Is the Red Lehenga Out Of Fashion Or Still The Heart Of Indian Brides?

The bridal lehenga is undeniably the most talked-about element of the entire wedding celebration. (Image: gauravguptastudio.com)

Indian weddings echo emotion, drama and grandeur and at the centre of it all stands the bride’s wedding outfit. The bridal lehenga is undeniably the most talked-about element of the entire celebration, not just on the wedding day but for months leading up to it.

The conversations begin the moment the couple decides to get married, what pattern, which designer and, most importantly, what colour the bride will wear. And they continue long after the wedding, as everyone who attended (and even those who only saw the pictures on Instagram) weighs in on the bride’s lehenga colour.

But the bridal lehenga is no longer synonymous with red. Brides today are experimenting with pastel shades, gold, silver, white and a whole spectrum of colours. Even the major bridal couture runways of 2025 showcased blush, pink, gold, silver and ivory with red no longer dominating the mood board.

All of this makes me wonder if a red lehenga no longer instantly signals “Indian wedding.” Do brides today still associate it with being the bridal colour? Or is the idea of the red lehenga being reimagined entirely in the third decade of the 21st century?

To understand the history, the present and the future of the red lehenga, and its connection to what makes a bride feel like a bride, I spoke to fashion designer Rina Dhaka, and content creator and fashionista Manisha Malik.

Is Red Actually The Bridal Colour?

When I started thinking about writing this article on the red lehenga, the first question that popped into my mind was whether red was actually the bridal colour. Is a girl only considered a “true bride” if she wears red on her wedding day? Why do we instinctively think of red when we think of an Indian bride?

While those of us born in the northern part of India may have grown up seeing brides in red lehengas through the late ’90s and the first decade of the 2000s, red was never officially the bridal colour across India. Bollywood, of course, played a huge role in cementing red as “the” bridal shade.

Manisha Malik explains, “Historically, India never had one ‘official’ bridal colour. It depends on the region, community, and local fabrics and crafts.” Even her mother’s wedding saree was a chocolate-brown drape with silver zari.

If we look beyond Bollywood’s version of the “red bride,” we see that every region in India has its own traditional bridal colours. In the South, brides wear gold-and-white Kanjivaram silks with zari borders.

In Bengal, the traditional palette is white and red. Maharashtrian brides lean towards green Paithanis, symbolising fertility. In Gujarat and Rajasthan, bandhani in shades of orange, pink, and yellow is common.

Even the red lehenga and the lehenga itself are more of a wedding reception outfit. When it comes to rituals, especially in Hindu ceremonies across many northern states, brides traditionally wear a pink or yellow saree gifted by their maternal uncle.

What Came First: The Pastel Bride Or The Pastel Trend?

Let’s all agree that Anushka Sharma was the first true pastel bride, and she set the trend. Anushka changed bridal mood boards across the country when she walked down the aisle in a blush-pink, hand-embroidered Sabyasachi lehenga in 2017.

Her pastel lehenga gave countless brides, who were quietly considering experimenting with colour, the confidence to finally ditch red. Even eight years later, the pastel palette still dominates bridal mood boards. More and more brides are choosing different colours, designs, and patterns for their wedding lehengas.

But it’s not as if every bride was dying to experiment. Many only got the idea after Anushka’s look went viral. Trends, especially those driven by celebrity weddings, play a huge role in shaping fashion choices.

Bollywood has also always influenced fashion trends in India, especially in the North. While the industry often reinforced the “red bride” image, Malik points out that brides in Bollywood movies had been ditching red long before it became a trend.

Think Shilpa Shetty’s blue lehenga in Dhadkan, Kangana Ranaut’s green in Tanu Weds Manu, or Madhuri Dixit’s gold lehengas in Hum Aapke Hain Koun. The screen has always experimented; we just didn’t call it a trend then.

Designer collections and celebrity bridal looks eventually trickle down to local markets like Chandni Chowk. And with social media and dedicated bridal fashion weeks, the trickle has turned into a flood, and the trends now travel faster than ever.

How Do Brides Choose And Designers Design?

The choice of bridal lehengas today is a mix of both trend and tradition. It’s not that brides are only picking what’s trending, nor are they strictly following the “traditional” red lehenga. Instead, they are blending tradition, contemporary style, and their own personality into their wedding outfit because every woman has her own unique idea of what a bride should look like.

Alia’s white wedding saree with custom golden butterfly motifs reflected what being a bride meant to her. She even rewore the saree at the National Film Awards 2023, showing that a wedding outfit doesn’t have to be a one-time dress worn for just a few hours. It can be repurposed to mark other important moments in life.

Malik explains that brides are choosing their lehengas based on the theme of the wedding and picking colours that fit the overall vibe. She also notes that lighter-coloured lehengas are easier to reuse, making pastels an even more appealing choice.

Brides are also prioritising comfort, opting for easier-to-carry outfits and pairing them with comfortable footwear like sneakers. Unlike earlier times when brides were expected to be shy and reserved, today they want to enjoy their big day, which means they need to feel comfortable in what they wear.

For designers, too, creating bridal couture is a process that involves personal touches, individual working styles, and inspirations. These can come from anywhere. For instance, Rina Dhaka often looks to tradition and adds her own interpretation to it.

Dhaka recalls that earlier, when she designed couture, her references came from cinema, lithographs, miniature artwork, and paintings. She would visit antique shops for fabrics and materials that could be incorporated into an outfit, and then introduce her own motifs.

Her process has evolved, but the fundamentals remain the same: to make each piece personal while keeping tradition intact in the seams. From introducing new types of waistbands and basques to experimenting with necklines and dupatta shapes, for her, it is about stitching a story into the fabric.

Dhaka agrees that weddings have become more theatrical, and bridal couture runways are now styled to mirror that drama: grand entries, long veils, sweeping lehenga trails, and the full “here comes the bride” aesthetic. This shift in presentation, she says, has encouraged brides to explore more Western-inspired bridal colours.

Her daughter-in-law also chose to skip red for the wedding ceremony. Dhaka says this is the nature of the youth: experimenting, breaking away from “tradition,” and choosing colours that feel more personal and true to them.

Unlike ready-to-wear runways that often follow international trends, Indian bridal couture gives designers a much wider canvas to experiment, innovate, and reimagine tradition.

Bridal runways aren’t just about what’s trending; they are shaped by a designer’s seasonal inspiration, the story they want to tell, and the evolving needs of brides today, from comfort to drama.

So, Is Red Over Or Is It Making A Comeback?

For something to make a comeback, it first has to disappear for a while. But red never really vanished from bridal lehengas. It has simply been reinvented, reimagined, and in many cases, continued to be worn as the classic bridal colour.

Even during the height of the pastel trend, Priyanka Chopra wore a scarlet red lehenga, and Katrina Kaif chose a traditional red bridal look. Both sparked fresh waves of inspiration, showing that red continues to influence bridal fashion in colour, technique and design.

We are seeing a wider range of colours today because brides are expressing themselves and choosing outfits that reflect their own idea of a bride. Red is now existing alongside pastels, whites and golds, and is evolving with the trends.

Red can be redesigned and reinterpreted in many ways in bridal couture, but it is unlikely to ever disappear from a designer’s palette or an Indian bride’s mood board. “My personal favourite all my life will remain red because I think it is a great colour. It signifies much more than just the colour. It is also the colour of the blood, of the union of love and of the sindoor,” says Dhaka.