Manipuri Wedding Dress for Bride

Every Indian wedding is truly bound with the customs of its community. And the beauty lies in the way the bride and groom showcase their ethnicity by following the traditions and The Manipuri Wedding Rituals—just like the Meitei or Manipuri weddings. From the Manipuri Wedding dress for the Bride or groom to the decoration of the wedding locale, everything is traditional.

Regarding attire, the fusion of colors plays an important role in the wedding. After all, it’s the bride who would be catching the eyes of the audience. The urge to reach perfectness in the wedding attire is the foremost need of the bride on her wedding day. Here are some dresses you might find elegant yet traditional for your wedding day.

Potloi

For a fully-traditional Hindu Meitei wedding attire, Potloi precedes all. Potloi is a cylindrical skirt with strong fabric and is generally available in vibrant colours like pink, green, and yellow but red is mostly used. It is embedded with intricate designs, mostly decorated with glitter stones, studs, sequins and laces. The different geometrical patterns give a potloi a distinctive and stunning look.

Being fashioned in primitive days, Potloi still owes its popularity because of its applique work and elegance. Potloi is matched with the blouse and Innaphi and stitched on the belt of the bride worn over it. The whole bridal outfit is adorned with a few simple ornaments and a beautiful headband.

Innaphi

Innaphi is a cloth to wrap around the upper part of the body. It resembles the Manipuri shawl. It is not a completely Manipuri dress but is necessary to be added with clothing. Innaphi is generally available in soft pastel colours rather than vibrant colours. Weavers use semi-transparent fabric for innaphi. For making innaphi, the weavers need real craftsmanship to give it a royal look.

It is mostly woven in intricate thread designs. Generally, decoration of stones and studs is not seen in innaphi but it can be made on customization. Although, the thread embroidery and soft-coloured dyes do not involve vivid colours yet it maintains their elegance and standard look.

In this modern era, nobody wants to look outdated, especially on their wedding day. So, the modern version of innaphi is also available called Rani Phi in which silk threads and modern dyes are used. You can try more colours for a unique look.

Phanek

Phanek is a Manipuri dress just like a sarong or wrap-around skirt. But it’s not like regular sarongs, the fabrics used here are not semi-transparent as these are worn on the lower part of the body. Rather, the weavers prefer cotton, silk and other synthetic fabrics whichever are comfortable to wear.

Phaneks are generally hand woven and available in block colours or strips. Its bottom is decorated with heavy embroidery with intricate designs. Usually, floral patterns or bold designs are avoided while weaving them. One of the ancient and most famous phanek designs is lotus and bee bordering on phanek fabric. Women wearing phanek give them a simple yet stunning look.

Phaneks are equivalent to saree worn by North Indian women when combined with blouses. It would give you an ethnic look when adorned with pieces of jewellery on your ear, neck and head.

Lai Phi and Chin Phi

Lai Phi and Chin Phi are other variants of Phanek. Just like Phanek, Lai Phi and Chin Phi are available in various colors. Lai Phi is a breathtakingly beautiful white piece of cloth beautifully embroidered with a graceful and heavily designed yellow border. Chin Phi is a blouse with intricate designs. Chin Phi is combined with beautifully ornated Phanek and this combination is the best outfit for festivals, special events and weddings.

The fabric chosen for Lai Phi and Chi Phi varies significantly according to your preference but the silk one will never fail to give you a sophisticated and stylish look.

Mayek Naibi

If you are looking for something fancier than Phanek, then Mayek Naibi would be a hot pick. Mayek Naibi would be yet another lovely deviation for Phanek. The bottom part of the Mayek Naibi is heavily embellished with intricate designs of studs and stones and appealing embroidery work.

Mayek Naibi comes with more variants of colors than Phanek does. It gives you quite a different and classy look than other wedding regulars. It goes with festivals, carnivals, and weddings too. With the trendy look while maintaining its ethnicity, Mayek Naibi is gaining popularity.

Gown – Manipuri Wedding Dress for Bride

Manipuri Christians mostly prefer gowns for their wedding day. Gowns might be the only choice for Christians, but the plethora of styles, cuts, and silhouettes are available, which would pay every debt to make you look spectacular.

Generally, white colour leads the most but people nowadays would like to consider other options like ivory or off-white. But there is nothing more striking than pristine white. The white sheer and sequin-studded wedding dress would be quite alluring. The gown can be customized according to the need for sleeves, neck-cutting, etc. You can do many experiments with your wedding gown.

With the satin and flower work on your gown, people would swoon over you as you walk down the aisle. When combined with the Mantilla veil, the gown will give you a complete and captivating look. It is a circular-shaped veil similar to a chapel veil with heavy borders and embroidery.

So there are a bunch of bridal dresses a Manipuri bride can go for. Not just for the wedding day but also for the pre-wedding and post-wedding rituals. For the traditional dresses, Manipuri people have their charm; they exist from heavily embroidered to simpler ones. Even when fashioned according to the trend, the ethnic look is still maintained.

For the wedding day, Meitei people don’t prefer heavy jewellery. They go with simple jewellery like simple diamond earrings, pendants, nose rings and bangles. This simplicity of the Meitei culture is eye-catching, and the look is heavenly.