This week, content overflowed from the bowels of Instagram and paparazzi pages that lay dormant after the awards season with Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding festivities. And this weekend, Jamnagar became the hottest Indian destination—even stylish New Yorkers and svelte Londoners can now pinpoint it on a map. It is where Rihanna performed her first concert after many moons, and the guests included Mark Zuckerberg and droves of Mumbai’s top-tier glitterati. Of course, if the guest list could give competition to perhaps the Oscars, then the fashion had to be exceptional as well. While all eyes were on Merchant at this Ambani event, it was also Isha Ambani now the empress of a burgeoning fashion empire, who delivered impressive fashion wins.
With Anaita Shroff Adajania as the architect Isha’s megawatt wardrobe of custom pieces (ten that we can account for on this three-day extravaganza), this joining of stylist and personality, both of whom have prior Met Gala experience, was the perfect match to pull off a feat quite similar to the ultimate fashion night of the year. “Isha was the perfect person to style. She went with the flow and gave us creative control to do what we wanted. It was important to have all the teams work in sync—whether it was Tanvi [Chemburkar] doing the makeup, Yianni [Tsapatori] on the hair, or myself. Signe [Vilstrup], who shot everything—we all worked as one unit to make this dream come together. I also had Priyanka [Parkash] and Esha [Gupta] who helped me put every look together.” Here, Shroff Adajania spills the details behind the entire wardrobe
Look 1
Isha Ambani wears Miss Sohee
Isha Ambani commenced the celebration with a custom look from Miss Sohee. The Korean designer Sohee Park, who blew up on the fashion scene after being championed by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, and Naomi Campbell, created her own iteration of the lehenga choli. “I've always been a big fan of the brand and I love how they bring an almost otherworldly quirk to their couture,” comments Shroff Adajania. A blush-coloured ensemble featured peaco*cks extending into cherry blossoms on the bodice, which was matched with a cotton candy-toned sculpted cape that gently grazed the floor. To match this ultra-feminine look, the sparklers were chosen to complement rather than stand out. So was the make-up, taking on a soft glam approach. “I didn't want anything to take away from the beauty of the dress and I wanted to maintain the allure of the simplicity and the softness.”
Look 2
Isha Ambani wears Chanel
The second look Isha wears is a custom couture look from Chanel under Karl Lagerfeld. Shroff Adajania envisioned this to feel younger and cooler, and so she commences to “have fun with it,” by adding on a cluster of diamond bangles and a hath phool encrusted with diamonds. The midnight blue dress came with a sexy side peek-a-boo moment with a bodysuit layered under it and was paired with shoes that matched the embroidery on the outfit. “The obvious thing with Chanel is to match it with pearls, but I just felt that the clean-cut diamonds were the way to go with this look,” explains Shroff Adajania on choosing to maintain the sanctity of the runway-inspired silhouette.
Look 3
Isha Ambani wears Louis Vuitton
For the after party, aka the Rihanna concert, Shroff Adajania and Isha decided on a Louis Vuitton dress that channelled a retro 70s theme and curated the look with aesthetics to match, going big with the hair and the eye make-up. “I wanted the jewellery for this to be chunkier and more glamorous to go with the 70s vibe, so we used these amazing diamond and gold bangles and a massive solitaire enveloped in gold for the neck.”
Look 4
Isha Ambani wears a McQueen corset and Kanika Goyal cargo pants
A lunch was organised at the animal rescue centre which was themed “Jungle fever”, and the Safari-inspired outfit was partly repurposed from Isha’s own wardrobe. “I found this corset from McQueen in Isha’s wardrobe from her college days. The whole philosophy of shopping in your own wardrobe is so important to be able to find things that can be reworked into new outfits.” While the bejewelled corset may seem more fitted towards a dressier occasion, Shroff Adajania paired it with relaxed cargo pants designed by Kanika Goyal. Partial to creating tone-on-tone ensembles, she chose to add matching accents like green sunglasses. And while this may be the most pared-back outfit of the lot, it would be amiss without the bling factor, which comes from knuckle dusters made with shiny solitaires, a brooch in the shape of a monkey, and hair accessories in the shape of leaping antelopes.
