Festive Salwar Kameez & Designer Suits

The Suit You Reach for Most

Ask anyone who celebrates a full festival calendar which outfit they own the most of, and the answer is usually the salwar kameez. It's the one that works for the temple in the morning and the family lunch after. It's what you wear when you're hosting and won't sit down for four hours. It's the one you can fold into a suitcase for a weekend at your parents' and not worry about. This collection of 2,275 suits is built around that: festive enough for the occasion, practical enough to actually enjoy it.

Dressing for a Houseful of People

Most festive occasions in a UK family home involve cooking, greeting, carrying plates and being photographed without warning. A palazzo suit the largest category here handles all of that: wide, comfortable trousers and a top that doesn't need adjusting. A straight pant suit is the sharper, more contemporary version and works equally well for an office Diwali lunch or an Eid brunch. When the occasion calls for something more dressed-up, an anarkali suit gives you the flared, floor-skimming silhouette that reads properly traditional, and a sharara suit is the one with real presence flared trousers that move beautifully when there's dancing. Pakistani suits run longer and looser with heavier dupattas, and abaya-style and jacket-style suits offer more coverage, which is welcome for a British winter festival.

What to Wear for Which Occasion

Navratri and Durga Puja call for bright, saturated colours and something you can move in shararas and palazzo suits both work. Diwali suits gold zari and sequin work against green, maroon or teal. Eid tends towards softer pastels and elegant, covered silhouettes, where Pakistani and abaya styles come into their own. Karwa Chauth is traditionally red. For a family wedding you're attending rather than hosting, a mid-tone embroidered anarkali sits at the right level without competing with anyone. On fabric, art silk and satin hold structure and catch light. Faux georgette and chinon drape softly and are the more comfortable choice for a long day. Velvet and heavier silks are the warmest picks for a November or December event in the UK. Embroidery and sequins run through most of this collection, with zari, mirror work, beadwork and hand work on the more detailed pieces.

Made to Measure, or Ready to Go

Roughly 1,300 of these suits are made to measure, cut from your own measurements rather than a standard size chart the better route if standard Indian sizing has never quite fitted you. The other 950 or so are readymade and ship straight away, which is the section to look at if an occasion has crept up on you. Sizes run from XS to 6XL and from 30 to 60. Readymade suits dispatch in a few working days; made-to-measure takes longer, since each one is cut after you order. For a fixed date, allow two weeks for readymade and three to four for made to measure. Every suit is stitched in India and shipped directly to the UK, with Cbazaar covering import duties and taxes, so there's nothing extra to pay on delivery.