Muted, minimalist and comfy- that’s exactly how you’d define actor Athiya Shetty’s personal style. Her Instagram feed serves as a literal a mood-board of effortless, everyday fashion of a fashion-loving girl living her best life. Naturally when it came to her dream wedding wardrobe, there was no room for compromise. Her personal style perfectly translated into the most memorable bridal ensembles when she tied the knot with her long-term beau, the famous Indian cricketer – KL Rahul. The wedding, which can only be described as one of the most beautiful affairs, is truly one for the books.
Shetty’s unique personal style and fine taste in high fashion really shined through each and every bit of her bridal trousseau. From choosing the colours that worked best for her to finishing the looks with custom-made fine jewellery, creating the actor’s wedding wardrobe was quite a challenge. The bride who spent hours in conversation with her chosen team of experts served one of the most iconic bridal look of the season. She chose a gorgeous Anamika Khanna lehenga set that was nothing short of a trend-setting look for her wedding day.
We got in touch with the actor’s personal pick, celebrity stylist Ami Patel who took us on a journey to discover everything about these looks from day one. Tap into what we unravelled from behind the scenes of creating Athiya’s dream wedding ensembles. There’s craft, creativity and customisation at its peak! Dive in and stay tuned till the end to get Ami’s pro-tips for brides of Khush.
The Vision
Stylist Ami has known the actor for a long time which helped capture her personal style into her wedding look. “The vision behind Athiya’s bridal look was literally an understated chic which is what Athiya is. She has oodles of style, oodles of great taste, but she is not a person who will, you know, say, look at me. She’ll never dress in a way that will scream for attention. So, for the colour of the outfit, she was clear she wanted a baby pink, but not that typical shade but almost like a nude pink which was so stunning that Anamika did.”
The Details
“The work on her outfit was exquisite. We were very clear that we wanted it to look intricate. We wanted to look like art. If you notice closely, Anamika has actually lined some of the flowers with pearls. The lehenga itself was this unique kind of chikankari. There are shades of gold, ranging from silver gold to rose gold, to dull gold, to antique gold and ivory. The entire mix just had a certain harmony to it.” It took around two and a half months to bring this stunning look to life.
The Jewellery
“We were very clear that we wanted polki jewellery and that we didn’t want a complicated design. We wanted large polki stones and a very distinctive design, which was simple, but still a statement, trend-setting piece. We didn’t want emeralds or any other colour. Notice that we did get a little bit of a colour in with a little ruby under the polki that enhanced and created a depth to the necklace. It anchored the entire look together and became central point of interest.” The jewellery had a modern touch to it that was perfectly balanced with a minimal maangtikka. “Birdhichand [Ghanshyamdas Jewellery] did an amazing job with it.”
The Style
“I think none of the celebrity looks that I’ve styled in terms of bridal have overlapped even a little bit because at the end of the day, each girl is different. Each girl’s personality is different, and the idea for a bride is to really give her what she wants and you know, enhance her personality. For example, for Priyanka [Chopra] the first line of her brief was she wanted to wear red. She didn’t wanna wear that extreme shade of poppy red, but she wanted to wear like a deep red. she did not want any zari on her lehenga with tonal effect. Every bride, especially the celebrities have their own distinct which has come through. Athiya’s look was different from the others in terms of her blouse. The long sleeves and the tiny choli, the colour itself and even her jewellery was completely different.”
The actor’s haldi lehenga, a minimalist yet gorgeous ivory cotton featuring intricate handmade gold gota work on the anarkali and gharara skirt from Ritu Kumar is now archived at Mumbai’s prestigious Nita Mukesh Ambani Culture Centre (NMACC). This recreation of vintage Ritu Kumar in the old chai-dipped cotton fabric and the antique gold work that took 2000 hours to embroider was just the perfect mix of comfort and luxury for Athiya’s haldi look.
Word Of Advice
“First thing I’d like to tell the brides is to be your own bride. Don’t look at what your mother wore, your sister wore or any other celebrity wore. Dig deep into your own mind and see what is it that you want to be on that day. Remember one thing, no matter what colour, shape, size you are, it doesn’t matter because on that day you are going to look like a star. Be open to choices unless you know for a fact that this is what I want. Work with your personal taste and style and yes, budget as well. You don’t have to spend too much. You can look beautiful by literally being you.
Really think ahead and be sustainable. Wear something that’s amazing and beautiful, but you can repeat. My motto has always been #itscooltorepeat and don’t leave anything to last minute. Have a stylist or have a close friend or somebody who’s going to help you with things. Make sure that you’ve done your fittings ahead of time and you’ve worn the entire look at least once. So, on your wedding day, you’re not stressed about it. Even if it means two, three fittings, make sure that your outfit is tried with the jewellery.”
