Now you can have the Sabyasachi wedding of your dreams (on half the budget)
Save the planet, and your wallet
You may not want to get married but there’s a high chance you’ve daydreamed of having an OTT Bollywood wedding. Sushank Chibber, a 34-year-old project manager from New York, lived the dream… made complete with pre-loved wedding couture outfits.
Explaining that he didn’t want to contribute to the waste being generated by fast fashion, he says, “Fast fashion is destroying the planet and all of us have a role to play. Knowing that my wedding outfits had been just as meaningful to someone else made them special.”
Some like Sushank have ethical reasons for shopping pre-loved wedding couture while others have financial ones. Laveena D’Souza, a homemaker, wanted to finance her wedding with her own money so she decided to rewear her cousin’s bridal gown. “My in-laws had reservations about my decision but my cousin had been married a year before me and had spent a lot of money on her outfit so I was happy to wear it,” she says.
Indians have long had a tradition of passing down our clothes and reusing them over the generations, whether in their original state or refashioned as a soft toy or a pocha even. Sustainability is at the core of our culture. Prachi Kushwah, a software engineer, upcycled her mother’s phera saree into a lehenga for her mehendi while Zalak Trivedi, a homemaker, wore her late cousin’s sari to a friend’s wedding to honour her. Although wearing pre-loved outfits isn’t new, we usually inherit them, rather than buy them. The stigma attached to pre-loved clothing is slowly changing, according to a recent report, which has positioned the industry to grow 185% in 10 years as opposed to fast fashion, which is expected to grow by 20%.
Consumer behaviour researchers have noted an upwards tick in responsible buying among Indians since the pandemic. We would rather have a pre-loved Bottega Veneta bag than a brand-new Zara one. The same can be said for wedding outfits as well, now that websites selling pre-loved designer wear like Saritoria are gaining recognition. Who doesn’t want to wear a Sabyasachi creation that looks like it belongs in Vogue without having to break the bank?
Whether you’re a bride-to-be or a wedding guest like 26-year-old Tanya Charotia who prefers shopping in her friends’ wardrobes to spending lakhs on new outfits, we’ve hunted down a few options you might love. (Here are 11 wedding outfits you can buy if bling isn’t your thing.)
10 websites that offer pre-loved wedding couture
For buying
Saritoria
The global platform allows you to buy — and sell your own — pre-loved wedding couture. Swipe for Sabyasachi lehengas, Manish Malhotra sequinned saris and Anamika Khanna capes among others at discounted prices.
They are also fairly size inclusive, with sizes ranging from XXS to XXL.
Using a meticulous authentication process, their experts determine whether the listed outfit is fit to be sold. You can also resell your outfits once you’ve worn them. If you’re reselling from Delhi, Mumbai, or London, they’ll provide you with a concierge service free of cost.
Revivify is home to a curated collection of pre-loved Indian designer wear and accessories from premium desi designers ranging from sizes XS to XXL. You can buy and sell heritage jewellery and accessories here, along with clothing.
They also give you the option to refurbish the old outfits you love, for example converting an old winter coat into a summer skirt.
Truly size-inclusive with sizes ranging from US 0 to US 20, Loved Lehenga is a homegrown website for preloved wedding couture, especially focusing on wedding lehengas.
With the benefits of worldwide advertising and real-time insights, it also makes reselling your outfit quite simple. You can leave your listing up for however long it needs to remain.
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With sizes ranging from S to XXL, Retag is home to many pre-owned creations of Indian designers like JJ Valaya, Gaurav Gupta, etc.
Other than buying and selling pre-owned Indian designer clothing, they also have alternatives for accessories, menswear, and kids’ clothing.
Being a pioneer in the Indian luxury marketplace business, Luxepolis has a wide selection of new and pre-loved luxury pieces, including clothes, accessories, bags, and footwear. Although the size range is limited from small to large, their ethnic edit has pre-loved designs from small- and big-time designers.
For renting
Where do you store the wedding lehenga that weighs 15 kilos when your wardrobe is already stuffed to doors-not-shutting point? At times like these, renting an outfit is even more sustainable than buying one, especially since you won’t have to contemplate selling your kidney either.
If you want to rent a designer Indian wedding outfit instead of buying a pre-loved one, RentItBae has a vast collection of saris, lehengas, gowns, and anarkalis in sizes ranging from XXS to 4XL. With stores located in Delhi, Bangalore and Gurgaon, you can also pop by for fittings or make online bookings as they have doorstep delivery in 30+ cities. The 4-day renting cost of an outfit is 1/4th of its MRP.
Rent An Attire has a small collection of ethnic designer wear from small-scale designers with options for both men and women in the size range of XS-XXL. They have three offline stores in Delhi, Pune and Dehradun but they deliver throughout the country.
With options ranging from pre-wedding shoots, saris, kurta sets, lehengas, and Indo-western outfits and sizes from XXS to M, The Clothing Rental might be a better option for someone whose sizes run small. Though they also offer western wear for both men and women, their delivery is limited to the Mumbai region.
The Style Ease ships its clothing all over the country even though its main office is in Mumbai. You can rent basic clothes like dresses and gowns in addition to bridal lehengas and other traditional attire. You can also rent accessories if you want to spice up your look.
With sizes ranging from S to 3XL, Date The Ramp provides slightly-more size-inclusive offerings from many big-ticket Indian designers. With a pay-on-delivery option after trying the outfit, it’s also much more convenient. Fittings are made over a call with their stylist free of cost.
Now you can have the Sabyasachi wedding of your dreams without breaking the bank or the planet.
