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Embroidered bridal shawl from Punjab, India, an heirloom South Asian wedding textile

How to Rewear South Asian Wedding Outfits After the Wedding

by Zorsay

The wedding is a day. The outfit is a textile with a long life, and most South Asian clothing traditions have always treated it that way. Saris get handed from mothers to daughters and daughters-in-law [26][27]. Old cloth gets stitched into quilts [1]. A bagh made for one bride is sometimes handed to the next generation [2]. The idea that a wedding outfit is a costume you wear once and then bury in a closet is the habit worth questioning, and it is the one that costs the most.

This page is about the rest of the outfit's life: where each garment can go next, what each tradition already does with its wedding clothes, how to restyle without touching a needle, when to recut, and how to store what you keep. It is for brides, grooms, family, and guests, and it treats women, men, and genderfluid and nonbinary people the same way.

Which wedding clothes rewear, and which do not?

Be honest about the garment before you plan anything. Some pieces are built to come back. Others are built for one very specific walk down one very specific aisle.

Garment Rewear potential Why
Sari (silk, brocade, cotton) Very high A sari is unstitched cloth of roughly 4.5 to 9 yards and can be draped in more than 80 recorded ways [5]. Nothing about it is cut to one body or one occasion.
Dupatta Very high It is the most portable part of a lehenga or salwar kameez set, and it can be worn as a shawl, a veil, or over a sari [10].
Blouse or choli High Fitted, so it needs the right body, but a good one outlives the skirt it came with.
Lehenga skirt Medium to high Wide, heavy skirts are sometimes worn for festivals as well as weddings [9]. Weight and volume decide what it can do after.
Kurta and pajama, kurta and churidar Very high Worn by men and women, for everyday and for formal occasions [13].
Bandi, Nehru vest, waistcoat Very high Goes over any plain kurta.
Sherwani, achkan, bandhgala Medium Strongly associated with weddings, but also worn at Eid and other formal occasions [12]. The jacket can often travel without the rest of the set.
Dhoti, veshti, mundu High Unstitched cloth, worn at weddings and ceremonies and regionally in daily life [14].
Heavy bridal embroidery, full zardozi Low as worn, high as material Rewear it at a reception or sangeet, or take it apart.
Heirloom textiles (phulkari, kasavu, Banarasi) Highest Made to be kept, passed on, and worn again [2][3][7].

The pattern is simple. Unstitched and loosely fitted pieces travel. Fitted, heavily embellished, single-purpose pieces need a plan.

What do different traditions already do with wedding clothes?

Every tradition below has a version of rewearing, either through a festival that calls for your best clothes, a garment that is also everyday dress, or a textile that is expected to be handed on. The table covers the cases with a published source. Where a community is missing, the gap is in the sources, not in the tradition.

