Meet the unconventional brides breaking the rules with their wedding attire

New-age brides in India would rather pick outfits that add to their personality instead of going by the rules of tradition

When Indian lawyer Sanjana Rishi wore a pre-loved, powder blue pantsuit by Italian designer Gianfranco Ferrè for her wedding in 2020, she received a lot of praise and attention for being the unconventional bride. “I wanted to choose a wedding outfit that encapsulated my style but also stayed true to my commitment to supporting sustainability, local artisans and ethical shopping. I think I did great,” she wrote on her Instagram post which got more than 11,000 likes and over 470 comments, lauding her choice of clothing.

While bridal outfits in India have almost always been associated with something grandiose to mark a special moment, in our millennial and Gen-Z era, more and more brides are steering away from conventional wedding outfits to wear something that holds meaning to them.

The unconventional bride

Owing to the COVID-19-induced pandemic, many to-be-married couples were forced to rethink their D-day, shedding the idea of having a big, fat Indian wedding, and opting for an intimate ceremony instead. According to a report from 2020, 45 per cent of Indian weddings held in the second quarter of that year were cancelled. Virtual weddings took over physical pheras. But fast forward to three known variants of the virus, two doses of the vaccine, one booster shot and multiple lockdowns later, small-scale weddings continued to gain popularity. Designer Kshitij Jalori believes that the Indian couture and bridalwear industry is going through an interesting phase in the evolution cycle of fashion. “There is a breakaway in terms of people wanting to be more vocal and more individualistic and their sartorial choices are a reflection of the same. Some brides today want to go beyond the convention and not stick by the norm, and hence we see brides today opting for pantsuits and slightly more western styles for their wedding events,” explains Jalori, whose recent collection ‘BRDL’ featured pantsuits, trenches and garments that can easily be transformed from day to night events.

Actor Shibani Dandekar’s wedding with actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar earlier this year is an example of what Jalori meant, where the bride wore a red mermaid gown for a formal and intimate ceremony. Dandekar’s outfit reflected her personality more than the magnificence of the event. “The idea was to create something that was unique but still within the wedding realm and very true to me in terms of style and sensibility,” says Dandekar, who teamed up with stylist Shaleena Nathani and designer Monica Shah to create an outfit that represented her Indian roots with western influences.

“Shibani is someone who is unafraid to express herself. She wanted a bridal ensemble that represented her individuality and her global appeal, and that was how the idea for the bridal gown was born,” says Shah, who created Dandekar’s wedding outfit wholly from French Chantilly lace. While the silhouette of the dress was modern, the choice of colour, inspired by “Valentino red” (as Dandekar put it), lent a hint of tradition. “It was a conscious decision to do something different but also incorporate some traditional elements. So while there wasn’t a lot of embellishment and jewellery in terms of the final look, we managed to achieve that perfect balance of east meets west. I wanted to be comfortable, so it had to be breezy enough for me to have fun in it,” says the newly-married bride. With comfort being one of the key factors for many brides, the era of heavy-duty wedding attires is perhaps slowly phasing out.

The hue of modernity

While the choice of colour was the thread of traditionality for Dandekar, it was the opposite for Kaabia Grewal, founder of Outhouse jewellery, who wore a white lehenga for her lavish wedding. “Coming from a super modern mindset, I think colours hold no value in defining what a bride should and shouldn’t wear.,” says Grewal. Her outfit, created by designer duo Shivan & Narresh, featured a pastel shade of ecru in lace and appliqué work with sprinkles of Swarovski and pearls. Like Dandekar, Grewal’s outfit was accented with a long veil that she donned over her head instead of a dupatta. “I wanted to modernise the way a typical bridal silhouette looks and give a contemporary twist to my entire look,” she adds.

Like Grewal, stylist and designer Rhea Kapoor chose to wear a white saree by Anamika Khanna for her intimate wedding ceremony in 2021. Her vintage pearl veil added a touch of unconventionality to her whole look. More recently, Sabah Sheikh, creative director of Ā Studio, made headlines for wearing a white, pearl embroidered kurta with cigarette pants and a long net veil to say ‘I do’ to her beau in a small celebration in the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the fact that white may be the current trending colour for brides, red still remains the obvious choice for most weddings. Bollywood actors like Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Dia Mirza wore red on their D-day.

So how much resistance does the bride have to deal with when trying to be out-of-the-box yet true to her personality? Not much, according to Grewal. “My mom did say that it’s your wedding day and you should wear red, but eventually it really was my day and the memory of this day would be etched in my heart forever so they let me do what I wanted to,” she says.

With more and more brides choosing their personal style to reflect in their wedding outfit, the idea of modernity becomes subjective and ambiguous, for there is nothing wrong with opting for a traditional outfit over a modern silhouette, like the aforementioned Bollywood celebrities proved. But whether you lean towards something that is contemporary or classic as a bride, what you choose should ultimately be uniquely you.

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