Nisha Kundnani married at an intimate ceremony at the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, Mumbai, in 2012, wearing Sabyasachi from a period when the designer favoured khadi, before the voluminous cancan silhouette became ubiquitous. Her wedding brunch lehenga, a multi-panelled composition of silk and hand-woven textiles, and her maroon khadi sari for the civil ceremony, remain the most significant garments she owns.
Recently, the celebrity stylist and creative director of Bridelan wore her unconventional black Sabyasachi reception lehenga to a friend’s winter wedding in Kolkata, styled with a sharply tailored black blazer, her mother’s Yves Saint Laurent watch and a stack of wedding kadas. “Your wedding outfits are the most emotional clothing you ever wear,” says Kundnani, who actively looks for occasions to rewear wedding outfits. “The memories from your wedding rush back, but there’s satisfaction in knowing that these pieces are not preserved in lockers, but repurposed in everyday life.”
For most women, a wedding wardrobe follows a beloved designer or a favourite shade. Yet these pieces often disappear to the back of cupboards, dismissed as too ornate or for “one time use”, a perception rental and resale platforms have further reinforced. But a growing number of women are beginning to understand that bridal garments, when selected with discernment, can be transformed into something unexpectedly versatile with a bit of imagination.
“Brides are returning to heritage weaves and opting to style family vintage pieces with contemporary garments for a legacy look,” notes Kundnani. She has seen women take timeless jewels and layer them, wear them as statement pieces and use them to dress up Western outfits. “Your jewellery becomes the most reusable because those are the finest pieces you own, and you will tend to rewear them all your life.” She frequently wears her wedding jewellery, crafted by Amrapali in silver, polki and antique gold. She is particularly fond of a statement bracelet—using it to dress up a simple kurta—and styling her wedding bangles with a plain sari.
Former fashion editor and stylist Tanya Vohra Ahuja, who got married in 2020, approached her wedding wardrobe with longevity in mind. Nothing in her trousseau—including her pink Anamika Khanna bridal lehenga embroidered with zardozi in gold, silver and pearl—was intended for a single appearance. In 2025, she rewore her Anand Karaj outfit for her brother’s wedding: a Tarun Tahiliani chikankari anarkali with a dupatta attached to a veil. This time, she draped the dupatta conventionally rather than over her head and switched her original earrings and mang tikka for a ruby and uncut diamond set by Raj Mahtani. For her Kshitij Jalori mehendi look—a blue sari reinterpreted as a ‘dancing lehenga’—she wore her hair down and added kaan chain earrings. When she rewore it to a friend’s wedding, she added a rose-coloured zari brocade dupatta, changed her hair into a sleek bun and threw on a matching tassel and pearl set. Even her sangeet ensemble evolved. The ombré blouse with the sculptural Gaurav Gupta waterfall lehenga was later transformed into a one-shoulder silhouette, inspired by one of the designer’s couture shows in Paris. “Every piece is truly one of a kind,” she says. “Why wouldn’t I want to rewear them?”
For Marjhan Emaan Kausar, who married in Dubai in 2017 wearing a silver Sana Safinaz bridal anarkali, the appeal of rewearing wedding outfits is rooted in practicality. “I have never been one to keep buying desi outfits, especially when they take up so much space,” she says. “My personal style is about mixing and matching, and my philosophy is only buying items you can wear in four ways or more.”