Tradition The garment that carries on Where it comes back Notes
North Indian Hindu (Punjabi, Delhi, UP) Wedding sari or lehenga Karwa Chauth, the fast kept by married women, whose evening ceremony calls for fine clothes and jewelry; in some regions that means the "complete finery" of wedding dresses [8] Saris and lehengas for the day are often red, gold, pink, yellow, or orange [8]. A source cited in that article describes women wearing their wedding clothes on the day [8].
Sikh (Punjabi) Phulkari and bagh, plus the dupatta or chunni Baghs are made for ceremonial occasions such as weddings and were sometimes handed from one generation to the next as heirlooms [2]; Sikh women have traditionally worn the dupatta or chunni [10] Accounts differ on whether grandmothers began a bagh at a granddaughter's birth or a grandson's, for his future bride [2].
Gujarati Chaniya choli (women), kediyu (men) Navratri and garba, where the chaniya choli and kediyu are the traditional dress [11] A wedding lehenga is not a garba skirt by default; see the garment section.
Bengali Hindu Benarasi or Banarasi sari One Bengali fashion writer says a Bengali bride typically wears a Benarasi at her wedding and calls Durga Puja the time to take it out again [24]; new clothes are the traditional Durga Puja gift [21]; red and white is a favored Pohela Boishakh combination [20] The Durga Puja claim rests on that single styling feature, so treat it as a custom some families keep rather than a rule.
Bangladeshi and Bengali Muslim Sherwani for men; saris and kurtas Bangladeshi men wear the sherwani to weddings, Eid, and other formal occasions [12]; Pohela Boishakh brings red and white saris for women and red or white kurtas for men [20] See also the old-cloth tradition of kantha below.
Malayali (Kerala) Kasavu sari and mundu Worn for festivals and weddings by women and men [3]; the Kerala sari is especially worn on the main day of Onam [4]; a new kasavu cloth is customarily placed beside the Vishu lamp [3] Onam also has a custom of buying new clothes [4], so a wedding kasavu is welcome again but not obliged.
Pakistani and Indian Muslim Sherwani, shalwar kameez, bridal separates The sherwani is a wedding outfit and a formal one: in Pakistan the formal black sherwani goes over shalwar kameez on state occasions and national holidays [12]. Eid preparations in several countries include new clothes [22]. Pakistani brides often reuse wedding outfits by taking them apart and pairing the pieces, or keeping one statement piece [23]. Chand Raat, the night the moon is sighted, is celebrated as a festive night in Bangladesh [22].
Nepali Daura-suruwal, dhaka topi The dhaka topi is traditionally worn at formal ceremonies, weddings, and major festivals such as Dashain and Tihar [16]; the daura-suruwal is described as the national outfit of Nepali men [15]
Bhutanese Gho (men), kira (women) National dress mandated in public settings since 1989; patterned silk kira are worn on festive occasions [17][18] Reads as a garment you own for life, not for one event. That is an inference from how the sources describe everyday use.
Sinhalese Osariya Worn for different occasions, such as work or weddings, with the form changing by occasion [19] The source article is thin and flagged for more citations.
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada Silk dhoti (men); half saree or langa voni A yellow silk dhoti, the pitambar, is worn on auspicious occasions [14]; the half saree is typically worn in South India [9] Regional names for the dhoti vary widely: vaetti, pancha, panche, among others [14].
Parsi Gara sari The gara traces to Chinese silk that Parsi traders brought home in the nineteenth century [30] The source does not describe later wear. For Parsi guest colors, see wedding color rules.

A few of these deserve a sentence beyond the table.

Karwa Chauth is the closest thing to an official sequel. The Karwa Chauth evening is a dress-up event. The Wikipedia article describes participants in fine clothing, jewelry, and mehndi, and notes that in some regions women wear the full finery of their wedding clothes [8]. Stylists have picked up on this and encourage new brides to drape a mother's or mother-in-law's sari as a dupatta over a lehenga, or to wear a family sari in its own right [26]. That is the right frame: it is an occasion that expects a wedding-level outfit and does not expect it to be new.

The Sikh textile tradition is a lesson in keeping. A phulkari is a lightly embroidered shawl and a bagh is almost fully covered in embroidery. Phulkaris were part of a bride's trousseau, with counts that ranged from 11 to 101 baghs and phulkaris depending on the family's standing [2]. Whichever version of the grandmother story you believe, the point is the same: these pieces were made slowly, to be worn at weddings and then kept. Cutting a bagh into a jacket would undo generations of work. Wear it, drape it, but do not cut it.

Kerala's kasavu is worn constantly. It is not a once-in-a-lifetime garment. The white or off-white cloth with a gold or silver border is called a Kerala saree or Kerala mundu and is worn by both women and men [3]. If you own one from your wedding, Onam and Vishu are its natural sequels. Owning one is not a guest license, because white and gold can read as bridal at someone else's wedding; see wedding color rules for where it fits.

Bengal turns old cloth into new cloth. In Bengal, women layer old saris and other cloth with running stitch to make kantha, a light blanket, throw, or bedspread, especially for children; in Odisha, old saris are stacked and stitched into a thin cushion-like piece [1]. If a sari is past wearing, this is the tradition to borrow.

What can you do with a lehenga after the wedding?

The lehenga is the garment people ask about most and have the most trouble with, because a bridal lehenga is the heaviest, widest, and most embellished thing in the closet. Its names show how widely it travels: lehenga, ghagra, chaniyo, langa, paavada, and more across the subcontinent [9]. Gota patti embroidery is common on lehengas for festivals as well as weddings, so the line between wedding and festival clothes was never sharp [9].

