When jewellery designer Shweana Poy Raiturcar married Vikram Salgaocar — industrialist and nephew of Mukesh Ambani — in a ceremony held in Mumbai, the bridal conversation wasn’t about colour palettes or silhouettes. Her lehenga, created by Monica Shah of JADE by MK, wasn’t draped, stitched or layered in the traditional sense because it wasn’t built on fabric at all. It was built from thread.
The ensemble revives the Mughal-era Kasab technique, where metallic thread forms both the surface and the structure of the garment. Rose gold, gold and antique gold strands were handwoven over more than 15,000 hours to create a self-supporting jaal — a lattice that behaves like cloth but holds its own architecture. There is no lining, no base, no hidden textile scaffold. What you see is what holds it together and the result is a lehenga that moves like liquid metal but carries the rigidity of armour.
Each panel of the lehenga has multiple interlacing techniques, and is layered with sculptural detailing, hand-cut peacock motifs and very subtle dimensional elements that give the metallic surface depth rather than shine-for-the-sake-of-shine. The choli is very architectural, and borrows from macramé techniques while a whisper-light dupatta offsets the structure with movement.
If you strip away the fabric, the embroidery becomes the garment itself.
The jewellery is designed by the bride, Shweana herself. With diamonds individually selected from Rosy Blue and crafted by KDZ, the pieces reflect the philosophy of what she was wearing: precise and deeply personal. Now, bridal couture often leans toward scale and spectacle, but this is so different. Because sometimes the most modern bridal statement isn’t a new silhouette. It’s the decision to remove the fabric entirely — and trust the craft to carry the weight.
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