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Indian wedding clothes are elaborate set of clothes worn by the bride, bridegroom, and other relatives attending the wedding.
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Indian wedding clothes are elaborate set of clothes worn by the bride, bridegroom, and other relatives attending the wedding.
Attire is extremely important in an Indian wedding, not only for the marrying couple, but also the guests attending, the family, and the relatives. The bride is usually dressed up in auspicious colors, whereas the bridegroom is dressed to exude a regal aura. The bridesmaids and groomsmen are often dressed on par with the bride and the groom, but not as elaborately as the bride and groom. Many of the guests attending the wedding wear gold jewelry including the bride and sometimes the groom. The women are additionally adorned with henna patterns on their palms, hand, forearms, legs, and feet. Sometimes henna patterns are replaced with alta designs which are short lived and easily removable.
In some cultures, the groom also sports henna, although it is often less elaborate or muted. Indian weddings generally tend to continue for several days and new attire is worn each day. All these dresses and the colour symbolize the meaning of marriage and the period that follows it. An Indian wedding is one that gives more importance to details like different rituals and the various attires one wears to attend them.
Indian Hindu weddings continue for several days. India is a country that defines diversity, and this is visible even in the wedding and its different styles. The ceremonies, the rituals, and the formalities are all different in each region and culture. Unlike Christians, Hindus wedding ceremonies do not resemble western marriages and are quite elaborate. In the North, Starting with the Tilak ceremony, each function has significance in the marriage. Tilak, Sangeet, Haldi, Baraat and the Shaadi, all necessitate the Bride and the bridegroom to wear new attire at each occasion. All these above ceremonies are known by different names in the other parts, e.g. Simant puja in the west, or Mangalasnanam in the south and so on.
Many communities of South, West, and Eastern India adhere to their traditional costumes, i.e. Dhoti and Mundu by some communities of the South. Kurta or a shirt may be worn or sometimes just an angavastram may be used to cover the chest.
On the other hand, in the Northern parts, the bridegroom usually wears a sherwani, Jodhpuri suit, or a Western suit. The groom’s face is veiled with a curtain of flowers which is called sehra in the North, which is not the custom elsewhere. It is also customary to wear a Taqiyah all through the ceremony in Muslim marriages.
The ensemble for bridegrooms include sherwani, blended Indo-western suit and ethnic Jodhpuri suit. The shirts, coats, and jackets are designed with extra care and touch to bring out the magnanimity out of the bridegroom on the marriage day. Precious embellishments are studded into the collars and the cuffs of the bridegroom’s dress. Available both in simple cotton and splendid, royal raw silk, these kurta are preferred mostly by the bridegrooms.
The bride wears a wedding sari or lehenga according to the region. In Indian culture, the wedding dress of bride comes from groom's side as a shagun. Red is considered to be the most auspicious color among Hindus. While the sari is preferred as the bridal dress in South India, West, East India, traditional wear such as the mekhela sador is preferred in North-east India and brides of the North of India prefer Lehenga, Gagra Choli and Odni as bridal dresses.
Christian marriage in India is mostly an adaptation of Western wedding ceremonies. Here the bridegroom wears a western suit or tuxedo. The bride usually opts for a red silk sari or a Western gown, or wears the gown for the church ceremony and changes into the sari for some or all of the reception.
The typical Indian Hindu marriage ceremony does not usually have the concept of bridesmaids. But in many Hindu weddings, women in the family often prefer to wear either a sari, lahenga, Anarkali Salwar Suit or simple shalwar kameez. Contemporary and Indo-western wear has also started gaining popularity among Indian women as wedding wear.
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by a couple, presentation of a gift, and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or celebrant. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers, or readings from religious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony, as well as superstitious customs.
A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed.
A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western cultures and Anglo-Saxon cultural spheres, the wedding dress is most commonly white, a fashion made popular by Queen Victoria when she married in 1840. In Eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness.
A folk costume expresses an identity through costume, which is usually associated with a geographic area or a period of time in history. It can also indicate social, marital or religious status. If the costume is used to represent the culture or identity of a specific ethnic group, it is usually known as ethnic costume. Such costumes often come in two forms: one for everyday occasions, the other for traditional festivals and formal wear. The word "costume" in this context is sometimes considered pejorative due to the multiple senses of the word, and in such cases "regalia" can be substituted without offense.
