Hemant Ambwani is a city based women’s wear designer. We met him during a dull and hot yellowish afternoon but after looking at his colorful spring/summer collection, our spirits definitely lifted up.

In this blog, Hemant will guide Jaipur women on few saree trends that are in this hot summer season along with suggesting few dressing tips to brides. Not only this, he will openly express his hate for few runway trends. Read and see if you agree with him!

1. Deal with summers.

Rajasthan is hot, really hot. 1^st thing – stick to cottons and linens. If you want something fancy, choose chanderi or maheshwari weaves. Say bye-bye to heavy synthetic materials.

2. Colors to wear.

Please stick to neutrals. The sun is enough to temporarily blind us, nobody needs to see your neons during daytime. Go for subtle colors like pastels, whites, etc. And if you’re a fan of neon, wear them as pop accessories.

3. Dear brides.

Don’t get married in summer. If you’re getting married in summer, don’t choose Rajasthan as the wedding destination. And if you are getting married during summer in Rajasthan, don’t complain about the sweat that ruins your makeup. Let me ease your pain by suggesting a dressing trick – wear less embroidered stuff. The bling during daytime looks gaudy, so try wearing less sequin and stone work. If you are wearing bright colors, make sure they have less shine.

4. Dear bridesmaids and mother of the bride.

Stick to chiffons, if it’s a day wedding. Nothing is better than the elegance of a chiffon. Remember Maharani Gayatri Devi?

5. My idea of wedding couture in summers.

I suggest brocade with minimal embroidery. If you want to go for something really colorful, keep the dupatta white/off-white to balance the whole look.

6. Don’t ditch red. You’re a bride.

You have to wear red on the D-day. Without this color, I don’t think any bride is complete. Experiment with this color by getting your lehenga stitched in a nature-friendly fabric. I have done a brocade lehenga for a Jaipur bride recently.

7. Gota Patti.

You live in Jaipur and wearing gota-patti is a fashion-must. World knows us by this artwork.

8. Don’ts for a wedding.

Don’t just wear a trend for the heck of it. Analyze your body type, and then choose clothes that compliment you. For example, crop tops are a hit this season but they don’t look good on every body type.

9. Palazzos? Argh!

Why do we have to mix western culture in our Indian ethnic wear, knowing that most of us don’t know how to carry the combination? I have seen some women looking not so good in a palazzo & kurti. Do you know before the palazzo pants existed, we had ghararas and shararas? If you’re donning ethnic wear, stick to the ethnic wear. Okay?

10. Still, don’t stop experimenting.

Mix Banarasi fabric with gota-patti. Even our very own block prints go well with gota work.

Try out new Temple-artwork in sarees.

Follow Hemant’s collection here.

Photographer: Shashank K Tyagi