"I love the athleisure trend," celebrity stylist Tanya Ghavri weighs in on the upcoming Dhoom Dham Trunk Show.
By Arushi Sakhuja
The festive cheer is enveloping the city. With Raksha Bandhan that's just passed by and the ongoing Ganesh Chathurthi festival, the country is brimming with a joyous spirit. Diwali is just over a month away, and the wedding season is slowly creeping in. As the celebrations fill our calendars, scouting for a few outfits, accessories and gifts for your loved ones is a given. So, get ready for a spectacular fashion event as the long-awaited The Dhoom Dhaam Trunk Show, returns with its seventh edition. The show brings you a bigger, trendier, and more captivating edition than ever before. Curated by celebrity stylist Tanya Ghavri, known for her excellent fashion styling along with producer and director Ashi Dua, it is taking place on August, 27 at The Ashok in New Delhi, 11 am onwards.
For this edition, Tanya is personally selecting designers and outfits for the trunk show, offering a wide range of styles! From Western wear and trousseau choices to casual outfits, cocktail dresses, and brunch attire. This exclusive event is more than just a trunk show; it's a display that not only brings numerous fashion designers together but also highlights incredible jewellery brands, accessories, and more from across the country. You can expect to find brands like Sukriti & Akriti, Mahima Mahajan, Rashi Kapoor, and Ritika Malhotra, as well as labels like Deepika Nagpal, Usha Bagri, and Aarti Sethia.
Ahead we caught up with Tanya Ghavri to learn about bridal styling and her best-kept secrets for celebrity styling.
How do you feel about making the Dhoom Dhaam trunk show a success and its 7th edition?
Of course, I feel amazing! Any show, exhibition or property that lasts a test of time is the one that basically tells you that it's got love and appreciation from people. So I think what we've been able to achieve is that we've been able to give people interesting, young, exciting designers and Dhoom Dhaam is a place they come to to always look for new designers. I'm very excited and I hope that we're able to bring something new to the table every time we do a show.
Where do you find inspiration to curate the show?
I think because I'm a celebrity stylist, I'm very fussy about quality and designers, and what they bring to the table. So when I look at lookbooks, I'm constantly looking at the aesthetic quality – how they've put their lookbook together, which models they've used, how they've shot it. I'm constantly looking at aesthetics, and I think that is something that's very important when I'm choosing designers and curating the event. This is also a little tip for next year for all the designers who want to participate!
How you put things together, whether it's on Instagram or your lookbook, really goes to show how much you know, how much you care about your brand, and how much you're studying and researching what is working, what's not working, and if you have an innate aesthetic or not.
In an oversaturated market how do you carve your niche for a wedding show?
In an oversaturated market, it's very important to actually curate a show. When you say curate a show I mean looking at every designer, I have a team at Dhoom Dhaam that only researches designers. Either they approach them or the designers approach us. It goes through an editing process where I look at the links and lookbooks of every designer. We make very informed decisions about who we want, which are the other designers that are going to be in the show. We don't like to overlap too many that are similar. So I think truly curating a show, thinking about it, and making very educated, informed decisions is how you can stand apart in an oversaturated market.
The key bridal and groom trends for this year?
I think brides are becoming very individualistic and unique. Over time, brides are not just doing red for the main bridal ceremony you see a lot of pinks you see a lot of pastels a lot of gold maybe even a colour. As for grooms, I've seen that brides and grooms like to offset each other instead of matching each other so I think that is something that I've seen has been trending for a while.
If you were to dress a bride and groom for every wedding occasion, what would you pick and why?
The Bride
For the mehendi, I would pick Anamika Khanna, Ridhi Mehra, and Sukriti Akriti creation. For the wedding day, I'd choose a creation from Binadini – it could also be stunning for the reception. On the sangeet, I would pick maybe a really beautiful Falguni and Shane because they do glam really well. And then for the haldi, it would depend on how heavy or light you want to go. There are a lot of options at Dhoom Dhaam.
The Groom
For the groom, I would pick similar designers and definitely incorporate Kunal Rawal and Rahul Mishra as well.
When styling a Bollywood personality what do you keep in mind?
I have to keep in mind the nature of the event, their comfort, the time of the day, the time of the year, and then obviously discuss the brief with the actor depending on what the event is and what's trending as well on some level.
One fashion trend you love.
The trend I love among celebrities is I love athleisure actually. And I think everyone's doing athleisure these days a lot, active wear athleisure. And I think it's very cool and I think besides the gym you can kind of be in it all day long. And it's just convenient and looks so girly.
One tip you’d like to share as a stylist, the secret to look good on your D-day?
I think one tip that I'd share is that if you're a bride, is that less is more. Don't overdo your makeup. You have to still look like yourself. I think that is the tip number one that I would give to everyone. And stay unique to yourself. I think it's very important to kind of close your eyes, step back and really look at what you want to do because it's your D-Day at the end of the day. And for the groom, what I would say for your D-Day a classic man will always look better than a man who is wearing something that's constantly trending. So yeah, so I think a classic band gala and a suit and a tuxedo, classic silhouettes, classic designers are the ones that men should go with.