Clothing in India varies with the different ethnicities, geography, climate, and cultural traditions of the people of each region of India. Historically, clothing has evolved from simple garments like kaupina, langota, achkan, lungi, sari, to rituals and dance performances. In urban areas, western clothing is common and uniformly worn by people of all social levels. India also has a great diversity in terms of weaves, fibers, colors, and the material of clothing. Sometimes, color codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. The clothing in India also encompasses a wide variety of Indian embroidery, prints, handwork, embellishments, and styles of wearing clothes. A wide mix of Indian traditional clothing and western styles can be seen in India.
Indo-Western clothing is the fusion of Western and South Asian fashion.
In fashion, the midriff is the human abdomen. The midriff is exposed when wearing a crop top or some forms of swimwear or underwear.
Khada dupatta is the traditional wedding dress of Hyderabadi Muslim brides in the Indian subcontinent. It is an elaborate wedding ensemble comprising a kurta (tunic), chooridaar, and a 6-yard dupatta.
Punjabi culture grew out of the settlements along the five rivers which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE. Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership. The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan". Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land. Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.
Marriage in Pakistan pertains to wedding traditions established and adhered by Pakistani men and women. Despite their local and regional variations, marriages in Pakistan generally follow Islamic marital jurisprudence. Marriages are not only seen as a union between a husband and a wife, but also an alliance between their respective families. These traditions extend to other countries around in the world where Overseas Pakistani communities exist.
Punjabi wedding traditions are a strong reflection of Punjabi culture with ritual, song, dance, food, and dress that have evolved over centuries.
A langa voni is a traditional dress worn in South India by girls between puberty and marriage. It is also known as the two-piece sari or half sari. Girls younger than this may wear it on special occasions.
Ghagra choli is a type of ethnic clothing for women from the Indian Subcontinent, notably in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. In Punjab, the lehenga is traditionally worn with a kurti. It is a combination of the gagra or lehenga and the choli (blouse), however in contemporary and modern usage lehenga choli is the more popular and widely accepted term by fashion designers, trend setters, and boutiques in South Asia, since ghagra is synonymous with the half-slip worn as an undergarment below the sari.
Pakistani clothing refers to the ethnic clothing that is typically worn by people in the country of Pakistan and by the people of Pakistani origin. Pakistani clothes express the culture of Pakistan, the demographics of Pakistan, and cultures from the Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pashtun), Gilgit-Baltistan, and Kashmir regions of the country. Dress in each regional culture reflect weather conditions, way of living, and distinctive style which gives it a unique identity among all cultures.
A wedding sari is a traditional South Asian wedding dress, especially popular in South Indian states. The sari often consists of a combination of red and green, with golden brocade.
Attire of Mangalorean Catholics refers to the traditional clothing of the Mangalorean Catholics from the Mangalore Diocese on the southwestern coast of India.
Bahaghara is a wedding ceremony performed by Odia Hindu people in the Indian state of Odisha. There are subtle differences in the rites observed by different castes. In Odia marriage rituals, the mother of the bridegroom does not take part in the ceremony. The Utkala Brahmins have their weddings only in the daytime, preferably at midday or in the morning, while the other caste weddings are done during the evening or night. There is the custom of sending betel nuts to family friends for inviting them to the marriage. The first invitation is sent to the family deity as a respect to the lord. Marriages in Odisha are mostly fixed and arranged by the parents. Marriages for serving or capturing is not common.
In the ancient Punjab region, people wore cotton clothing. Both men and women wore knee-length tops. A scarf was worn over the tops which would be draped over the left shoulder and under the right. A large sheet would be further draped over one shoulder which would hang loose towards the knees. Both male and female wore a dhoti around the waist. Modern Punjabi dress has retained this outfit but over its long history has added other forms of dress.
Sindhi clothing, Both Sindhi women and men wear the shalwar qameez or the kurta with pyjama. Women also wear sari or ghagra. However, before the adoption of the Shalwar kameez and the kurta, the sari as well as other articles of clothing, Sindhis had their own traditional costumes.
