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The multiple faiths and traditions that knit together India’s cultural fabric translate into a buzzing festival nearly every month of the year, each with unique folklore, rituals, and customs.

The period between August and December is particularly busy – beginning with Janmashtami and Raksha Bandhan, going on to Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehra, and culminating in Diwali and Christmas. The festive months are also marked by an uptick in spending, be it on food, clothing, jewellery, or home décor, in the market’s diverse communities and demographics.

Joining the country’s festive fervour, ecommerce fashion major Myntra launched Festivals of India, an initiative that puts the spotlight on festival shopping.

Aparajita Sengupta, Senior Director of Creative and Curation at Myntra, tells YourStory that Myntra has numerous festivals it offers options for.

“Shopping for festivals in India is truly unmatched to regular shopping. It’s a special occasion – one when people want to buy new clothes and dress up their homes too. We wanted to ensure that there is diversity in the way we showcase all the festivals of India,” she says.

She says festivals invite shopping across the board. “It’s beyond just apparel; shopping extends to jewellery, beauty, home, footwear and accessories. The umbrella of ‘Festivals of India’ captures the essence of all these and more.”

The new initiative focuses on festive storytelling and aims to play an important role in building resonance for festive fashion with today’s consumers. the “Festivals have very critical nuances, and brands that can catch on to those nuances are the ones that are able to build a deeper association with the target audience,” Sengupta says.

Curating the series

India’s diversity when it comes to regions, communities, and festivals led Myntra to amplify consumer interactions across ages to understand what each festival means to people. 

“It was extremely intensive, and it took a long time for us to understand each and every festival we showcased,” Sengupta says. “Our goal has been to be authentic in every manner. This has required us to understand nuances, respect them, and make them live in our story very respectfully,” she says.

Diversity in fashion

Across India, fashion has now become an integral part of festivals and celebrations. Myntra focused on authenticity and relevance for festive shoppers. 

“A Kasavu saree for Onam, a mirror-work chaniya-choli for Navratri, and a red-bordered saree for Durga Puja – all are available in our store. But we also wanted to show how fashion for festivals is evolving,” Sengupta says.

Myntra’s detailed store experience features editorials, some of which highlight festive colour combinations and ethnic footwear. 

Myntra’s Festivals of India series aimed to cover an entire gamut of occasions, offering a range of styles to play with.

“For example, for day looks, women prefer quirky sarees and bright colours or light cotton sarees with crop tops; they often team spaghettis and sneakers with oxidised jewelry,” she says, adding that the initiative offers something for everyone, based on their personality and occasion.

Beyond Festivals of India, Myntra aims to continue celebrating India’s rich cultural heritage through fashion and design by collaborating with fresh minds.

“We want to make the shopping experience engaging and joyful for the consumers, ” Sengupta concludes. 

Shopping led by the confluence of art and fashion

Myntra aims to create differentiated shopping experiences tailored to each festival. “We realised that art is such an integral part of festive storytelling and festival shopping is incomplete without it. It needs to be led by emotion and nostalgia,” Sengupta says.

Myntra collaborated with illustrator duo Pavan Rajurkar and Shivam Thapliyal to capture the essence of each festival for the festive series.

When it came to the thought process and the brief, Myntra was clear that it wanted to be a differentiator in the way it showcased Festivals of India. “One key aspect was the visual treatment, which we envisaged as vibrant, joyful and modern. This coincided beautifully with the handwriting of Pavan and Shivam. The vision was a blast of colour with a very modern aesthetic in depiction of Indian cultural nuances,” Sengupta says.

She says that the approach to storytelling was led by understanding how India is evolving with festivals – how “each tradition is kept alive, but in a very modern way”.

“Festive culture is evolving and getting a boost of enthusiasm, courtesy social media. The end result is a series of illustrations, each of which is a microcosm of all the nostalgic elements of each festival, designed to put a smile on the viewer’s face,” she says.