After a year of several high-profile Bollywood weddings, big ticket
movie premieres and more awards shows than awards themselves, what
Vogue
took away was the stunning parade of red carpet-worthy ethnic Indian
ensembles -- opulent lehengas, ornate anarkalis and shimmering saris.The
year started off with a big Bollywood wedding as Riteish Deshmukh and
Genelia D’Souza got married. Though all of D’Souza’s ensembles for her
bridal extravaganza were beautiful, we particularly liked her pink and
white Manish Malhotra lehenga. Shocking pink seemed to be the go to
colour for Bollywood brides this year as Esha Deol too chose a blush
pink Rocky S creation for her wedding reception.
As far as wedding guests go, the best dressed stood out in bright
vibrant colours. Asin wowed us in a pink and yellow Nikasha outfit at
the D’Souza-Deshmukh sangeet and Preeti Desai’s gorgeous blue Anita
Dongre lehenga is a modern classic.
Though she’d been facing flak for her post-baby weight gain, at her
father-in-law’s 70th birthday party Aishwarya Rai Bachchan looked
fittingly regal in a heavily embellished white and gold Abu Sandeep
floor-length kurta. We saw a bunch more interesting ethnic wear at the
Big B’s birthday do including a classic black and gold Rohit Bal
anarkali on Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha’s Manish Malhotra outfit
with the dupatta pinned to her shoulder.
At the Marrakech International Film Festival, with a special Indian
cinema segment Bollywood fashion was represented by Mehr Jessia Rampal
in a Tarun Tahiliani and Priyanka Chopra trendy vintage lace sleeves by
Ritu Kumar.
This year dark horse Sabyasachi had a successful run on the red
carpet. Actress Sridevi especially was his biggest endorser, along with
Vidya Balan as usual. Our favourite new Sabyasachi models were Kalki
Koechlin and Kangna Ranaut. Both actresses chose dramatic black and gold
ensembles paired with the runaway popularity of his embellished hair
bands for the winter/festive 2012 season.
Designer duo Shivan and Narresh had a memorable moment when they
dressed burlesque queen Dita Von Teese during her visit to India in a
lace black sari.
Traditional choices aside, celebrities enthusiastically adopted
newer, modern versions of the sari. Bipasha Basu in a sporty Shivan
& Narresh sari, Pia Trivedi in Gaurav Gupta’s pleated drape, Hazel
Keech in a pantone print by Arti Vijay Gupta, Nargis Fakhri in heavy
metal blouse and a brand new sari and pants combo by Anamika Khanna on
Sonam Kapoor this December closed the year on an promising note for
ethnic Indian wear.