Pastel hues take over red in wedding attires

When Bollywood’s leading lady Anushka Sharma got married to cricket icon Virat Kohli in a dreamy Tuscany wedding, in a blush pink Sabyasachi lehenga, little did one know that she was setting the trend for the coming decade!

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Neha Kakkar chose an almost identical pale pink classic Sabyasachi wedding lehenga in the following year, followed by Karishma Tanna in a Falguni Shane Peacock pink dress. Alia Bhatt stunned everyone with a sudden wedding and chose to go for an ivory Sabyasachi saree. Athiyas Shetty in a blush pink Anamika Khanna lehenga; Kiara Advani in a soft rose lehenga by Manish Malhotra; Parineeti Chopra in a champagne-hued Manish Malhotra lehenga, and Rakul Preet Singh in a Tarun Tahiliani soft ivory and gold-toned lehenga…pastels are dominating wedding outfits. The same colour palette, mathapatti and heavy kundan/emerald necklaces, and even similar varmalas, a lot of the celeb/Bollywood brides seem to copy the same format.

The latest to join the bandwagon is 17-million followers strong influencer Prajakta Koli, who recently tied knot in a dreamy Karjat setting, in a custom Anita Dongre hand-painted Pichhwai lehenga with Parijaat flower motifs (as an ode to her name).

In a celeb-driven society, the softer hues trend has trickled down to the masses. The reds, magentas, oranges and rusts that screamed wedding are fast being replaced by ivory, champagne, blush pink and golden hues.

Changing contours

What feeds this trend? Fashion and design influencer Ritu Kochhar levels it to the changed wedding concepts. “Unlike earlier, when wedding pheras happened at night according to mahurat, time has moved to the day with Goa and Maldives being the chosen wedding destinations. A day wedding with the whole walking down the aisle setting, probably the pastels match the water backdrop better,” says Kochhar.

As pastels are easy to reuse compared to stark reds, this is probably another reason why brides are opting for neutral hues. Example in focus; Alia Bhatt, who wore her Sabyasachi saree to the National Film Awards also donned it in the following year for her wedding! With the wedding function stretched to days with haldi, mehendi, sangeet, cocktail, Bollywood-themed nights and more, risqué and coloured numbers are secured for other functions, just like Prajakta wore a red saree for her wedding reception!

Celebs set the trend and masses follow. The designers today are inundated with requests for pastel wedding dresses. Chandigarh-based fashion designer Jasmine Bains has been a huge pastels’ fan ever since she started her designing journey a decade ago. “Winter wedding in North India in the misty settings makes for the perfect backdrop for a pastel bride.” Jasmine’s love for pastels seeped in during her childhood as she saw her mother don pastel silks in winter.

“I have a soft spot for pastels with lots of my collections in it.” As for brides picking up lighter colours over traditional red, she avers, “Over the years, the trend has moved from only red diktat to suiting one’s skin tone to opting for individual likes. Lots of brides pick up the lighter shades for their special day.”