, December 2025), where she dives into how clothing, appearance, politics and social change are intertwined, covering topics like streaming dramas, influencers, and “the airport look.”
Stories We Wear was reviewed by Kalpana Mohan for the ARB in May 2026. You can read the review here.
Shefalee Vasudev is a journalist, cultural commentator, and narrative psychotherapist. The editor-in-chief of The Voice of Fashion for the last nine years and the founding editor of Marie Claire India, she has spent three decades working across news and lifestyle media. Her first non-fiction work, Powder Room: The Untold Story of Indian Fashion, was published in 2012.
