Celebrated jewellery designer Raj Mahtani forecasts the A/W wedding fashion trends
Giving contemporary twists to traditional designs has been the forte of the celebrated couture jewellery designer Raj Mahtani, a modernist vanguard, who’s also the scion of the illustrious jewellery house Satramdas Dhalamal. A trendsetter for over past 20 years now, no one makes jewellery look like an heirloom fairy tale the way Raj does.
Melding the best of the traditional past with modern futuristic designs, his label Raj Mahtani Couture Jewels’ exquisite panoply of jewels is worth a part of every bride’s trousseau. The first Indian designer to have showcased his jewellery in Paris Fashion Week, Raj shares the trends and what to expect from his brand for the upcoming wedding season. Excerpts:
What are the major wedding jewellery trends for the fall/ winter wedding season?
Heavy necklaces are a very big part of the trend this year along with long earrings. Apart from the necklaces and the earrings, the gorgeous headgears, Hathphools, mangtikas and double necklaces are trending big time.
How has the pandemic changed the needs of brides in terms of jewellery?
Not much. Heavy jewellery is trending big and the brides would settle for what they love. Also, because of coronavirus people are feeling cheated of a beautiful wedding and that’s why they are overdosing on things like dressing and wearing jewellery and becoming pickier about what they want, choosing better products and designs.
What will be your jewellery fashion tips for the brides?
Go for the OTT look but there has to be a method to the madness. You can’t be overdoing your make-up, clothes and jewellery all at the same time. Clothes should be a little simpler if you are focussing on the jewellery and vice versa. Make-up should be nude with everything falling in place. A big fashion faux pas is when you have too much embroidery and glitter and your jewellery clashes with it. Try to avoid that. Also, gorgeous headgears are so trendy. They are far away from the neckline and a great hairdo with an intricately designed headgear lends an interesting look.
Should one go with the trends or stick to the traditional pieces?
It’s important to do both actually. There should be one traditional piece in your jewellery trousseau to wear on the day of the wedding. But it’s equally important to have trendy jewellery that go with modern outfits. Our Romanov or Czarina collections that are slightly more European and modern in designs go perfectly well with dresses, gowns and even a simple white shirt.
What can we expect from your label this wedding season?
This year, we have focussed on out-of-the-ordinary designs, with ideas from the past incorporated seamlessly into the future. I have taken a lot of inspiration from the Ottoman empire and jewellery that the Russian Czars and Czarinas wore and have blended the same with the Mughal period, melding it all with the modern sensibility.
Since millennial brides don’t like heavy jewellery, we also have pieces that are light and flexible since I don’t like stiff jewellery. So, the earrings are not uncomfortable for the delicate earlobes and even the bangles don’t weigh down one’s hands.
Since the millennial bride travels a lot, we have come up with small boxes to hold the mouldable jewellery. We also have three-dimensional, peel off necklaces, bangles and earrings, all of which you can wear in different ways.
sharmishtha.g@newindianexpress.com
@sharmidas