It’s no secret that while 2020 has been a tough year for a lot of industries, weddings and civil ceremonies have been among the hardest hit. National lockdowns and social-gathering limitations around the world left millions of couples opting to postpone their special day until 2021 at the very earliest, with widespread disappointment for more than the betrothed.
Bridal designers are the relatively unspoken-of collateral in the fashion fray. While ready-to-wear fashion houses and retailers faced the challenges of people shopping for fewer clothes, bridalwear designers were faced with the prospect of people buying no clothes at all.
The Delhi-based couture designer Gaurav Gupta – who has clients in London, New York and Paris as well as his native India – also launched a demi-couture e-commerce offering for the first time “to make it convenient for our clients to go online and buy product.”
While agility has been the name of the game this year, he has found certain needs-must situations helpful, such as digital consultations; Gupta has found a video call to “actually be a very personal experience”
When it comes to aesthetics, there is some surprising feedback too. Despite Pinterest already declaring 2021 the year of “minimalist matrimony”, the designers are predicting a different trend when it comes to the event and outfits.
Gupta, who is famed for his intricate and extravagant gowns (and recently, face coverings to match) also sees no trend for his brides pairing things back. “People aren’t spending money on such lavish weddings so they want the drama and couture for themselves,” he says. “Plus, Indian culture is lavish and we love to party and to show off! We want everything under the sun!”
“The reason why avant-garde brands have thrived rather than just survived, is because people have chosen to go with originality in design,” says Gupta. “The noise has been cancelled out and people are concentrating on what they want.”
