Let the colours on your lehenga do the talking
Instagram was on fire when Priyanka Chopra uploaded her picture of herself in her wedding morning attire. A beautiful multi-coloured lehenga cling on to her perfect figure as she danced to the beats. This Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla masterpiece of a lehenga got famous for good reason – apart from the fact that Priyanka Chopra chose it for her wedding morning, the lehenga was unique in the true sense of the term. It was quirky, with the correct flavour of bohemian in it. It was gorgeous yet not stereotypical. It was Indian and vibrantly so. Most importantly, it was indicative of the fact that brides now want to move away from the typical red and golden or maroon and beige lehengas that have been worn in weddings for centuries.
So if you ladies out there are dying to wear something out-of-the-box on your wedding, there can be no better option than the multi-coloured lehenga. A multi-coloured lehenga is the perfect fusion of tradition and quirkiness.
The Peacock Lehenga
It was God of Indian wedding couture – Sabyasachi Mukherjee – who first created the peacock lehenga. The peacock lehenga comes with a gorgeous skirt having multi-coloured bands. The blouse and the dupatta are in a colour that contrasts with all the different colours on the lehenga skirt. These lehengas usually come with heavy zari work.
The Gipsy Lehenga
Want to go completely Bohemian with your wedding look? Then this is the outfit for you. The skirt of a gipsy lehenga is inspired from Rajasthani and Gujarati tribal fashion. The colours used on the skirt are not only contrasting but each one is bright and vibrant, almost at conflict with the other. What tone them down are the different types of work done on each band of colour. If one band has zardozi work, the other will have gotta patti. Overall it gives the impression of an exotic outfit sewn together from pieces from various other fabrics – all of which have a story to tell. If you can carry it, go for it!
Lehengas with Multi-coloured Digital prints
Digital prints are seldom used on traditional ethnic clothing. But a digital print multi-coloured lehenga is a ‘dream come true’! Want inspiration? Jacqueline Fernandez in a taffeta zig-zag digital print multi-coloured lehenga choli was all over Pinterest this year in May.
Beige Dupatta with Colourful Lehenga
If you want the vibrancy of colours in your wedding outfit yet don’t want to go overboard with it, wear a lehenga with a multi-coloured skirt and blouse and pair it with a sheer beige dupatta. Beige is a colour that can accommodate other brighter colours without making them look outrageous.
The Tri-Colour Lehenga
Multi-coloured does not mean too many colours together. You can even sport a multi-coloured lehenga on any of your wedding functions that have the blouse, the dupatta and the skirt in three different colours. These colours need to be meticulously combined with each other to give a symmetrical yet an extremely vibrant look to the outfit. Blue, yellow, pink go well together. Also green, yellow and pink goes well together. Blue, orange and pink may also be combined together.
Pastels and Florals
Lehengas in pastel shades and multi-coloured floral prints are irreplaceable as an outfit for pre-wedding morning functions. Pastel shades like baby pink or sky blue or lemon yellow give a very soothing effect on the bride’s outfit. Such an outfit prepares all the onlookers for a highly gorgeous lehenga on the wedding night.
Layered Colours
We have spoken about vertical bands of colours on the lehenga skirt. But if you are tall, you can also go for the ‘horizontal band of colours’ look. In case of such lehengas, the blouse, the dupatta and the skirt are taken as a frame together and colour coordinated to form horizontal strips of various colours from top to bottom. A challenging look to carry, it is not recommended for brides with a petite frame.
Abstract Aztec
Geometrical patterns like Aztec prints give the designer the opportunity to play with colours. If you want to have multiple colours on your lehenga, you can bank on Aztec patterns. Though it will create a highly unconventional wedding look, it will be doing artistic justice with a riot of colours.
White Lehenga
Love colours but want to play it safe? Go for a white, off white or tussar colour (tussar fabric) lehenga which has multi-coloured designs on it. White and black compliment every colour! Since you can’t flaunt a black lehenga on a wedding function, as per Indian traditions, go for white!
Traditional Crafts
Indian culture and colours go hand in hand. So do Indian traditional crafts. Pashmina, bandhani, kantha – you name it and what flashes in the eyes of your mind are vibrant and beautiful hues. Some of these crafts go very well as wedding couture and if you are planning to flaunt these you will also get the chance to sport multiple colours on your wedding lehenga.
