Member-only story
Will India ever get over the Lehenga Craze?
The couture side of luxury fashion yearns for a better stimulus
Ah isn’t it every girl’s dream to wear a designer lehenga on her wedding, clicking pictures with her significant other under a jharokha in a fort and what not.
Over time, I have developed a love-hate relationship with the lehenga. While its all praise for sarees, lehengas on the other hand are incessant spotlight in Indian collections. Why, though? Is there no space to squish in a bit of variety?
These are a culmination of the various thoughts I have heard over the years studying about fashion and reading an insurmountable number of articles over the matter. Lehengas here are used as an example to refer to the wide epidemic of uber-ethnic wear in couture collections.
Lehengas and the Contemporaries
The Mughal era (12–18th century) brought lehenga-choli as a three-piece garment worn by women. The blouse (choli) accompanies the skirt (lehenga) with a dupatta (the extra fabric to cover the midriff and the head).
The lehenga skirt being the centerpiece provided a canvas for the artisans to try out their skills, and with time, the current designers give it a contemporary twist, keeping the main silhouette similar to its…
