Figure 1.--The Spiegl 1969 catalog offered these Nehru jackets for boys. Hippies of rejected fashon, but by the late 1960s and early 1970s, many hippy styles became very fashionable.

Wwe note Nehru jackets during the late 1960s. They were based on jackets worn in India. Nehru became the first primeminister of an indepedent India in 1947. Thus the style became known in the West as Negru jackets. Nehru as the leader od India was a prominent figure in the Third World and positioned himself as provideding analternative approach to Western values. I don't recall anyone wearing them until the 1960s. We know they were advertized in catalogs. The image here is from the 1969 Spiegel catalog. Spiegel offered them in sizes 6-12 years. Most images of the 1960s-70s that we have noted show oldr teenagers and young men wearing them. None of our HBC readers remember wearing them as boys. They do not appear to have been very popular for boys. I never say boys wearing them. I was on the East Coast at the time. Perhaps they were more popular on the West Coast, especially California. Hopefully our California readers will provide us some detils here. The style became associated with the Hippy Movemnent. I am not sure hut, probably because it was an available alternative to estblished Western suit styles. Older teenagers may have worn them, but we do not think many pre-teen boys wore them. A European reader writes, "I don't recall seeing this type of jacket by boys any time, any place. For once a purely American style that did not catch on in Europe?" HBC would not precisely say that it was an American style. We don't believe that it was all that popular here either.