Look 5
Isha Ambani wears a custom Manish Malhotra
For the night of the dance performances which was themed as “Mela Rouge,” riffing on the classic Nicole Kidman starrer Moulin Rouge, the ensemble took inspiration from the cabaret style that formed the hallmarks of the fashion outlined in the film. Since the activities, the dancing would take place under a clear sky full of stars, why not weave them all into the outfit as well? And that is what Shroff Adajania who worked with Manish Malhotra to pull off this look, strived to achieve. “We in fact had these huge red star crystals but we removed them because the lehenga became too heavy for Isha to move around. The blouse has a fixed drape to go with the lehenga to support the functionality aspect.” A set of bright emeralds was paired with the look to create a dramatic effect, along with a bold red lip.
Look 6
Isha Ambani wears custom Manish Malhotra
The second look for the night was a jazzy lehenga designed to be extremely lightweight in order to allow Isha to twirl and dance her heart out, so instead of going guns blazing on his trademark extravagant ensembles, Malhotra included a toned-down version that emphasises movement, adding candy-coloured sequins and crystals as well as unicorns embroidered into the bodice. Under the ensemble, Isha snuck in a pair of sparkly sneakers to help her continue her merriment late into the night.
Look 7
Isha Ambani wears custom JODI set, with the newly coined “Isha” blockprint
The next event? A lunch at an elephant orphanage, for which Shroff Adajania went back to the drawing board to curate a light and paired-back look. “We were very excited for this one because we worked with JODI to create an actual elephant block, and it’s called the ‘Isha’ blockprint. We sampled them in many colours and I had my heart set on an orange-y peach tone.” The open shacket and shorts set was paired with playful jewellery layered together from Hanut Singh, Tara Fine Jewellery and Tallin Jewels. A cherry red petite Hermès bag became her arm candy for the event.
Look 8
Isha Ambani wears custom Manish Malhotra
For the signing ceremony, the outfit had to match the meaningful moment, so Isha and her mother decided on matching silver ensembles. Shroff Adajania chose a handloom tissue lehenga crafted with pure zari custom-created by Manish Malhotra. While Isha’s ensemble was pure silver with tone-on-tone delicate embroidery work, her mother’s was an elegant Kanchipuram. The fabrics for the matching outfits were sourced from Nita Ambani's own brainchild supporting India’s textile legacy, Swadesh. “The whole idea was to keep it very simple, serene and beautiful yet timeless, paying full tribute to the incredible heritage of Indian craft and textiles.”
Look 9
Isha Ambani wears custom Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla
If there were new ways to figure how over-the-top can really top everything else that was already seen so far—from sourcing runway looks, to creating custom couture or rebranding a block print, it is probably this bejewelled lehenga and blouse, which quite literally has jewellery sewn into it. “This is a personal favourite of mine because we worked really hard to create a blouse encrusted with vintage jewellery,” says Shroff Adajania, who partly sourced the jewels embedded into the blouse from across Gujarat and Rajasthan, with additions from Isha's own family heirlooms. With the help of couturiers Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, jewellery was reconfigured onto an intricate blouse, giving 3D embellishments a whole new meaning. Like little bits and bobs patched onto denim lettermen jackets like we have seen before, this couture blouse takes the DIY approach to an elevated level. The Indian vintage jewellery—by which we mean the fit-for-kings kind, that features meenakari on the back and precious rubies on the front, is not to be confused with the ones you would find in thrift shops.
Look 10
Isha wears a custom Falguni Shane Peaco*ck lehenga, and a Nicole+ Felicia Couture cape
For her final look, Ambani arrived in a Falguni Shane Peaco*ck lehenga encrusted with diamond and pearl embellishments. But that is not all. The final ensemble also featured gigantic flowers sculpted onto a cape. One could liken it to an art installation on the back of the entrepreneur, rather than just a singular piece of intricate fabric. “I have always loved drama and I wanted to do something which reflected the fashion fantasies we dream of building, so for this larger-than-life floral cape we worked with Nicole and Felicia [Nicole+ Felicia Couture], where each row of flowers was hand-made and sewn together.” And teamed
Also read:
Isha Ambani served minimalistic glamour for Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's mehendi ceremony
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's pre-wedding festivities are underway, here's everything you need to know
At the pre-wedding events of Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani: Who wore what—from Alia Bhatt to Kiara Advani
