When wearing something messes with our notions of geography

There is nothing quite so pleasing for a brand than instant recall. To that extent, even the erroneous identification of a checked shawl worn by PM Narendra Modi in France as a Parisian luxury brand’s signature collection should enthuse mavens sitting in Avenue Montaigne, even if they generally take a very dim view of knockoffs. After all, it is a big step for them if eagle-eyed influencers in India think checks belong automatically to a French brand (even without their familiar monogram) rather than, say, a weaving company in Ludhiana or a canny Kashmiri kaarkhana — both perhaps more suited to a PM on a Make in India campaign.

Of course, such presumptions are a disservice to checks, whose origins lie in this general region, with the Persian chessboard and East Asian gingham said to be derived from the Malay word for checked cloth genggang and brought to Europe by the Dutch in the 17th century. Had trademarks and intellectual property rights existed earlier, even purveyors of modern western checks may have found the balance tilting the other way nowadays. But an Indian leader foraying into the land of luxury checks with a desi wrap deserves note. Maybe in hindsight, fashion aficionados will call it a pashmina interpretation of the classic Indian checked gamocha, a staple men’s accessory across eastern India.