1. Aari work
Aari is an intricate form of embroidery that originated in the Mughal era. It requires great skill and intricacy. Aari work is done in multiple colours on silk. You can get your lehenga made in silk with detailed and colourful aari embroidery on it. It will surely turn out to be a timeless piece and it will breathe class. You can also flaunt a heavy aari lehenga on your wedding night.
2. Bandhani
Bandhani is a tie and dye art that is practised in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Think of Aishwarya Rai in the movie – ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and you will know exactly why we are telling you to wear a Bandhani gaghra on any pre-wedding morning function. The hues on your attire and the golden sunlight will create the perfect wedding function photos for you.
3. Jamawar Brocade
Originating in Kashmir, a shawl in this special type of weave requires months to be completed. No, we are not asking you to wear a shawl on your wedding but you can get a jamawar inspired lehenga woven for you if you have the budget for it. It goes without saying that such intricate and detailed designs will encourage the use of multiple colours.
Threadwork Lehenga
Apart from tradition crafts, machine threadwork or mixed threadwork can also be used on lehengas. Nothing is more elegant than elaborate threadwork. It has become a common trend nowadays that brides want to sport lehengas with some aspect of her love story with their grooms, embroidered on it. Elaborate embroidery calls for the use of multiple colours. So if you have a wedding planned in a few months, this is something to go for. You will need the help of one or multiple craftsmen who will put your lehenga together. If you have a bit of time before your wedding and the budget to carry out this plan, you should definitely go for it.
Multi-coloured Jacquard Lehenga
Jacquard is a special kind of apparatus fitted to the loom that enables the weaver to weave out beautiful brocade or figured fabric. Figured fabrics and brocade are great for assembling a gorgeous multi-coloured lehenga. In fact, many designers are using strips from different figured fabrics to create a lehenga that will be colourful and artistic at the same time. But if you are a bride, you must remember that such a lehenga will be heavy and a bit uneasy to carry around. So choose such a lehenga for any pre-wedding function that does not require you to move around a lot. Definitely, don’t choose it for your sangeet function.
The Printed Silk Lehenga
Talking about light lehengas brings us to printed lehengas. Printed lehengas are colourful, bold and just perfect for a pre-wedding function. However, you need to choose the fabric properly. A printed lehenga in cotton or rayon will look very plain on a wedding function. Instead, go for a fabric like silk. Make sure you use a light variety of silk-like raw silk. Wearing a printed silk lehenga in a bright mix of colours on a pre-wedding day function is a great way to kick-start your wedding.
Chanderi
The chanderi fabric is another light option for a wedding lehenga. Moreover, Chanderi fabrics come in a variety of colours with elegant zari designs. You can assemble a chanderi lehenga in the three-colour style. Ask your designer to choose three exotic chanderi fabrics and use one each for the blouse, the dupatta and the lehenga skirt. Choose colours that go well together. In fact, Chanderi fabrics come in earthy tones and natural colours. Thus, no matter which colour you choose, it will look good together. You will also be feeling extremely light and ventilated while wearing such a lehenga.
Multicoloured bridal lehenga designs are currently in trend. But to add that extra twist to your outfit, choose unconventional colours. In fact, we will recommend you to go a bit overboard with the quirkiness in your outfit on occasions such as the sangeet ceremony, the engagement ceremony, the haldi ceremony etc. On the wedding night, most brides want to look traditionally beautiful. Most brides have imagined themselves in a gorgeous red and gold or maroon and gold lehenga on their wedding nights. Thus, the fun and the colours can be reserved for the pre-wedding functions. Moreover, these multi-coloured lehengas are mostly light and easy to carry around, allowing you a lot of movement and fun on the pre-wedding functions.
But when choosing a multi-coloured lehenga you need to be very careful. One can easily go wrong with colours as there is a very thin line between ‘colourful’ and ‘weird’. We suggest that you take the help of an expert like a fashion designer or buy such a lehenga from a shop that has been in the business for years. If you do not have access to any of these, you can count on us. At Get Ethnic, we have a team of stylists and designers who are backed by a bigger team of highly skilled craftsmen. Our experts will get in touch with you, interact with you on your preferences and dislikes, show you hosts of suggestions and in the end, give you the lehenga which you had only dreamt of. So don’t waste time and get together with us to choose the perfect multi-coloured lehenga for any of your pre-wedding functions.