Kratagya Rathore

Wedding shopping has a peculiar way of taking over your calendar. What begins as a quick visit to a designer's store can turn into multiple fittings, unexpected outfit changes and a rather lengthy discussion about whether you really need another ensemble for the sangeet. And with the wedding and festive seasons upon us, Mehrauli's designer shopping circuit is only getting busier with brides, grooms and their families on the hunt for the perfect wardrobe.

With Diwali parties and the wedding season upon us, the search for an outfit that makes a statement without being weighed down by excessive volume or embellishment is officially on. And if you're looking to move beyond the predictable festive lehenga or heavily embroidered sari,

There's no shortage of grandeur and spectacle at an Indian wedding. Elaborate floral installations, larger-than-life entries, choreographed performances and meticulously designed celebrations have become familiar territory. But somewhere between the perfectly coordinated details, couples are asking a more interesting question: how do we make this wedding feel like us?

If there is one thing Manish Malhotra has never been particularly interested in, it is understated glamour. Over the years, the designer has built a recognisable fashion vocabulary around rich fabrics, elaborate embellishments, cinematic silhouettes and an unapologetic love for dressing up. But at his Luxury Prêt 2026 showcase at Lakmé Fashion Week in Delhi, there was an interesting shift in how that glamour was expressed.

There is a particular pleasure in getting dressed when the working day is finally done. The shirt can stay, but its company changes. Something metallic enters the picture. Colour gets louder. Clothes begin to answer to the evening ahead. At the Lakmē Fashion Week x FDCI grand finale in New Delhi on 18 October, Amit Aggarwal's AM:IT explored that shift with On a Day Like Today, a collection interested in what happens when routine loosens its grip.

The tablescaping can wait. Before Jai Madaan gets to the table setting or decides what to wear, she considers what kind of week her home has had. The frantic mornings, the arguments, the exhaustion: in her view, a house carries traces of the lives unfolding within it. Preparing for company begins with opening the windows, clearing the corners and taking a slow walk through the rooms. Then comes a little work on the host herself.

A wedding can look spectacular in photographs and still leave guests remembering the wait between functions, the confusing transfers or a dinner that arrived too late. Equally, some of its most memorable details might barely make it into the album: a thoughtfully chosen menu, music that gets three generations dancing, or the ease with which one celebration gives way to the next.

There are Diwali parties, and then there is a Manish Malhotra Diwali party. The arrivals alone offer enough festive dressing inspiration to fill several moodboards. But beyond the photographs is an evening the designer measures by a rather different yardstick: how reluctant his friends are to leave.

A wedding outfit can carry generations of history and still leave room for a bride's own point of view. For Payal Jain, that possibility makes designing for weddings particularly compelling today. She sees women paying closer attention to how clothes feel and move, choosing embellishment more deliberately and bringing inherited pieces into wardrobes that reflect their lives.

The Maldives has long been associated with a particular kind of holiday. Think overwater villas, turquoise lagoons, barefoot dinners and afternoons when doing absolutely nothing feels like a perfectly acceptable itinerary. But what if your idea of an island escape involves a little more?