By Divyanshu Wadhwa
After "which colour", this is the question we are asked most: sherwani or indo-western? The honest answer is that they are not rivals. They are two garments for two different hours of the same wedding, and most of the men who write to us from the USA, the UK and Canada end up with one of each. Here is how we help them decide.
What each one is
A sherwani is the long coat: closed to the neck, falling to the knee, worn over straight pants and usually a kurta. It is the most worked garment a man will ever own, embroidered by hand from collar to hem and lined as a separate inner garment so that all that weight hangs from the shoulders and not from the seams. It is formal in the way a morning coat is formal. It belongs to the ceremony.
An indo-western is the shorter piece: a jacket or a set that ends at the hip, with an Indian collar and Indian handwork but a Western cut, closer through the body. The bandhgala, also called a jodhpuri, is the best-known of them: a closed-collar jacket with pants, sharp from any distance. It is lighter, it moves easily, and it comes out of the cupboard again and again.
Event by event
- The wedding ceremony. The groom wears the sherwani. There is nothing to decide here. The walk in, the varmala, the pheras, the first photographs with the bride: this is the hour the long line of a sherwani was made for. The groom's father and brother wear a sherwani in a calmer colour, or a bandhgala.
- The reception. This is the indo-western's evening. If the reception is a separate night, the groom changes into a bandhgala or an embroidered jacket with pants, and so does his family: you sit, you eat, you dance, and the jacket stays sharp. If the ceremony and the reception run into one evening, the groom keeps the sherwani on and the rest of the family dresses for the reception from the start.
- The sangeet. An indo-western in a strong colour, or an embroidered kurta set. Nobody wears a sherwani to the sangeet; it is the dancing night, and a jacket is cut for it.
- Mehndi and haldi. Neither. A kurta set in a light colour, and for haldi something you do not mind turmeric on.
- As a guest. A bandhgala or an indo-western jacket for the ceremony and the reception both. A sherwani in a darker colour with less work is also right for the ceremony, and common; a guest simply does not wear the groom's ivory. More on who wears what in Indian wedding wear for men.
The weather and the hall
A sherwani is a lined, fully worked coat, and in a December wedding in Toronto or a January one in London that is exactly what you want. For a July lawn ceremony in Texas or a beach wedding in Mexico, the sherwani stays; the cloth changes. Tissue and art silk weigh a fraction of velvet and carry the same embroidery, and the inner lining keeps the back of the work off your skin. Then an indo-western for the evening, when the air cools and the dancing starts.
Wearing it again
The indo-western wins this one, and it should. A good bandhgala goes to the next three weddings, to Diwali, to a cousin's reception, to a dinner where the invitation says formal. A sherwani is worn a handful of times in a life, and that is the point of it: it is the garment of one day, made so that the day looks the way it should. The men who ask us "which will I use more" are asking the right question of the wrong garment. Buy the sherwani for the ceremony and the indo-western for everything after it.
Fit: what to watch in each
- Sherwani. The shoulders and the length decide it. A sherwani is cut close through the chest with ease left under the arm and across the back, so you can raise both arms for the varmala and hug the whole hall without the collar lifting. Length ends at the knee or just above; taller grooms carry a longer cut.
- Indo-western. Closer through the body, so the chest number and the jacket length matter most. A bandhgala should close at the collar without pulling and end just below the hip. If you are between sizes, go up; a tailor can take in, rarely let out.
Both come in chest sizes 32 to 50 or made to your measure. The size guide shows how to take the numbers; our first article covers the lining, the ease and the seams of a good sherwani in detail.
Making the two agree
The sherwani and the indo-western do not have to match. They have to agree. The pairings we see work best: an ivory or beige sherwani for the ceremony with a charcoal, navy or black indo-western for the reception; a mint or pista sherwani with an ivory bandhgala; a peach sherwani with a brown or wine jacket. Keep the thread colour of the embroidery the same across both, gold with gold, silver with silver, and the two outfits read as one wedding.
Order them together
Each piece takes 8 to 10 days to make in Jaipur and 7 to 10 days to reach you by express courier, so order both at the same time, five to six weeks before the wedding, and they arrive in one parcel. If the date is closer, write it in the box on the product page and we tell you at once whether it can be done. The steps are on How it works.
Not sure which two to pair? Send us the bride's outfit and the dates of the events on WhatsApp at +91 8426 000 888 and we will suggest a sherwani and an indo-western that agree.
Divyanshu Wadhwa is one of the founders behind Sei Berach.
Read next: How to choose a sherwani for your wedding, Indian wedding wear for men: what the groom, his family and the guests wear and How to measure yourself for a made-to-measure sherwani.