There are four honest routes.

Break the set up. A bridal set is a blouse, a skirt, and a dupatta, and each piece can work alone. Styling guides agree that this is the easiest way to rewear: wear the blouse with a plain silk, chiffon, or georgette sari, or with a solid skirt in raw silk or brocade; wear the skirt with a crisp shirt or a simple top; use the dupatta as a stole, a sari pallu, or a winter shawl [25]. The same logic is reported from Pakistan, where a wedding-fashion piece describes brides taking outfits apart and pairing the pieces with other garments, or keeping one standout piece to build a new look [23].

Lower the formality. The same skirt reads differently with a simple blouse, a different dupatta, and no necklace. Heavy bridal jewelry is the strongest "bride" signal, so putting it away moves the outfit toward guest. Styling guides also suggest a jacket, a blazer, or a sheer cape [25]. For the sangeet or a cousin's wedding, this is the whole trick.

Match the next event. A lehenga that moved well at your own sangeet will move well at someone else's. A very structured one, with a layered can-can, will not spin at garba. Style guides recommend swapping into lighter pairings for festivals like Diwali and Eid, and into lightweight palazzos or a cotton crop top for heat [25]. If the next event is a dance, check the flare, the weight, and whether the blouse stays put.

Recut it. See the alterations section below.

What about saris, blouses, and dupattas?

The sari. It is the most forgiving wedding garment there is. Because it is unstitched cloth, the same sari can be draped in the Nivi style, a Bengali or Odia box-pleat, a Maharashtrian nine-yard Nauvari, or an Assamese mekhela wrap, among many others [5]. A few drapes need a particular length, such as the nine-yard Madisar, so check your length before assuming it will do any drape you like [5]. A wedding Banarasi, a brocade known for gold and silver zari that has been woven in Banaras since the Mughal period and is mostly worn at weddings and other important occasions [7], is worth keeping for every important occasion afterward. Zari itself comes either as true silver-and-gold metal thread or as an imitation of silver-plated copper [6]. If your border is old and might be the real thing, handle it as an heirloom, because you cannot easily replace it.

Banarasi bandhani wedding saree with gold zari border, laid flat
A Banarasi-work bandhani wedding saree with a woven gold border. Photo: Kutch.artesania / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Wear it again at a different event with a different blouse. That alone changes it. If a stylist suggests a plain silk sari with your bridal blouse [25], the reverse is equally true: a plain blouse changes the bridal sari.

Mother's sari, your wedding. Family saris are a long-standing source of bridal wardrobes. Stylists say that wearing the family's most sentimental saris on special occasions adds something no new purchase can [27], and they encourage new brides to use a mother's sari as a dupatta [26]. If the sari is fragile, drape it, do not pleat it tight, and keep the heaviest zari away from friction.

The blouse. The blouse is the piece that most often gets stuck, because it is fitted. If it still fits, it pairs with anything, including a plain silk sari or a solid skirt [25]. If it does not, a tailor can usually let out seams in the garments that have seam allowance. Check before the wedding whether the tailor left any.

The dupatta. It is a long, shawl-like scarf, part of the lehenga and shalwar kameez outfits, which women traditionally drape over a shoulder, wear across the body, or use as a head covering or a veil [10]. Regional dupattas carry their own textiles: Punjab's phulkari embroidery, tie-dyed bandhani from Gujarat and Rajasthan, and Banarasi silk with zari [10]. It is also the easiest piece to reuse. Drape it over a plain kurta, pin it to a shirt, use it over a sari, or wear it as a winter shawl [25]. A tailor can also turn a dupatta into a cape or a kurta [25].

Blue bandhani tie-dye dupatta, a piece that rewears beyond the wedding
A blue bandhani tie-dye dupatta. Photo: RubyGoes / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What can men do with a sherwani, kurta, or bandhgala?

The jacket often carries further than the lehenga does.

