Celebrity-Inspired Risqué Blouse Designs to Consider This Wedding Season

There was a time when a blouse with a plunging neckline would have been enough to shake things out of predictability. If you wore your lehenga with a shirt or a sports bra (remember Disha Patani’s Diwali look where the actor wore a Calvin Klein one with a Sukriti and Aakriti lehenga?) or draped a sari over a crop top, you would be deemed the disruptor of fashion. However, since blouses are being revamped on a design level by some of the biggest names in Indian fashion, dropping the neckline by simply a couple of inches below normal is not cutting it anymore.

With the wedding season already here, the need to make head-turning entrances, especially after a near-two-year break, is at an all-time high. We turn toward the most influential people in fashion, the celebrities who are flaunting some of the most risqué blouse designs we have seen in a while. Consider this a black book of sorts to come back to when you are looking for inspiration to switch up your blouse game.

The Front and Back of It
Blouses with drama happening in the front - with deep necklines - and little to no fabric in the back are all the rage right now, and rightfully so. Alia Bhatt, who wore not one but two such blouses, Manish Malhotra’s ‘Infinity Blouse’ and a rejigged version of Sabyasachi’s ‘Chand’ blouse, had virtually non-existent backs that were held together only by doris. Sara Ali Khan’s blouse from Nooraniyat, Malhotra’s couture collection, became a vehicle for every fashion savant’s imagination when the designer swapped the back entirely with just plain net. Janhvi Kapoor’s silver blouse with copious surface decoration features an angrakha-inspired wrap that comes together at the back, most of which is just skin.

Image: Instagram/@stylebyami

Image: Instagram/@manishmalhotraworld

Image: Instagram/@manishmalhotraworld

The Plunge Just Got Deeper and More Interesting
Inspired by the trend of wearing your innerwear as outerwear, bralettes and bikini-inspired blouses have become a mainstay in our ethnic wardrobe. Bhumi Pednekar in a snug fitting micro blouse from designer Sawan Gandhi or Tara Sutaria in a crop blouse from designer Anamika Khanna that she’s worn under a jacket are perfect for those unafraid to experiment.

Image: Instagram/@bhumipednekar

Image: Instagram/@tarasutaria

Inspired by the plunge bras are new-age blouses that not only dip deep but also taper upward so that the resulting design is a blouse whose centre gore is a barely there design capable of turning up the heat by unprecedented amounts. Both Priyanka Chopra’s and Kiara Advani’s blouses from designers Falguni Shane Peacock and Ritika Mirchandani are great examples of these tiny blouses.

Image: Instagram/@lakshmilehr

Image: Instagram/@priyankachopra

Make Space for the Corset
The silhouette of an ordinary blouse can also be completely swapped with the use of bustiers and corsets that are lending a semblance of structure to traditional outfits. Bhumi Pednekar’s unconventional Tarun Tahiliani outfit features a draped skirt and a corset (with boning!) and makes for an interesting choice for those wanting to switch things up. Priyanka Chopra wearing a mirror-work bustier from Arpita Mehta and Alia Bhatt in an embellished corset blouse and holographic chikankari lehenga from designer Manish Malhotra are perfect inspirations to ditch the ordinary blouse, for a rejigged version of the Victorian underwear.