With celebrations in full swing, Guardian 20 brings to you a complete guide to what to wear this festive season.
Festive season trends to look out for:
The festive season this time is all about making a statement with comfortable and anti-fit outfits. With an inclination towards light pastel hues, this season is all about dumping traditional bright colours and patterns. Aniket Sinha, fashion designer and co-owner of Delhi-based RAR Studio says, “With the wedding season in full swing, Indian wear is much in demand. People are slowly moving away from traditional colours and opting for lighter, fresher hues like pastels, minty green, old rose and zesty orange that add brightness to the overall look. Though lehengas remain a favourite, the focus has shifted from heavily embellished garments to minimalist and comfortable ones.”
Bringing the cute back in fashion are the quirky animal and bird’s motifs. So get set to flaunt these in crafty forms like appliques, prints and in embroidered styles.
Another trend floating around the market is fringes and tassels. Talk about the trend to fashion designer, Ritesh Rajpoot, co-owner of RAR Studio and he adds, “These make for perfect accents on handbags, dress hems and dupattas, and can be uber-chic when done right. Be it in form of lace, made out of fabrics, embroidered hangings cut beads this boho trend can add dimension and texture to a plain outfit, and is a new way to spruce up a bleak look.”
Floor-length sleeves, ruffled sleeved tops and oversized structured sleeves are another hit this season. Women can also pull off ultra-feminine pastels and still look edgy by going for details like tie-up bows, XXL frills, lace and tulle.
Colours to add a pop to your style sensibility:
Adarsh Makharia, fashion designer and owner of OSAA, a Kolkata-based designer studio, advises to stick to “colours like aubergine and green” this festival season. You can also lookout for hues like silver grey and tones of lilac.
With numerous shades of yellow making it into the market this year, you can also try bright marigold, daffodil and sunflower yellow colours. The season of light this time is inundated with colour choices to pick from. You can also don outfits in earthly tones and neutrals like ecru, beige, burnt orange and mustard yellow.
For a little out-of-the-box look, go for unique combinations. Unusual colour combinations will definitely make you trendy and will make you stand out.
Fabrics best-suited for the season:
“A flowy georgette or a light weight fabric is well suited and comfortable for the coming festivities,” says designer Nimrit Gill, owner of the label Malasa.
Chanderi, cotton, chiffon and silk with captivating patterns and playful prints are also expected to be grabbing the eyeballs this season.
With the winter around the corner, mulberry silk is also an ideal fabric as it gives great fall when draped. Also, its natural sheen adds to your festive look.
Women looking out for outfits that would go well with their curves “can opt for heavy-flat chiffons and georgettes as they give a natural flow to the garment; this enables the outfit to do justice to the body type as these fabrics hug the right curves. A curvy woman needs to let go of inhibitions and embrace their natural body type, so that they can experiment and explore their personal style,” says Makharia of OSAA.
For those looking out for least experimentation:
People who are up for least experimentation can go for straight cut kurtas and dresses. To add the much-needed jazz you can pair those with open jackets. Adding versatility to your wardrobe, jacket makes the silhouette interesting and gives it a modern chic look.
“A classic sari or a straight cut long jacket with floaty pants is something that one can always depend on,” says fashion designer Jyoti Gill, co-owner of Malasa.
Mix-match for cost-effective options:
Breaking the colour scheme of a bright saree or lehenga is in fact a great idea to notch-up your look. You can pair your saree or lehenga with a kedia or a short jacket that gives an entirely new and different look to your already-worn outfits.
You can also wear a fun peplum top or a cape as a blouse with your saree.
To go all out with mix and match of outfits, combine your boyfriend’s shirt with nice bright woven chanderi skirt along with tradition kundan jewellery.
“Pinstripes, banker stripes and stars as prints will be in focus this years. The staple menswear fabric makes its renewed debut in women’s wardrobe with a sleek new bent,” says designer Rishav Sinha of RAR Studio.
Off-shoulders, the most popular fashion trend of the year is a hit this festive season as well. An off- shoulder choli and top is a great combination with your age old woven sarees and heavy lahengas.
Capes that made a grand entry with Deepika Padukone’s much-talked about and highly-appreciated combo of a black cape with a light pink saree are here to stay for long. You can style a cape with lehenga, saree, dhoti outfit, indo western gown and so many other outfits without spending much.
Exploring the indo-western space:
There are several options in the Indo-western space. “A shirt with bell-bottoms or sharara pants paired with an open, long jacket and a single dress paired with a bolero jacket,” says Makharia of OSAA are two of his favourite styles. Giving an outfit that subtle finesse these make for a perfect indo-western outfit.
A pre-stitched sari with a fringed blouse is also a great choice.
Clothing options for men:
A contemporary touch to bandgala, Nehru jackets and kurtas has notched-up ethnic clothing options for men. Colours this year will see a lot of earthy tones like black, ecru, grey, moss green and beige. Silhouettes will be slightly shorter in length. Details in stitching and tonal embroidery will highlight the shape.
“Detailing and design will be the mainstay of menswear this year. Menswear will no longer be clean and simple. A lot of detailing will be added in terms of printing techniques and clothes will be high on design,” adds Rajpoot of RAR Studio.