Your wedding dress is probably the most thought out and more often than not, also the most expensive outfit of your life. But what happens to it after your wedding day? Almost always, it is carefully stored in a box and locked up in your cupboard. Well, it needn’t be anymore because there are a plethora of ways to recycle and reuse the wedding lehenga and we have compiled the top ways to do that in this article.
Your bridal lehenga is a magnificent memory for life altogether, but when will you ever use it again? Well, we’ve got you covered with some amazing ways on how to reuse your wedding lehenga!
Wearing a shirt with a lehenga immediately makes the outfit look both casual and trendy. A simple hack here is to get a white shirt as it goes well with every pattern, colour and fabric. To further jazz up the look, you can go for an unconventional shirt, maybe with some tassels and pleats.
During the wedding, if you were not able to experiment as much as you wanted to, then here is your chance. Pair your lehenga with a crop top, a bodice or tops with unconventional necklines. Any funky top can be used if the colour combination is good.
If you drape the shawl as a half sari, it gives the ensemble an entirely new look. You can either use the original shawl or use a different shawl from your wardrobe.
Learn More: How to Reuse Your Saree as a Lehenga Dupatta
Don’t limit yourself to reusing the lehenga; think about the blouse and shawl also. The shawl is something that can be reused with minimal effort. Also, it has the magical quality of transforming any simple Kurti or kameez into festive wear.
The blouse can be easily used along with a different sari or depending on the design can also be used as a crop top with palazzos or even trousers.
You can stitch a jacket style top or a monotone, simple blouse in silk or chanderi. You can even purchase a readymade one; there are a plethora of options available.
Know More: How to Look Taller & Slimmer in Wedding Lehenga
You can stitch the blouse along with the skirt and wear it as a floor-length Anarkali. This completely changes the look of the outfit.
You surely have heard about turning a sari into a lehenga, but the reverse is also quite feasible. This will work with skirts with enough flair. You can attach a plain cloth to the part which is not visible outside and then wear it as a sari. You can even reuse your original blouse again.
You can quickly turn a lehenga into a fashionable kurta/ Anarkali. All you need is a good tailor. You can even use the shawl for it if it is an embellished one but converting a shawl into a jacket/ shrug is more feasible. You can use the jacket/ shrug even with modern outfits to achieve an indo-western look.
During your wedding, you probably wanted to have as many layers as possible, but the same layers become a hindrance when you want to reuse them and need to be removed. Remove some of the extra Kalis, and can-can layers and just this will make the lehenga look different.
Just drape your shawl differently and see the whole outlook change. A few quick styles are to use it as a cape or wear it like a scarf. Go for a style radically opposite to what you did on your wedding.
Adding a sheer jacket or a cape adds a boho twist to the outfit. Alternatively, you can also append sheer material to the blouse so that it resembles a kurta.
You can mix and match multiple outfits from your wedding and associated functions. You can turn a monochrome outfit into a tri-colour one and vice versa. Also, you can experiment by pairing it with darker shades and even black, which you might not have been able to do during the first event.
This does sound harsh, but if by any chance the lehenga has suffered any damage, then you can cut up the borders or motifs and use it in a different costume. In this way, you will be able to hold on to a small part of the outfit.
If you have already tried turning a lehenga into an Anarkali and want something different, you can restitch it into a maxi dress, jumpsuit or even into a Kurti-dhoti set.
A lehenga can be used as an underskirt with a transparent sari and saves you the trouble of stitching a customised one just for this. So go ahead and take that lehenga out and put it to some good use. But whatever you do always remember to handle it with care.
This is a good opportunity to mix and match outfits where you can pair an existing kurta, preferably one with a mid slit with your lehenga. Else, you can add a jacket to give a modern vibe to the outfit.
So, these are the most creative ideas to reuse your wedding lehenga after the wedding. Choose the best one of them and try it.