The sherwani. It is described as famous today as a wedding outfit, and it is worn on other formal occasions too: Eid and weddings in Bangladesh, and state occasions and national holidays in Pakistan, where the formal version is black, over shalwar kameez [12]. The achkan is a closely related coat, worn on formal winter occasions in several northern regions and Hyderabad [12]; groom outfit guide sorts out how the coats differ. Rewear options follow from that:

  • Wear the jacket on its own over a plain kurta and trousers to a formal event. The coat is the formal part.
  • Wear it at Eid, a cousin's wedding, a reception, or a formal dinner, with a plain kurta underneath instead of the groom's set.
  • Skip the stole, the kalgi, and the sehra, which are wedding accessories. Wearing them again turns the outfit back into your wedding.
  • At someone else's wedding, a full sherwani competes with the groom. Wear the jacket with a plain kurta instead.

The kurta. It is the most rewearable wedding garment in the closet. A kurta is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn by men and women, for daily wear and for formal occasions; formal versions may have mandarin collars and decorative metal buttons [13]. Urban young people in India and the diaspora wear kurtas with jeans, and some women wear kurtas as blouses over jeans [13]. A wedding kurta in a quiet color is a good Friday shirt. In a loud color, it is a festival shirt.

Dhoti, veshti, mundu. The dhoti is an unstitched ankle-length cloth, usually around four yards, and a pitambar, a yellow silk dhoti, is worn on auspicious occasions [14]. Silk veshtis and kasavu mundus are made to be worn at later festivals; see the table above.

Nepali and Bhutanese men. For a Nepali groom, the dhaka topi is a piece of national dress and is worn at formal ceremonies, weddings, and major festivals like Dashain and Tihar, and is often given as a gift on those occasions [16]. For a Bhutanese man, the gho is the national dress for men, worn with a kabney scarf on festive occasions [17]. Both are worn after the wedding by design.

How do you restyle a wedding outfit without altering it?

You can change the formality of an outfit in ten minutes, with nothing but what is already in the closet.

  1. Swap the dupatta. A contrasting or sheer dupatta changes the whole read [25].
  2. Swap the top. A plain silk or cotton top under a heavy skirt, or a plain skirt under a heavy blouse.
  3. Take off the jewelry. Heavy bridal jewelry says "bride." Earrings alone say "guest."
  4. Change the drape. Pin the dupatta differently, or drape the sari another way.
  5. Add a layer. A jacket, a blazer, a velvet coat, or a long ethnic jacket [25].
  6. Change the shoes. A bridal heel becomes a flat or a jutti.
  7. Wear it to the right event. A reception skirt belongs at a reception. A sangeet skirt belongs at a sangeet. A mehndi kurta belongs at a mehndi. See sangeet, mehndi, and reception outfit for how each event treats embellishment.

When should you recut it, and what can be done?

Recutting is where the largest changes happen, and the one place where you can ruin something that cannot be replaced. A reputable tailor can do the following, according to a styling guide that covers it [25]:

  • Join the blouse and skirt at the waist to make an anarkali-style gown, adding panels for flow.
  • Change the neckline or the sleeves.
  • Hem the skirt for flats or lower heels.
  • Remove the can-can or a few heavy embellishments to lighten the skirt.
  • Dye fabrics that take dye, such as georgette or chiffon, for instance red to maroon or navy.
  • Turn a dupatta into a cape or a kurta.

Another stylist's list goes further for heirloom saris: if only the border is intact, make a sherwani; with less fabric, make a jhola or a batwa, mojris, or cushion covers, or frame the sari on a wall [27]. The ideas are fine. The caution is that old cloth only gets one recut.

Three rules for recutting:

  1. Get a quote first. Costs depend on complexity [25].
  2. Do not cut heirloom textiles. A phulkari, a bagh, a kasavu, or a Banarasi with real zari is worth more intact than as a jacket. Drape it, pin it, wear it on the shoulder. If you want a new garment from the same family, cut the lesser piece.
  3. Leave seam allowance. Ask your tailor to leave extra fabric inside the seams of anything you plan to wear again. It costs nothing at the wedding and saves you at the next fitting.

And when a sari is truly worn out, remember the Bengali answer: kantha. Old saris, layered and hand-stitched, become blankets and cushions [1].

How do you rewear outfits inside the wedding weekend?

Not every rewear happens after. Plenty of it happens during. A wedding weekend runs three to ten events, and few families buy a new outfit for each. The usual moves are:

  • A dupatta or blouse that works at two events.
  • A groom's kurta for the haldi or pithi that becomes the mehndi shirt.
  • A reception skirt that doubles as the sangeet skirt with a different top.
  • A sari that is pleated differently at the ceremony and the reception.

