Sonam Kapoor celebrates India’s textile heritage with patchwork craft and vintage embroidery

When we think of festive dressing, it’s easy to picture shimmer, zari and rhinestones, but Sonam Kapoor continues to make a case for another kind of silhouette. Styled by Rhea Kapoor for Diwali, she chose a custom look from Rimple and Harpreet’s new diffusion line, one that placed textile craft and intricate surface work front and centre.

The ensemble was built from the designers’ extensive textile archive, assembled through years of collaboration with craft clusters across India. Each panel in Kapoor’s long, voluminous kurta—cut with exaggerated balloon sleeves—was pieced together from vintage fragments, stitched and joined using age-worn embroidery techniques. The surface: a layered story with dense threadwork in rust, emerald and indigo, mirror insets, kutchi-style motifs and metallic detailing that glinted softly under light. Even though no two sections are the same, the final effect was seamlessly cohesive. A beige dupatta, embroidered with scattered motifs, tonal appliqué and brass bead tassels, offset the intensity of the kurta. The wide, soft trousers carried complementary embroidery in muted tones.

The accessories stayed true to the craft narrative with a matching patchwork crescent bag echoing the kurta’s panels, dark brown moccasins by The Row, ornate emerald and polki chandelier earrings and rings that for added shine.

With her hair parted at the centre and left loose, and makeup kept minimal, Sonam Kapoor let the workmanship speak. The look falls squarely in line with her ongoing approach to festive style—one that prioritises storytelling and technique over trend, and proves that Indian craft can have a subtle yet striking voice.

From Vogue’s fashion desk:

“Ease up the volumes by removing the dupatta, replace it with a gilet/vest—think camel suede—to add some definition to the look. replace the shoes with a pair brown leather Kolhapuri to string it all together and leave the hair away from the face,” says Vogue India fashion associate Manglien Gangte.