Tarun Tahiliani's Tasva closes Lakmé Fashion Week Day 2 with craft-led wedding menswear

Designer Tarun Tahiliani's menswear label Tasva closed the second day of Lakmé Fashion Week 2026 in New Delhi on Thursday, October 15, with a wedding-wear collection that leaned on traditional Indian handwork and a nostalgic mood rather than runway spectacle. The show, held at the Taj Palace and the last of the night at around 10 pm, had actor Ali Fazal as its showstopper in an ivory angarakha with a bandhgala and an embroidered stole. According to the label's press note, the collection drew on the Tree of Life, Lipan art, paisley forms and an idea the designers called the Art of Light.

Indian menswear for weddings has become one of the busiest parts of the fashion business. Grooms who once wore a single sherwani now buy separate outfits for the haldi, mehendi, sangeet, wedding and reception, and brands are racing to offer complete wardrobes at different price points. Tasva was set up to bring a designer's eye to that market at a more accessible level than couture, and its Lakmé Fashion Week show is its main chance each year to set the tone for the coming wedding season.

This collection's message was continuity. The motifs it cited are old ones: the Tree of Life appears across Indian textiles, paisley has been a mainstay of shawls and brocades for centuries, and Lipan art is a traditional mirror-work craft. Translating these into embroidery and mirror work on jackets and angarakhas keeps craft techniques such as aari and zardozi in demand, which matters for the artisans who practise them. One review described the show as a curated celebration of nostalgia rather than a high-energy runway, noting the classic film music and the choice to cast older male models. That choice stands out in an industry that usually favours very young faces, and it reflects the reality that fathers, uncles and grandfathers are also buyers at Indian weddings.

The palette also points to where wedding fashion is moving. Alongside the traditional ivory, the label showed sleek dinner jackets in deep maroon and bottle green and lighter pieces in lilac, salmon and jade, colours that suit evening receptions and daytime ceremonies alike.

Short-term: The collection arrives just ahead of the winter wedding season, when menswear brands make a large part of their annual sales. The looks shown on the runway are likely to guide what shoppers ask for in stores over the coming months.

Long-term: Steady demand for hand embroidery and mirror work in wedding menswear supports the karigars, or artisans, who carry these skills, and keeps regional crafts such as Lipan art visible to a national audience. Casting older models may also nudge other labels to show clothes on a wider range of ages.

Who is affected: Grooms and their families planning weddings; artisans skilled in aari, zardozi and mirror work; menswear retailers preparing for the season; and the wider Indian fashion industry, which watches Lakmé Fashion Week for trends.

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