Refashioning your Old Jewellery & Traditional Clothes- The New Mantra!

We have all heard about grandmothers and mothers handing over generations old bridal wear and jewellery to the soon to be wed daughter/ daughter-in-law. Its really an emotional thing, sometimes really overwhelming and sometimes the bride to be doesn't understand if its a nice thing or not.

Well I think its brilliant. With the options you have today and how much a fad it has become to wear antique jewellery and trousseau- this can be a blessing in disguise.


Today I am going to ask all my readers to go and get hold of their mum and granny and ask for old finery. Cause it is this old finery that can make you look resplendent and unique on the most special day of your life.


Take a look at the picture of this lehenga. This was my grandmom's about 50 yrs old. She gave it to me a few months back and I thought I have hit the Jackpot. This is a unique handmade zari lehenga- Made of pure silver taar zari plated with Gold. However, It couldnt have been worn in its old condition so voila- i went to this boutique and got it refashioned.


What I did was to get a completely new blouse Plus dupatta/ chunni done and aded an absolutely new border to the lehenga. When I wore it for my sis-in-law's wedding everyone kept asking where did i buy the fabric from. The fabric is so unique that one cant see a thing of this kind today! So by spending a little money INR 12000 and a bit of creativity I got my share of limelight in a grand shaadi in my family.



The above picture is of a friend's refashioned lehenga. She had a big wedding in the family and wanted a new lehenga for herself but everything she liked in the stores were upwards of INR 30,000. It didnt make sense to spend that much for someone else's wedding. So She got her Mum-in-Law's lehenga and duptta and got herself a corset style blouse done in contrast and added a bit of border matching the blouse in the duptta. All she spent was 5000 INR and was happy to be wearing a brand new outfit.


Refashioning is the new Mantra. There are cases where boutiques are taking out embroidery, border and lace from old attires and putting it on new fabrics and the work doesn't look like its been transferred at all and all this within very low spend. One can get a new look and a high range attire done at a very pocket friendly price.

Another big trend is enhancing or redoing or redesigning old/antique jewellery. With Gold prices sky rocketing and traditional jewellery being worn only for special occasions. Its becoming an intelligent choice to enhance or redo what is already existing. In the below picture is a piece owned by a friend for years. Note the after picture to see how the same has been enhanced.







So, I say- Go ahead and dig out old trousseau and jewellery and get yourself a brand new look this wedding season!