For the full counting exercise and a planning table, see how many outfits. For which colors to avoid at which events, see wedding color rules. For families and elders, whose closets are often the richest source of rewearable wedding clothes, see family wedding outfits. Turmeric events, haldi and the community-specific ceremonies like the Gujarati pithi, stain. Dress for them in clothes you are willing to sacrifice, not in anything you plan to keep. See haldi.

Can you wear the same outfit to another wedding?

Yes, with two caveats.

Different crowd, different photos. If you are rewearing at a wedding where the same guests will see you in the same outfit, change something large: the dupatta, the blouse, the jacket, the color story. If the crowds do not overlap, wear it as is.

Follow the host's rules. The colors and silhouettes that were right for your own wedding may not fit someone else's. Check wedding color rules before you wear a bridal red, a white, or a color reserved for the couple. The outfit you wore as a bride is also the outfit the next bride's family will recognize as bridal, so tone it down.

A gentle note on etiquette: if you are a guest and the outfit is from your own wedding, no one will mind. If it was a gift from someone else's family, ask first.

What about men, women, and genderfluid and nonbinary people?

A wedding outfit's second life is a pure styling question, and the options do not care who is wearing them.

  • A sari is a length of cloth, and its many drapes are a toolkit, not a rulebook [5].
  • A kurta is worn by men and women alike [13].
  • The sources cited here describe the dupatta as a women's garment [10], but nothing in its construction stops anyone from wearing it as a stole.
  • A sherwani jacket worn over a kurta is a formal coat. It carries on no matter who is inside it.
  • A gho or kira is an assigned national garment in Bhutan, one per gender [17][18]; outside Bhutan, the same cloth can be styled however you like.

Practical tip for anyone rewearing across gendered lines: change the proportions, not the garments. Shorten or lengthen a kurta; switch a tight blouse for a loose one; wear a wide-leg pant with a lehenga blouse; add or remove a dupatta. The pieces are modular.

How do you store wedding clothes you want to keep?

Embellished, silk, and zari-heavy clothing is the most easily damaged part of any wardrobe, and heavy clothes are the ones people store badly.

Hang only what can take it. A conservation note from the Canadian Conservation Institute says to store fragile or heavily decorated costumes flat, along with any garment whose shoulder seams are already weak, and to avoid hanging knits and bias-cut pieces [28]. A heavy lehenga on a thin hanger will stretch the shoulder and the waist. Fold it flat or hang the skirt from the waist, as the same note describes [28].

Pad the hanger. The same note says to use a wide, padded hanger rather than a lightweight wire one, so the weight spreads over the shoulders [28]. A pre-washed cotton cover goes over the top (see below).

Do not bend metal thread. A museum conservator's note says metal threads are pliable but can break over time if bent when the textile is folded, so lay such textiles flat when possible [29]. If you must fold a zari sari, change the fold lines every so often.

Remove pins and check for pests before storing. The CCI note says to examine each textile for insects or mould before putting it away, to remove pins and staples because they stress the fabric and rust, and to keep hung garments about 10 centimeters apart [28]. Cover any corroded metal fasteners with acid-free tissue or clean white cotton [28].

Cover it. The note recommends a cover of pre-washed cotton sheeting to protect from dust, light, and contact with other garments [28].

Bridal clothing deserves the same care you would give an heirloom, because it may become one.

What this page leaves out

The sources behind this page do not document how Jain, Christian, Indo-Caribbean, East African, Marathi, or Rajasthani families keep, hand on, or rewear wedding clothes, or what Parsi families do with a gara after the wedding. If your family has a custom, it outranks this page. Several rows in the table, including the Sinhalese and South Indian ones, rest on a single short source.

FAQ

Is it bad luck to rewear a bridal outfit? Practice varies by family and community. Karwa Chauth is a documented case where wedding finery returns on purpose [8]. If you are unsure, ask an elder.

