After pouring over the top designer collections, we’ve selected the upcoming designs of the season. Discover the hottest cuts and colors that’ll be making up the top lehenga trends for 2023.
Hey there! Do you wish to opt for a lehenga for a wedding or festive season this year? I know I certainly would! Choosing the best designs can be a strenuous job. Here we are forecasting the best of trends from this year’s runway collections, celebrity appearances and designers’ social media feeds.
We speculate that 2023’s trends are nothing but an emphasis of the simplest elements like sleeves, shoulders and soft shades. There are looks which impressed us and a few which didn’t please us much. Some designers were experimental on the existing trends, and some created new trends altogether.
So we have selected the best looks from the most interesting Indian designer collections to inspire your next shopping trip for the upcoming festival or wedding. Let’s glance at the top lehenga trends of the coming year.
Latest Lehenga Trends for 2023
1. Dupatta Alternates
This has been by far the most innovative trend of this season. We already saw this style emerge last year and we are drooling over it. This top trend is either a composition attached to the lehenga, or a piece of fabric dangled over the shoulder that can do the job of the dupatta without actually being one. It’s the season of going hands free without having to put the dupatta in place time and again.
With Anamika Khanna’s ideation to attach it at the back of the blouse to Gaurav Gupta’s overhead draping, it’s a new successful obsession for the designers. We now see the brides ditching their dupattas and opting for this new fascination.
2. Tone-on-Tone Embellishments
On contrary to dupatta alternates, embellishment-matching is one of the most compelling trends for 2023. Forget gold and silver, the coming year will be all about making a subtle statement through matchy-matchy embroideries and embellishments. We saw a lot of thread work, sequin-work and beadwork in this tone-on-tone trend
With ruffled, embellished, feathered dupattas adding a pop, it adds color to the lehengas. We can take inspiration from Falguni & Shane Peacock’s dainty way and Sabyasachi’s somber-colored embellishments. When it comes to this trend, the designers have showcased so many options in patterns, colors, fabric (organza, shimmer, tulle, etc.) and styles.
3. Full Sleeves
These type of cholis are drop-dead gorgeous for any girl or bride while looking really sophisticated. Long sleeves add a sense of grace. Don’t you think the same when it comes to this silhouette? I see full sleeves as the most refined outfit trends of 2023.
Aisha Rao nailed it when it came to enveloped arms at Lakme fashion week. These particularly are incomplete without sheer fabrics, embellishments, embroideries, and sequins. Furthermore, Manish Malhotra combined them with dope shoulders. For us, this trend shall shine on with experimental additions to it.
4. Sleeve Love
Another sleeve trend – looks like 2023 will be the year of sleeves! Who doesn’t like to try voluminous or experimental sleeves? Whether it is poppy or with feathered tassels or ruffled sleeves, it’s the adorable way of adorning a lehenga. It’s not just the ongoing trend to try, but quirky sleeves give the body silhouette an emphasis. For someone with broad shoulders, ruffled sleeves will further exaggerate them, but will be perfect for petite and slender women.
For example, Gaurav Gupta’s cherry red sculptured shoulders has made the look extravagant and worth the cocktail night. On the other hand, Shyamal & Bhumika’s off-shoulder bouncy sleeves brought a pinch of quirky element to the elegant attire. When it comes to sleeves, there is so much to show and so much more to portray.
I am loving the way all designers have brought their own version for love of sleeves, what do you think?
5. Capes
Personally, I love cape lehengas and I think they deserve to be at the top of this year’s trend list. But alas, they’re at #5 this season because we didn’t see them on the runways as much as some of the other and newer trends we’ve discussed above.
This season we are fond of elements that add a splendor to you lehenga and capes have magnificently proved it. They’re the best replacement to dupattas. The geometrical embellishments, feathers and sequins create a new story to your outfit.
Cape lehengas with lengthy trails are sensational just like Deepika Padukone’s walk (Lakme Fashion Week 2022) for Manish Malhotra with an extended trail. Imagine walking on the aisle wearing a cape lehenga with a long train of cape! Similarly other designers like Shantanu & Nikhil and Gaurav Gupta have brought various interpretations to this Indo-western trend.
6. Off-the-Shoulder Lehengas
Although off-the-shoulder lehengas are not new. But they have consistently endured their place among the trend lists for years. We have seen innumerous ways of no shoulder lehengas but this year’s lehengas had a little more to them. They were recently spotted on a lot of Bollywood celebrities including Shanaya Kapoor, Tara Sutaria, Sara Ali Khan etc.
Most of the blouses we saw that weren’t covering the shoulder had beaded fringes, feathers, or statement sleeves attached to them. Just like Amit Aggarwal’s chiseled fuchsia pink off shouldered lehenga which is a perfect look for a evening cocktail party. Tarun Tahiliani’s off shouldered looks in 2022 are exceptional, too.
