Up to date on: Aug 11, 2025 04:59 pm IST
As soon as a lazy-day staple, the lungi is now strutting via airports, seashores and brunch spots — in checks, stripes and pure swagger.
A conventional South Asian garment worn across the waist, fabricated from cotton and primarily worn by males — that’s how ChatGPT clinically defines a lungi. What it leaves out is the sentiment and cultural significance it holds for Indians. Not simply that, it additionally doesn’t inform us that this breezy cotton drape is now striding into the style highlight: assume daring candy-coloured checks, silk blends for festive nights and reimagined cuts that flirt with sarongs, skirts, and even streetwear wraps.
Lungi-verse reloaded.
The prime newest instance of this transformation is actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, who strolled via a Greek vacation in a checkered lungi from Delhi label Gul Sohrab, paired with a bikini prime and seashore hair. Instagram gasped, trend editors bookmarked and immediately, lungis have been again within the highlight. However she’s not alone. Worldwide influencers have been knotting them over swimsuits, pairing them with outsized blazers, and even turning them into tube clothes for soirées.
The Reinvention
For Gul Sohrab’s Saurabh Kumar, the attraction is in its adaptability: “Lungi for us is a chunk of cloth which has at all times been round us. Its relevance is extra prevalent now due to its familiarity to communities, races and its nostalgic worth. It’s once we step again and see these lovely weaves not simply as a drape however see it as a kind that makes it trendy and related within the current occasions.” Mumbai-based Ateev Anand of Re-Ceremonial provides a luxe edge, draping lungis in superb silks and metallic accents for festive wardrobes: “A draped garment is essentially the most thought-about piece of clothes in a contemporary wardrobe. It represents tradition, the craft of creating one and the artwork of carrying one are each useful investments of time that enrich the wearer.”
Styling suggestions
Road luxe: Males, put on it with a crisp white tee, sneakers and sun shades.
Boho brunch: Girls, pair a printed lungi with a crop prime and chunky sandals.
Night glamour: Layer a silk lungi with a pointy blazer and heels.
Seaside temper: Knot it as a sarong over your swimsuit.
