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Your Guide to Purchasing Mid-Budget Lehengas in Mumbai
Bridal Fashion and Beauty, Bridesmaids - Apr 22, 2014
By Prakruti Jhaveri
Picking a lehenga or saree for your wedding day can be a joyous yet stressful project. It requires intensive research, planning and visualization, and sometimes all this has to be worked around a budget. While India’s top designers and multi-designer stores have the most exquisite bridal collections, we often get emails from brides wanting us to recommend stores where they can buy an exquisite lehengas to suit their budget. Here, Prakruti Jhaveri, Senior Fashion and Beauty Writer at InOnIt.in, writes about thestores in Mumbai that offer interesting collections at price tags to fit different budgets.
South Mumbai
If you live in South Mumbai or are planning to make a day’s visit for wedding shopping check out the stores at Marine Lines, Kemps Corner, Kalbadevi, Colaba and Breach Candy.
For a traditional and classic style lehenga-choli you can visit stores like Roopkala, Indrani (also in Borivali) and Millionaire (also in Juhu and Malad). These stores have a huge range of apparel and accessories for the entire bridal party. Next to Indrani Silks (in Kalbadevi), there are a host of boutiques which offer lehengas in the range of Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 50,000. Most of these stores offer customization options too. At Millionaire, you may find the range going higher than Rs 30,000.
Bridal collection by Millionaire
Roopkala store (Santacruz West, Mumbai)
Lehengas by Roopkala
Bridal collection by Indrani Silks
If you are looking at something more than the blushing-bride look, check out stores like Ogaan, Aza, Kimaya, Jade, Ensemble, and RE Fashion Boutique. Many of these stores have collections that start from Rs 40,000 and above, but they do offer one-of-a-kind pieces too. Lighter lehengas for the bridesmaids can be purchased here as well. While Ogaan has quirky and kitschy outfits, Kimaya and Ensemble offer a Bollywood bride look. Jade has a distinct collection of bridal outfits that reflect Indian heritage. Take a look at authentic zardosi, jamwar and other styles here.
Jade by Monica and Karishma, Pedder Road, Mumbai
Kimaya store at Kemps Corner, Mumbai
Bridal Lehengas at Kimaya
Also, look out for their end of season sales when some of them offer discounts up to 70 per cent, and you might just find your dream outfit for a steal.
Tip: Try to look for bridal couture on sale at Ensemble and Ogaan, and you might land up with a runway outfit, which you can reuse in many different ways after your wedding.
Lower Parel
High Street Phoenix and Palladium are a shopper’s paradise; however, they offer little for the busy bride’s needs. If you are in the area, the must-visit stores include Chamomile, Anita Dongre and Mogra boutique at Phoenix mills.
Lehengas by Anita Dongre
Chamomile and Mogra offer Indian apparel for modern women who adore fashion. So, be ready to find distinct, minimalistic styles of lehengas here starting from Rs 40,000 onwards.
Chamomile store (Lower Parel)
Mogra store (Lower Parel)
Tip: Visit these stores when you are out shopping for western outfits, salwaar suits or other items for your wedding trousseau, so you save time.
Juhu–Irla
The hub of designer stores, Juhu, has a plethora of alternatives for your dream wedding apparel. The forerunners amongst them all are Sushma Designs and Kimaya. These two stores are known for their unmatched designs and up-to-date trends. The latter houses niche couture designers as well as popular Bollywood designers. You might find an exquisite piece that resembles Deepika Padukone or Kareena Kapoor’s look in a film for a price starting Rs40,000 onwards.
In addition to these, you can visit Paaneri, Libas and Kala Niketan, which are comparatively less expensive than the above mentioned stores. You can also take a glimpse of rich bridal wear at individual designer stores like Manasvi Pillai and Archana Kochhar.
Bridal collection by Archana Kochhar
Lehenga by Libas
Round the corner from Juhu, another area that is heaven for wedding shoppers is Irla, located between Andheri and Vile Parle (West). Here, you can first visit Aishwarya Design Studios and Ella. You may then look at various other boutiques in the area. What we love about the stores here is that they have lots of options in the range of Rs.20,000 to Rs. 70,000. This area also has a host of wedding accessories and costume jewellery shops.
Aishwarya Design Studio (Andheri West)
Bridal lehengas at Aishwarya Design Studio
Tip: Visit the stores in Irla before you move to Juhu.
Santacruz and Khar
A wedding shopper’s hub, Santacruz has everything from designer wear to street side heels and more. Your top picks for THE wedding outfit should be Seasons and Kalki where you can get bridal wear at a price range of Rs 40,000 onwards. Kalki also houses the works of Sabyasachi, Neeta Lulla, Gaurav Gupta and the likes, so if you’re lucky, you might be able to get an exquisite designer piece too.
Bridal ensembles by Seasons
Along the entire market, you can also visit stores like Bawree, Pagli, Shagun, and Friendship. These stores have lehengas starting from Rs 20,000 onwards. Sagar Couture in Bandra also houses some of the finest net ghaghra-choli sets. Their designs and fabric integration is worth a look.
Bridal ensembles by Kalki
A boutique that is a must-see for the experimental bride (with a reasonably good budget) is designer Masaba’s Store. They offer quirky and creative twists to regular wedding outfits.
Quirky outfits by Masaba Gupta
Tip: Before you visit Santacruz, keep in mind a general idea of what you want. The number of options there may leave you confused.
The mentioned areas/locations cover more or less the entire range of mid-budget bridal wear options in Mumbai. Feel free to write to us, if you know of a unique, niche store that other brides may try. Also, we love the Lehenga LookBook on www.facebook.com/weddingsutra, regardless of whether or not you are getting married, this is one album all Indian fashion lovers would always love to see!
If you get an opportunity to be a part of WeddingSutra on Location, don’t miss it. Or check out all the photos of WeddingSutra on Location at different stores- Anita Dongre, Neeta Lulla, Manish Malhotra, Tarun Tahiliani, JADE, Designer Studio and Ensemble.
About Prakruti Jhaveri: Writing, teaching and serial reading is what I do. If you meet me you’d know I’m taller than you.
About InOnIt.in: For the latest fashion and trend updates, style tips, designer interviews, celebrity style, and shopping, log onto InOnIt.in.
Photos Courtesy- (Roopkala bride photos) Dolly Parmar/ Kamal Rana Photography; (Anita Dongre lehenga photos) Prashasti Singh/ Aperture 9, Guddu Bhatia/ Bhumika Bhatia, Ankita Parmar/ Richa Kashelkar; (Libas photo) Ritika Tewari/ Barnali Kalita
