Diwali outfits of Bollywood’s biggest celebrities showcased not only their style prowess but also their understanding and appreciation of India’s textile and embroidery culture. These looks, making the social media rounds—and rightly so—are just the right kind of inspiration for brides and bridesmaids looking to shake things up in the wedding season, coming right up after the festival.
Whether you are seeking styling ideas or are simply interested in seeing what your favourite style icons wore for the festival, we have you covered. We have rounded up the most headline-making, conversation-starting which have made it to Diwali’s best fashion looks.
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Alia Bhatt in Aangiwali
Actor Alia Bhatt wore a pistachio-green lehenga and blouse from Rajasthan-based label Aangiwali, which specialises in bespoke, handmade Indian looks featuring traditional gota work. Her mul and Chanderi silk lehenga featured myriad kalis with a thick gota patti border, while the cream-coloured Rajasthani ‘aangi’ (blouse) formed the top. She layered it with a diaphanous sleeveless jacket, and completed the look with a matching, gota patti-edged dupatta. She ditched a necklace for a headpiece and kept the rest of the accoutrements simple with a pair of haathphools and hoop earrings.
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Kareena Kapoor Khan in Punit Balana
Kareena Kapoor Khan proves that great style and comfort don’t have to be mutually exclusive. The actor swapped her saris and lehengas for a custom kaftan by Jaipur-based designer Punit Blana, designed in collaboration with her stylist Rhea Kapoor. For the Diwali look, the designer reinvented metallic gota ribbon in pure silver, which formed a large part of Rajasthan’s cultural heritage. The jaal design—which draws upon Rajasthan’s traditional architecture—is further decorated with leaf-like motifs. She wore the look with a turban, which she accessorised with Saif Ali Khan’s heirloom sarpench moonlighting as a headpiece, and a chunky gold choker. The piece de resistance of her look was the 30-carat emerald necklace that once belonged to the Begum of Bhopal.
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Ananya Panday in Manish Malhotra
Considering that designer Manish Malhotra has created many pop culture-defining fashion moments across his career as a costume and fashion designer, his design inspiration could very well be a throwback to his own looks. Panday’s sequin-embellished silver lehenga look was an ode to Rani Mukerji’s costume from the 2002 movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…that she wore in the song ‘Say “Shava Shava”’. Stylist Priyanka Kapadia accessorised the lehenga with diamond jewellery from Mumbai-based jewellers Kantilal Chhotalal.
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Khushi Kapoor in Manish Malhotra
Actor Khushi Kapoor’s purple Manish Malhotra lehenga shook the traditional garment’s design out of predictability by injecting it with contemporary design influences. The cropped ‘choli’ featured a mandarin collar with keyhole detailing and brought short sleeves to the fore. The column skirt was a take on the 1920s Flapper era with its tiered, embellished tassels. She completed the look with a pair of statement diamond earrings, a tennis bracelet and a ring from Hyderabad-based jewellery label Elevé Diamonds.
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Janhvi Kapoor in Manish Malhotra
Kapoor’s sequin- and bugle bead-embellished look is yet another contemporary lehenga design that made an appearance at Manish Malhotra’s Diwali party. The look featured matching textures and animal print-inspired crescent-shaped patterns on the diminutive sleeveless blouse and mermaid skirt. A plain black georgette dupatta offset the heavy embroidery on the lehenga set. The actor skipped a necklace and accessorised with just minimal rings and dangler earrings.
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Sharvari in Manish Malhotra
Actor Sharvari swapped jewel tones for an acidulous green–blush-pink colour combination in her Manish Malhotra sari. The diaphanous number featured intricate sequin embroidery, while the border was embellished with silver coins and threaded loops. The sculpted blouse was her look’s most alluring part—that brought the micro-tops trend of the early aughts to the fore—embroidered with silver sequins arranged meticulously in a four-leaf clover pattern. She eschewed a necklace despite a deep neckline and chose diamond earrings, rings and a maangtikka from Elevé Diamonds.
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Priyanka Chopra in Torani
Priyanka Chopra ditched a lehenga for an off-the-shoulder column dress, replete with Indian symbolisms and heritage handicraft techniques. At her Diwali party in Los Angeles, she turned to New Delhi-based designer Karan Torani’s interpretation of traditional Indian garments into a contemporary design. Inspired by the architecture of old forts, jharokhas and arches that frame courtyards, the dress featured hand-embroidered motis of birds and flowers in Kashmiri aari, zardozi, dori and marodi, mirror work, pearls and cowries. The dress’s bodice drew upon the time-honoured design of a Rajasthani aangi, which extended into a dress. Torani reimagined the dupatta as tassels and ghungroos, which, draped around the neck, double-dipped as jewellery. Her bangle stack, long chandelier earrings and minimal maangtikka were from jewellery designer Archana Aggarwal.
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Tamannaah Bhatia in Manish Malhotra
Tamannaah Bhatia turned to a salmon-pink-coloured draped skirt and an embellished oversized jacket by designer Manish Malhotra. The jacket featured a plunging neckline, sleeve hems edged with plumes and intricate, geometric thread embroidery, further detailed with white pearls, crystals and sequins. It also featured pockets—perfect for women looking to stash their essentials handily. A matching dupatta with tasselled borders completed the look. To accessorise, the actor wore shoulder-dusting chandelier earrings from her namesake fine jewellery label, followed by silver-coloured peep-toe platform sandals.
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Kriti Sanon in Manish Malhotra
Kriti Sanon swapped a lehenga for a Sharara set from designer Manish Malhotra to the designer’s Diwali celebrations. The crystal-embellished bejewelled halterneck kurta featured a standing collar with a keyhole neckline and scalloped hem decorated with matching tassels. These tassels were also observed on the edges of an otherwise plain dupatta. Brocade silk pants with extravagant flare or ‘ghera’ perfectly complemented the short kurta. She accessorised with chandelier earrings and a contemporary haathphool.
This story was originally published on Vogue.in.
