Mughal brides were sent off to their wedding days carrying their social status and familial wealth in their many layers of expensive silk and gold jewelry.
Welcome to Part V of the Mughal Wedding Series. Check out the whole series:
Mughal Wedding: Introduction
Mughal Engagement/Pre-Wedding Traditions
Mughal Wedding Traditions
Mughal Post-Wedding Traditions
Mughal Bridal Attire and Jewelry – You're here!
Mughal Groom’s Attire
Mughal Food and Desserts
Mughal Modern Touches & Inspiration
Traditional Mughal bridal dresses involve detailed embroidery, bright colors, and long, flowing skirts – and traditional jewelry matched these outfits in terms of extravagance as well!
Fabrics and Patterns
Heavy silks such as kinkhwabs utilize ornate and contrasting patterns and are used in many sarees. Jamawar silk, introduced from China, is still worn in Pakistan – but it originated in the Mughal empire, where emperors loved the bold, singular symbols that stood out against a plain cloth background.
Dress Styles
The common styles of Mughal bridal clothing are lehengas, long cholis, and pishwas – a floor-length, flowing dress worn with tight shalwars.
A flowing, blue lehenga with a sheer jacket is a modern twist on traditional Mughal bridal attire.
A more traditional Mughal bridal outfit would feature bright colors, like red, and a long choli and lehenga.
Mughal brides often donned colorful silk with light patterns. The thick, embroidered borders are common with Mughal silk – kinkhwab and jamagar.
A long, red pishwa is just another stunning Mughal bridal outfit designed by Ashima Leena.
Nargis Fakri makes a beautiful Mughal bride with lots of red, detailed beaded embroidery, and heavy jewelry.
Mughal jewelry featured lots of gold and precious gemstones. The styles of both Jadau and Kundan jewelry feature heavy ornaments that were worn as necklaces or headpieces.
Glass gems and bright colors compliment heavy gold ropes and chains in Mughal bridal jewelry. The Tanishq Collection has a wide array of Mughal-inspired jewelry sets.
Jewelry
Bridal jewelry was meant to be elaborate and showy – the shinier, the better! Although these pieces are quite large, modern-day Mughal-inspired bridal jewelry has kept the traditional touches of glass gems and gold chains with minimal dangly ornaments.
The Luxemi Collection features many modern-day Mughal jewelry pieces – such as this gold bangle, which maintains the elegance of Mughal design in its glass gem ornamentation, but keeps it simple in terms of color and size.
While it's difficult to find authentic Mughal outfits from the 1500s, designers such as Ashima Leena have done an excellent job creating both traditional and modern designs. The bold usage of reds, heavy embroidery, and long skirts are all trademarks of Mughal bridal attire. Much like everything else the Mughals touched, their bridal outfits have found a place to live on in many modern cultures.
As for Mughal jewelry, the extravagance might be appropriate for brides who want to go all out on their big day – but there are simple options from the Tanishq and Luxemi Collections that can suit the taste of any aspiring Mughal rani.
Mughal grooms were just as well-dressed as their brides on their wedding days. Our Groom’s Attire section of the series discusses wedding fashions for Mughal grooms.