Finding the perfect wedding lehenga is no mean feat. Every bride is confronted with some pressing questions: “Is it one of a kind?” “Can I re-wear it?” “And how will I style it after the wedding?” Long story short, more often than not, after the wedding, when you've unpacked from your honeymoon, and returned to normal everyday life, the lehenga is packed away and left to become a memory of the past. To come to the rescue and help brides-to-be, five women in the Vogue office let us in how they would re-style their wedding lehengas back in their closets, and keep them from collecting dust.
Image: Artfoto Studios
“My lehenga was a custom Manish Malhotra. Since my wedding was just three months ago, I haven't had the chance to wear it again. But I did choose it with the idea that I could style it with something else. It doesn't have sequins or a zari work, making it easy to pair with a plain shirt or a lighter blouse. It is still quite heavy, so I would wait for a family wedding to re-wear it.”
“Since I had a destination wedding, I didn't want a lehenga that was over the top or really heavy. My blouse and skirt were one colour and didn't have any big borders. I re-wore it again, eight months after I got married, for a close relative's wedding. I had a slip top made to match the skirt to make the outfit look like a dress. I wore Indian jewellery but no dupatta. It was a completely different look from how I wore it on my wedding day.”
“I had a Muslim and Hindu wedding, so I had two different outfits. I haven't had a chance to wear either since then, but I have definitely thought of some ideas for when I do. For my Muslim wedding, I wore a lehenga with a long kurta over it, that can easily be worn with pants. My Hindu wedding lehenga had a long, heavy red dupatta that I want to get made into something.”
“My sister, designer Anushka Khanna, customised my wedding lehenga. I take immense pride in the fact that I was her first bridal client, she was just starting out! But on the flipside, my lehenga became a sample! I gave her all the creative power, because who knows you better than your sister? And it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. It really pains me when wedding outfits are not repeated again. In this age of conscious consumerism, it's really imperative that we re-use our clothes more than once. The fact is that an incredible amount of artistry, hand-work and labour goes into every lehenga created, and why should it not be seen more than once? I think every modern bride should re-wear their bridal outfits, whether it's by exchanging the dupatta for a jacket, knotting up a beautiful silk shirt over the skirt, or re-wearing your choli with different saris. It seems almost criminal to let such beautiful creations languish in closets.”
Image: Mark Swaroop
“The great thing about your wedding lehenga is that it's never going to look the same as on your big day. Even just adding lighter jewellery or draping the dupatta differently changes the look. It's only been six months since my wedding, and I've already had a separate blouse made to wear with my lehenga. Since the skirt was very heavy, I decided to create a plain velvet blouse. I made it very tiny and sexy to make the look more modern. It's such a beautiful lehenga and there are so many ways I can re-wear it. Even ten years from now, if I'm as skinny as I was when I bought it, I would keep it as a part of my wardrobe.”
