Indian Wedding Fashion - Clothing & Jewelry

Wedding day is a special occasion in an individual's life. This day is special for not only for the couple , but also the whole family of both the bride and groom, as well as the relatives and friends. No wonder, since time immemorial wedding fashion is about the most expensive clothes, along with the jewelry. The bride is dressed to look like a queen.




According to Hindu philosophy and mythology the Gods and Goddesses also attend the wedding. This adds to jubilation attached to a marriage. No wonder brides-to-be spend months together searching for the perfect wedding dress. Not only her, but even her family members and closest friends spend a long time searching for what they should wear on the wedding day.




It is not limited to just the bride, well even the groom is particular about what he is going to wear on the wedding day. He is also aware about his clothes and accessories. Like in case of the bride this extends to his immediate family and friends. Such excitement exists in both the houses.

Kundan Jewellery from India

Kundan Jewelry:

One of the oldest forms of jewellery made and worn in India is the kundan jewellery. Kundan work is a method of gem setting, consisting of inserting gold foil between the stones and its mount. Kundan work is often combined with meenakari, so that a piece of jewllery has two equally beautiful surfaces, enamel at the back end and kundan set gems in the front. Meenakari involves the fusion of colored minerals, such as cobalt oxide for blue and copper oxede for green. This gives the effect of precious stone inlay work on the surface of the metal.

Jaipur is the main centre of kundan jewellery. The famous Johri bazaar is the nerve centre of this craft. Nathdwara is known for its silver kundan work. Bikaner is also known for its kundan work.

Anklets and Toe Rings

Paradoxically, the feet are considered to be the most polluted part of the human body and at the same time, the objet of highest admiration and veneration. Humbling oneself by touching the fet of one's elders or prostrating oneself before them or worshipping the feet or sandals of a deity or a holy man are expressions of respect. By the same token of expression of submissiveness, a lover is often portrayed in art of described in literature as falling at his beloved's feet or admiring them with gentle caresses. The feet of a nayika, worthy of a lover's affection, are abundantly adorned with anklets and toe rings. Anklets are of two basic types, i.e. the stiff and the flexible. The stiff anklets are either cas or fabricated by hammering sheet metal into the requisite shape. Using the techniques of chiselling, engraving, repousse, granulation or threading and wire work, anklets are patterned. The flexible variety employs close interlicking of separately made links tied together either by using variations of chain technique or by threading together of links. Known as jhanjhar or pajeb, the flexible variety is often further adorned with jingle bells. There is no better music to the ears of a lover than the jingling sound arising from the steps of his beloved. This has been a subject of innumerable poetic stanzas in Indian lierature over several centuries.
Like the finger and thumb rings described above, there is a whole class of tow rings covered with floral shanks and often inter linked with chains. Similar to a tripartite hand ornament known as hathphul having finger rings, there is a foot ornament having toe rings connected to an ornamental pendant with a chain issuing from eah ring which in turn is further linked to an anklet with a hook. This ornament fully covers the foot from ankle to toes. Toe rings are known as bichhia in northern and western India indicating.

Types of Amulets

Based on the purpose, there were two distinctive type of amulets - negative and positive. Negative amulets provided protection by repelling the negative forces, while the positive ensured the fulfillment of desires like marriage, wealth and the birth of a son. Interestingly, the number of negative amulets worn is much higher than the positive ones. With such a long tradition of jewellery it is nearly impossible to differentiate between amuletic and ornamental or customary jewellery, since, more often than not, the users themselves are unaware of the difference. They just seem to continue wearing them as per their tradition. As is apparent, amuletic jewellery is a widely popular practice among the rural folk who are not only illiterate, but also live a life full of hardships. Amulets are worn specifically as well as integrated in the ornaments generally worn around the neck. Such integrated ornaments, like many others, present a unique similarity between the cultures of the Thar Desert covering Rajasthan & Gujarat,the Sahara Desert covering the Middle East and,the Great Gobe covering North Africa. However, special sanctity is attached to wearing an amulet without integrating it in an ornament when it is worn for a specific purpose, as generally, the amulets integrated in ornaments are not activated. An amulet is activated and empowered by a priest or a shaman after performing an elaborate ritual. Like the statue of a deity, life is infused in the amulets through a special ritual, Pranpratistha or Abhishek, without which they can not posses any power. It is performed individually for each user, which is why it loses its divine power when it loses contact with that individual. For a different user the ritual has to be performed again to regain its lost magical power.

Silver Amulets with Chain

Wearing an amulet or a talisman, to protect and to fulfill certain desires, has been an age old practice, not just in India, but, in other cultures of the world as well. In Sanskrit the word for an amulet is Kawach. The ancient people believed in the power of the living bodies, be it the sun or a tree, as well as in the presence of the evil spirit. Not only that, they also believed in the evil eye of the jealous. With image worship emerged the practice of seeking the blessing of Ishta, or the male/female deity that the individual chose, or Kuldevi, that the community worshiped. Obviously, it displayed their faith. Body contact with the deity provided a sense of having divine protection all the time.

Back Belly Chain - Women's Body Jewelry

Belly chains, also known as girdles or waist belts, are worn generally by women, for the sake of fashion, or for holding the lower garments and the belly tight, or both. Some belly chains are small and light, while some are heavy. Although many belly chains are worn tightly on the waist, there are also others that simply rest on the hip. Circular rings alternate through the chains, and the wearer can adjust them across the waist by putting the fastening device at one end of the chain through one of those circles, as per her waist length.

Jewellery Setting - Making of Jewelry

If you thought making jewellery was merely the job of a designer and his craftsman, you can think again. In Rajasthan, it employs different skills and includes the following specialized workers:


CHHATERRA: His task is to engrave the ground for the setting of the stones.
KUNDANSAAZ: Sets the uncut stones in lacquer and antimony and cold sets it with hammered gold wire.
MANIHAR: He prepares the enamels that will be poured into the hollows to create the patterns.
MINAKAAR: The enameller places the enamels and firesthem individually.
NYARRIYA: His task is to refine the gold. Usually 22 ct gold is used for the making of kundan jewellery.
PATWARI: Provides the finishing touch in the form of the gold and silk cord required by the wearer, and is also responsible for stringing the beads, where required.
SANGSAZA: His job is to polish the stones, and cut them, sometimes carving decorative motifs on to the stone.
SONAR: Literally the goldsmith, he prepares the bezels and moulds for setting the stones. He is also responsible for polishing and cleaning the jewelry once everyone else's task is done.

Indian Jewelry in Folk and Tribal Style

Myth is the foundation of the jewellery of rural and tribal peoples; it is not in the intent but in the material, therefore, that we should distinguish their jewellery from that tof the classical tradition. There is a similar, perhaps greater, richness of belief and symbology; it is only that the expression takes different forms because of the relative lack of affluence. Gold is replaced by silver, precious stones by semi-precious ones; but now other materials enter, glass beads, cowrie shells, feathers, beetles, seeds, bone, dried flowers and grasses. As if to make up for their modest nature, they are worn in profusion, necklace upon necklace clasping the body from throat to breast; armlets and bangles from upper arm to wrist; multiple rings in ears pierced at life-enhancing points.

There are instances where the richness of so-called folk or tribal jewellery seems but another view of the opulence of mainstream tradition; equally, there are examples where stark minimalism dominates and where we must look beyond the surface to the meaning underneath.Jewellery extends beyond its conventional definition to include all forms of ornamentation such as festive or ritual head gear. Enough to say here that entire voumes could be written on this subject without exhausting it; of necessity, we can touch upon only a few areas.