At 66, Aun San Suu Kyi is not just an enduring inspiration for millions in Myanmar but also a style icon with her elegance and sheer simplicity.
The pro-democracy leader, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here Tuesday, has been the picture of grace through her years of house arrest and personal tragedy – losing her husband to cancer and being unable to visit him while he was ailing.
A gentle smile, flowers tucked in her hair tied in a bun and dressed in the traditional blouse (anyi) and sarong (longyi) with just the slightest hint of makeup, the willowy Suu Kyi has aged little over the years.
The Irrawaddy magazine’s website recalled how the Suu Kyi fever first took root in the 1990s with Myanmarese women showing support to their icon by ordering their tailors to copy her clothes.
An “Aung San Suu Kyi-style front-fastening tunic” and a “Daw Suu-inspired neckline” were requests that were heard.
According to an estimate, just over half of Myanmar’s population of over 54 million are women.
Suu Kyi, who spent 15 out of 21 years under house arrest, reportedly received many gifts of clothes but mostly ordered fabrics from Yangon’s Scott Market, and designed the patterns herself.
On the day she was set free from house arrest in November 2010, she wore a light plum-coloured outfit. The pink-purple combination soon caught on.
Always in the public eye, the Nobel laureate who won the April 1 by-election campaign that her party swept, has been meeting a galaxy of world leaders who have been frequenting the country.
She has shown her openness for a rich variety of colours, and Myanmar’s many women have been quick to take tips from her impeccable style statement.
She also promised to deliver a lecture in India after an invite from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Manmohan Singh met Suu Kyi here on the third and final day of his official visit to Myanmar – a dozen agreements were inked between the two countries Monday. And in a measure of how she feels, Suu Kyi came to Manmohan Singh’s hotel although other world leaders have always called on her.
“…India and Burma have been particularly close over the years not just because of our geographical positions but because we have shared deep ties of friendship for many, many long years,” the Nobel Laureate told the media after their over 45-minute meeting.
“The struggle for India’s independence took place at the same time as the struggle for Burma’s independence. My parents were great admirers of (India’s first prime minister) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Indian leaders, but we were particularly close to Panditji as I was taught to call him from a very young age,” said a smiling Suu Kyi, who leaves Tuesday night for Thailand on her first overseas trip in nearly 25 years.
Wearing a purple dress embellished with flowers, the National League for Democracy leader said: “I am very happy at the prospect of closer ties with India because I think we have much to learn from one another and we have much to contribute to peace and stability in this region, because our goals, our democratic goals, work on the basis of peace and stability, and these are what we shall aim towards.”
Responding to a request from Manmohan Singh to visit India, Suu Kyi said: “I am very gratified by the invitation to deliver the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture, and I hope I will take up this invitation before too long.”
She hoped for greater exchanges “between our two peoples”.
“As I said to the prime minister, true friendship between the countries can be based only on friendship between our peoples, and this is what I hope we will be able to achieve,” she added.
Manmohan Singh, who spoke first after their meeting, said: “We in India are very proud of our longstanding association with her and members of her family including her parents.
“I sincerely hope that she will find it possible to visit India soon,” he said.
Manmohan Singh said it had been a privilege to have met Suu Kyi, a democracy crusader who studied in New Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College before pursuing higher studies in Oxford.
In a break from her previous meetings, Suu Kyi came to the Sedona Hotel to meet the prime minister. Other world leaders including Hillary Clinton have called on her at her lakeside villa where she spent long years under house arrest.
Manmohan Singh said he had handed over an invitation letter from Sonia Gandhi to deliver the annual Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture.
He lauded Suu Kyi and said her life was one of “struggle and determination (which) has inspired millions of people all over the world”.
He added that the she will play “a defining role” in the process of national reconciliation launched by President Thein Sein.
Suu Kyi took oath as a parliamentarian May 2.
Many world leaders are now visiting Myanmar following dramatic reforms initiated by the military junta. Myanmar has been under military rule for five decades.
The reforms are being powered by President Sein, who shed the uniform to play a key role in the formation of the Union Solidarity and Development Party. Manmohan Singh met the former general Monday.
Suu Kyi, who didn’t leave Myanmar even when her huband was dying of cancer as she feared she won’t be allowed to return, is an iconic symbol of democracy in Myanmar, a country of over 54 million.
Born in June 1945, she was barely two when her father, independence hero Gen Aung San, was assassinated. She won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991.