Can I wear my wedding lehenga to garba? Maybe. The traditional garba dress is the chaniya choli for women and the kediyu for men [11]. A bridal lehenga is usually heavier and more structured than a garba skirt, so check the flare and the weight. If it will not spin, wear the blouse or dupatta with something lighter.

What do I do with a sari that is too old to wear? Make something with it. Bengal's kantha tradition layers old saris into blankets and throws [1]. A stylist's list adds cushion covers, bags, and shoes [27]. If the border is real zari, save it before you do anything else with the cloth.

Can I cut up a family sari? You can, but you cannot uncut it. If you want to alter it, ask whether the family is attached to it. If it is the family's best sari, drape it as a dupatta, which preserves it [26].

Can I wear a wedding sherwani to a non-wedding event? Yes. It is a formal coat, worn at Eid, state occasions, and formal events [12]. Leave the wedding accessories behind.

Can I wear a kurta from a wedding every day? If it is plain, yes. The kurta is worn every day and formally, by both men and women, and with jeans [13]. A heavily embroidered wedding kurta belongs on a festive day.

How should I store a heavy lehenga? Flat, or hung from the waist on a padded hanger, in a cotton cover, with pins removed and a pest check first [28].

Can I dye a wedding lehenga? A styling guide says fabrics like georgette and chiffon take dye, for example red to maroon or navy. Get a quote and test a hidden corner first [25].

This page is part of the the Shaadi Dressing Guide, a dressing guide for South Asian weddings in the US, by role and by event. If you want the next page in your inbox when it is published, join the guide's email list from the index.

Sources

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  2. Phulkari. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phulkari (accessed 2026-10-09)
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  4. Onam. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam (accessed 2026-10-09)
  5. Sari. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari (accessed 2026-10-09)
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  14. Dhoti. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhoti (accessed 2026-10-09)
  15. Daura-Suruwal. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daura-Suruwal (accessed 2026-10-09)
  16. Dhaka topi. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka_topi (accessed 2026-10-09)
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  18. Driglam Namzha. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driglam_Namzha (accessed 2026-10-09)
  19. Osariya. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osariya (accessed 2026-10-09)
  20. Pohela Boishakh. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohela_Boishakh (accessed 2026-10-09)
  21. Durga Puja. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja (accessed 2026-10-09)
  22. Eid al-Fitr. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Fitr (accessed 2026-10-09)
  23. Sabah Bano Malik. Minimalism to be a major trend this wedding season. Arab News, 2 November 2018. https://www.arabnews.com/lifestyle/minimalism-to-be-a-major-trend-this-wedding-season-1398011 (accessed 2026-10-09)
  24. Neeti Banga. This Durga Puja be the Goddess you are! Different Truths, 7 October 2016. https://www.differenttruths.com/this-durga-puja-be-the-goddess-you-are/ (accessed 2026-10-09)
  25. How to restyle your wedding lehenga. Aza Fashions, style guidance. https://www.azafashions.com/blog/how-to-restyle-your-wedding-lehenga/ (accessed 2026-10-09)
  26. Karwa Chauth special: brides who wore their mother's saree for their big day. BollywoodShaadis, 22 October 2021. https://www.bollywoodshaadis.com/articles/karwa-chauth-outfit-ideas-28004 (accessed 2026-10-09)
  27. 5 ways to reuse heirloom sarees. WeddingSutra (style guidance). https://weddingsutra.com/bride/bridal-fashion/5-ways-to-reuse-heirloom-sarees/ (accessed 2026-10-09)
  28. Hanging storage for costumes, CCI Notes 13/5. Canadian Conservation Institute. https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/conservation-preservation-publications/canadian-conservation-institute-notes/hanging-storage-costumes.html (accessed 2026-10-09)
  29. John Holton. Collections care: metal. Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois, 15 August 2017. https://spurlock.illinois.edu/blog/p/collections-care-metal/226 (accessed 2026-10-09)
  30. Nishtha Kawrani. The iconic Parsi saree wasn't just designed, it was born out of love. The Better India, 20 February 2026. https://thebetterindia.com/culture/parsi-gara-saree-history-origin-motifs-bridal-legacy-11135624 (accessed 2026-10-09)

Featured image: Embroidered bridal shawl, Punjab, India, early 20th century, Honolulu Museum of Art. Photo: Hiart / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.