7. Bustier Choli
The ensembles with bustier choli hold a prominent position in 2023’s lehenga trends. This close-fitted and structured, lingerie-inspired blouse enhances your body and that it looks perfect with lehengas.
Neeta Lulla’s strapless bustier with mirrorwork is something out of a dream. Disha Patani’s athletic body could be best showed in bustier cholis and Falguni & Shane Peacock nailed it. How about going for a form-fitting blouse for your wedding or festive season this year?
8. Sequins
Aren’t we all huge fans of sequins? Personally speaking, I don’t mind getting obsessed with sequins right now, and adding a sparkle to my life! 2023 lehenga collections have sequins as one of the top trends. Sequin lehengas add the glam factor to festive parties. When it comes to this, we can imagine the heavily embellished lehengas and the bling they bring along.
Not so new to us, but Manish Malhotra had plenty of sequin lehengas in his latest collection. At the same time Payal Singhal kept it chic and minimal at the Lakme Fashion Week when it came to sequins. Perfect for both large weddings and special occasions, the sequin trend once again lives on.
9. Fuchsia Pink
We have been seeing this bright shade of pink for enough time to drool over it one more time of this year. It’s already the most popular amongst many, so why don’t we take another look at it? It’s poppy and electrifying.
Punit Balana, Nachiket Barve and Mishru do this trend best. While some lehengas look chic, the other are most suited for steering away from traditional colors. Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla’s blend of fuchsia pink is off-the-wall.
10. Pastels
Another year and yet again, the pastel fever continues. Pastels look gorgeous for every girl and never fails to show the aura. As we witness beautiful pastel lehengas in blues, pinks, and greens, we are sure that it will make you stand out too.
Anita Dongre’s love for pastels continues. Nevertheless, Gaurav Gupta’s sculptured and ruffled pastel pink lehengas make a statement this year. We are noticing a lot of changes in the colors and patterns. We distinctively saw millennial pinks, light azure, creamy mints, and whimsy yellows from a lot of designer collections.
After celebs like Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma set the trend for pastel bridal outfits, Alia Bhatt continued it this year. Her soft-hued wedding lehenga was the most trending bridal outfit of the year, and it was minimal.
11. Cut-out Choli
Bye-bye peek-a-boo backs, hello sexy cut-outs in cholis! This trend takes your average choli up way higher on the glam factor. Cut-outs at the sides, near the bust or at the back look very chic. The year’s hottest style? Daring cut-outs that let your girlies show at the sides just a tiny bit.
Janhavi Kapoor in Manish Malhotra’s sequin cut-out choli lehenga is enchanting. At the same time, Tarun Tahiliani’s cut out choli is my personal favorite this season. Falguni & Shane Peacock has nailed almost every trend this year along with cut-out cholis. In our opinion, cut-out cholis are the best for daring brides who would love to amplify their lehengas.
So, people these were the 11 trends we are forecasting for next season. We feel this season was a little flat with new innovations but evolving on the existing trends like sequins, pastels and statement sleeves.
Gaurav Gupta and Falguni & Shane Peacock embraced almost all the lehenga trends of this year. We felt a lot of designers such as Sabyasachi and Ritu Kumar didn’t advance experimenting enough in this season on lehengas. As we look forward to the upcoming year, we hope to see even more new trends coming our way.
Well, so that’s our take on the new designer collections, we’d love to know your thoughts too. We would love to see what style you don at your next wedding party, so tag us @shilpaahujadotcom on Instagram and comment down your preferred lehenga trend of 2023.
Read next:
– 5 Wedding Wear Lehenga Choli Trends for 2022
– Types of Lehenga Skirts & How to Choose According to Your Body Type
Ramani is a Fashion Journalist at ShilpaAhuja.com. She is currently pursuing B.Design specializing in Fashion Communication from School of Fashion Technology, Pune.
Prior to SAM, she worked as a strategic content creator for House of Aadyaa and as a design associate for Tranzevo, New Zealand. She is also the co-founder of “The House of Yeehaws” a venture spreading the importance of sustainability in a wider society. She is a strong proponent of sustainability in fashion.
For her, writing is a true form of expression. An ambivert by personality, she finds people to be the most interesting subject. A keen learner and an even more keen observer, photography engages and fascinates her. Her motto is ‘ Dreams don’t work unless you do’.
She is also a passionate footballer and a soon-to-be a Kathak graduate. She enjoys traveling, experiencing and learning new things in her free time. Her motive is to contribute to the exciting industry of fashion and be the growth she wishes to achieve.
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India’s cultural diversity is beautifully reflected in the regional variations of lehengas.
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