Every festival brings the same scene into our shop: a man on the Thursday before Diwali, wanting a kurta by Saturday, in whatever size is left. He'll wear it twice. A festive kurta ordered in advance, cut to fit you in a cloth you actually chose, costs less per wearing than three rushed buys and looks better in every photograph in between. We take festive kurta orders all year at Sellers, not only in the fortnight when everyone else remembers. And if you do leave it late, our ready-made floor plus our own alteration tailors is usually the fastest honest answer in Adyar.
What to wear for which festival: Diwali to Onam
Diwali wants warmth and light: golden yellows, rich ambers, warm reds, deep oranges. A silk kurta in champagne or gold, a brocade bandi over it, an ivory churidar, and you're dressed for the evening, festive and traditional at once. Remember that Diwali here falls in October or November, and Chennai is still warm, so a light silk or a Chanderi will serve you better than velvet or anything heavy.
Eid leans strongly to white and off-white in Indian Muslim tradition: a white kurta, a white salwar or churidar, or the Pathani suit in white cotton. A well-cut white cotton or cotton-blend kurta, pressed properly and sized right, is all the occasion asks for. Onam, in Kerala, means the kasavu mundu with its gold border and a matching off-white kurta, a regional look with nothing to do with the North Indian festive palette. Pongal in Tamil homes follows the same logic: traditional dress, off-white, gold borders.
Why ordering early is really the whole trick
Timing is the problem, not budget. By the time most men start thinking about what to wear for Diwali, it's two weeks out, and two weeks is not enough for a proper commission anywhere that's doing it properly. Order six to eight weeks ahead and there's room for the first fitting and the second without either of us rushing.
Customers who order their first festive kurta in January or February, in the quiet stretch after the wedding and festival season, get the best pick of cloth and the most relaxed timeline. After that it's easier still: the pattern is already on file, so the second and third kurtas come together far quicker, and repeat orders can often be turned around inside a couple of weeks.