By Siddharth Gaur
Most grooms buy one sherwani in their life. You wear it for a few hours, it goes into every photograph, and then it hangs in a cupboard for thirty years. So it is worth getting four things right: the colour, the fabric, the fit and the date. Here is what we tell grooms who write to us from the USA, the UK and Canada.
1. Start with the bride's outfit
The two of you are in every photograph together, so look at her outfit first. Ask what she is wearing, and ask for a photo of the fabric. Your sherwani should sit next to her lehenga and hold its own, without copying it. Red and maroon lehengas go well with ivory, cream, gold and mint. Pastel lehengas (peach, blush, powder blue) go well with ivory and with soft colours in the same family, such as pista or peach. If she wears gold work, your embroidery can carry gold thread too; if her work is silver or white, keep yours the same.
2. Pick the fabric for the weather and the hall
A wedding in Texas in July and a wedding in Toronto in December call for different cloth.
- Velvet is the warmest and holds embroidery the best. It photographs richly. The choice for winter weddings and for evening events in air-conditioned halls.
- Brocade and jacquard have the pattern woven into the cloth. Lighter than velvet, still full in photographs. Our most ordered choice for daytime weddings.
- Art silk and tissue are the lightest. Tissue has a soft sheen and suits a long day in the heat.
Whatever the cloth, the embroidery is done by hand, and a fully worked sherwani is meant to be worn for a full day. What makes that possible is what is inside it, which brings us to the part most buyers never ask about.
3. What is inside a good sherwani
Look at two sherwanis in a photo and they can seem alike. Put them on and the difference is in the making.
- The lining. Ours is a satin-like polyester, cut and stitched as a separate inner garment and then joined to the outer cloth at the edges, so the heavy embroidered shell hangs from the shoulders rather than pulling at the seams. It is smooth on the skin, it slides on over a kurta without catching, and it keeps the back of the embroidery off your shirt.
- The margin for movement. A sherwani is cut close through the chest and shoulders, but a good tailor leaves ease under the arm and across the back. That margin is what lets you raise both arms for the varmala, hug two hundred relatives, sit through the ceremony and dance at the reception without the collar lifting or the chest pulling. A sherwani that fits "like a jacket" in the shop is often one that will not let you lift your arms by evening.
- The inside seams. Every seam carries the weight of the work on it, so the seam allowance is wider than on a suit and the seams are finished so no thread of the embroidery shows inside.
When you compare two sherwanis at similar prices, ask the seller these three questions. The answers tell you more than the photographs.
4. Fit: the two numbers that matter
- Chest: measure around the fullest part of your chest with a tape, over a shirt, not tight. Ready sizes run from 32 to 50 inches. If you are between sizes, take the larger one.
- Length: a classic sherwani ends at the knee or just above. A taller groom often looks better in a longer cut; a shorter groom in one that ends two or three inches above the knee.
If your shoulders and chest do not sit on the same line of a size chart, choose made to measure. The tailor cuts the cloth to your numbers and builds the ease in for your body. We send a short measuring video and a form, check every number with you on WhatsApp, and only then cut. The charts are on our size guide.
5. Count backwards from the wedding date
A made-to-order sherwani from Jaipur takes 8 to 10 days to make and 7 to 10 days to reach the USA, the UK or Canada by express courier. Allow another week in case you want a small change after it arrives. So order at least five weeks before the wedding; six to eight weeks is comfortable. If the wedding is closer, write the date in the box on the product page before you order, and we will tell you plainly whether we can make it in time. The whole order, step by step, is on How it works.
6. What comes with the sherwani
With ours you get the sherwani and the matching pants. The stole, the safa (turban), the mala and the juttis in the photographs are styling; they can be ordered separately. Decide early whether you want a safa, because it changes the colour balance of the whole outfit.
7. Three mistakes we see every season
- Ordering the same colour as the groomsmen. The groom should be the only one in that colour.
- Buying from a photo without asking what is inside. Lining, ease and seams decide how the day feels.
- Leaving the fitting to the last week. Try the full outfit on, with the shoes and the safa, at least ten days before the wedding.
If you are not sure which of our sherwanis suits your wedding, send us a photo of the bride's outfit on WhatsApp at +91 8426 000 888, and we will suggest two.
Siddharth Gaur is one of the founders behind Sei Berach.
Read next: Sherwani vs indo-western: which one for which event, Indian wedding wear for men: what the groom, his family and the guests wear, How to measure yourself for a made-to-measure sherwani, and the size guide.