In preparation for her wedding day, an Indian bride will take a trip to the flower market. There, in the fragrant halls, she will select her bridal bouquet. But these flowers aren’t for holding – instead, the blooms will adorn her hair, which is fashioned into a single long plait at the back of her head, called a gajra. “It’s an age-old tradition,” says hairstylist Mitesh Rajani. “Any celebration would mean wearing flowers in a woman’s hair, but this style with the long braid is reserved specifically for a bride on her wedding day.”
Model Jagruthi Radhakrishna plays the role of bride here, wearing the sari her mother wore on her own wedding day, and little sister Niyathi is her doting bridesmaid. As in most Indian homes, the getting-ready experience is multigenerational: mother Latha, who is a bridal make-up artist in their hometown, and grandmother Bhagya Lakshmi are both there to help paint her hands with henna, fasten her sari and place her gajra.
“Traditionally a bride will wear mallige (jasmine) in her hair,” says creative hairstylist Mitesh Rajani. “But for today, we added
kanakambaram, an orange flower local to Karnataka, where she is from, to remind her of her home.”
The gajra, a fragrant garland of jasmine flowers fashioned into a circle, is traditionally worn by a bride on her wedding day, a custom that dates back to 1500BC.
