Gen Z Festive Fashion 2025: Bold colours, fusion wear, and gender-fluid style defines ‘Desi Coachella’ inspo

Discover how Gen Z is reshaping festive fashion in India with vibrant colours, fusion silhouettes, gender-fluid styling, and versatile accessories for 2025. (Image: Westside)

This festive season, Gen Z is rewriting the rulebook of Indian dressing and adding a youthful, unfiltered confidence to traditional celebrations. Whether it’s Diwali card parties, wedding ceremonies, or pre-festive brunches, their approach to fashion is vibrant, experimental, and refreshingly unbound by convention. They’ve moved beyond matching lehengas and predictable anarkalis to embrace fusion silhouettes, bold colour clashes, and a healthy dose of personality.

Creativity is key:

The Gen Z way is mixing heritage with high-fashion details that work for both festivals and off-duty. Highlighting the top clothing trends, Umashan Naidoo, Head Customer & Beauty at Trent Ltd., mentions, “The colour green is a major showstopper in India for 2025, symbolizing renewal and fun. Globally, festival palettes also favour bold golds, marigold, tea rose, and chocolate brown, mixed with metallics and earth tones. Silhouettes take a relaxed turn: easy-breezy kurtas paired with denim, cropped embroidered tops, colour-blocked tunics, and asymmetrical cuts define the new ethnic vibe. Layering is huge and you can think of pairing printed kurtas over biker shorts or boxy blazers thrown over classic Indian wear for style and comfort that flows from day to night.”

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Breaking gender norms:

This celebration of comfort and creativity perfectly sums up Gen Z’s aesthetic – it’s always less about “dressing up” and more about “owning up” to one’s individuality. Instead of heavy ensembles and restrictive drapes, they prefer versatile separates that can go from a mehendi to a music gig with just a few tweaks. Naidoo adds, “Co-ord sets, relaxed green kurtas, and embroidered anarkalis are wardrobe MVPs that carry from festive occasions to brunch or sundowners simply by swapping accessories. Gender-neutral staples, such as oversized shirts, utilitarian pants, and boxy blazers, also add adaptability. For ultimate versatility, opt for layering pieces: printed ethnic jackets, chic tunics, and collared dresses in on-trend palettes can be mixed for both card parties and laidback gatherings. Go for youth-led, retail-ready ensembles such as flowy kurtas, embroidered crops, and bold fusion wear, designed specifically for seamless styling transitions.”

There’s also a clear tilt towards gender-fluid fashion and reinterpreting Indian wear in playful ways. For instance, lehenga skirts are being paired with bomber jackets or cropped hoodies, while men are increasingly opting for draped kurtas or metallic sherwanis that challenge traditional boundaries.

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Mix and match:

For festive dressing, accessories are also getting the Gen Z upgrade this season. Belts cinching waists, chunky sneakers with fusion wear, strappy sandals for a high-low mix, and a dewy glow for makeup are all part of their statement-making toolkit. For accessories, Naidoo shares, “Hoops, bold belts, mini metallic purses, and oversized slogan sweatshirts provide instant impact to ethnic fits without sacrificing ease. Gender-fluid accessories, like chunky sneakers, caps, or quirky sunglasses, let festive looks flex between heritage and street-ready. For a quick upgrade, try layering signature dupattas or crochet shrugs (boho chic is big this year) over minimal outfits. Add a statement waist belt to a classic kurta or sling a metallic crossbody for a Coachella-meets-Desi party look.”