Long before Bollywood costume designers or fashion weeks existed, India’s royal courts were already setting trends that rippled across continents. Maharajas commissioned jewels from Paris, maharanis reinvented the saree in French fabric, and entire wardrobes became a quiet negotiation between tradition and empire. The story of royal fashion in early 20th century India is really a story about identity: how India’s princely families used clothing to hold onto their heritage while adapting to a rapidly changing, colonised world.
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European textiles and the Edwardian influence
By the closing decades of the 19th century, Indian markets were flooded with cheap, machine-made European textiles. This shift did not happen by accident. Colonial trade policy favoured British mill-made cloth over Indian handloom, and local artisan communities lost ground as imported fabric became more accessible and affordable. At the same time, a series of devastating famines in the 1890s weakened rural economies, and many princely states reduced their traditional patronage of court weavers and karkhanas (royal workshops). Together, these forces pushed India’s textile artisans into decline just as European fabrics were gaining social prestige.
Royal wardrobes reflected this tension. Indian elites did not abandon traditional dress, but they layered it with new influences. Edwardian style, with its structured silhouettes, tailored jackets and formal accessories, became fashionable among royal men who moved in British administrative and diplomatic circles. Indian garments started featuring western tailoring details such as fitted waists, structured collars and buttoned fronts, while still retaining traditional fabrics and embroidery. By the 1920s and 1930s, a second wave of western influence arrived through sport. Polo, tennis and motoring culture introduced a more relaxed, “sporty” aesthetic, and royal wardrobes began to include blazers, jodhpurs and casual western separates alongside ceremonial Indian wear.
The Delhi Durbar of 1911: A display of royal splendour
If there is one event that captures this East-meets-West sartorial moment, it is the Delhi Durbar of 1911. Held to mark the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India, the Durbar brought together nearly every ruling prince, nobleman and dignitary of eminence in India to pay homage at Coronation Park in Delhi. It remains one of the most photographed and written-about events in India’s royal history.
The Durbar was as much a fashion spectacle as a political one. Indian princes arrived dressed in their finest ceremonial clothing, layered with jewels, turban ornaments and heirloom textiles that had been passed down for generations. At the same time, the influence of the British court was unmistakable. Royal attire at the Durbar often incorporated robe-like silhouettes and formal accessories that echoed European coronation dress, even as the garments themselves remained distinctly Indian in fabric and craftsmanship. This blend was not accidental. The Durbar was designed as a grand display of imperial hierarchy, with rulers of princely states publicly demonstrating both their loyalty to the crown and their own regal status. Clothing became the language through which that dual message was communicated.
The evolution of royal menswear: Sherwani and achkan
The Durbar era also marked a turning point for Indian menswear. Royal men gradually moved away from the flowing chogha (a loose Persian-style outer robe) and the jama (a wrapped, tunic-like garment) that had defined Mughal and Rajput court dress for centuries. In their place emerged more fitted, tailored silhouettes shaped by contact with British military and civil uniforms.
The rise of the sherwani
The sherwani, a long, fitted coat that falls below the knee and buttons down the front, is widely believed to have developed from the achkan during the second half of the 19th century, gradually absorbing tailoring techniques and structural details from Western coats. According to historical accounts of Indian court dress, the sherwani took shape as a variation of the late Mughal court coat, refined through decades of contact with European tailoring conventions. By the time of the Durbar, it was firmly established as formal menswear among India’s royal and aristocratic circles.
The achkan and the complete look
The achkan, a similar knee-length coat with a standing collar, is thought to have originated in the courts of Lucknow, evolving from an earlier garment called the chapkan. It is also notable for being among the first Indian garments to prominently feature buttons and buttonholes, a detail linked to the European stitching techniques introduced by British officers in Indian royal courts. Paired with a kurta-pajama underneath and a turban on top, the sherwani or achkan completed a look that balanced Indian craftsmanship with colonial-era tailoring. This early 20th century ensemble has endured remarkably well. It remains the standard for ceremonial menswear in India today, worn at weddings, state functions and formal celebrations.
Maharanis and the chiffon saree
While royal men experimented with tailoring, royal women were transforming the saree. Two names stand out here: Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar and her daughter, Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. Indira Devi is widely credited with introducing the chiffon saree to Indian royal fashion after encountering the lightweight fabric on her travels to Europe. She is said to have discovered chiffon in Lyon, France, and found it far more comfortable and glamorous than the heavier silks traditionally used for sarees. She began ordering custom chiffon weaves specifically for the saree drape, effectively creating a new category of Indian formal wear.
Her daughter, Gayatri Devi, carried the trend forward and became one of the most photographed style icons of her era, both in India and internationally. Beyond politics, where she served as a member of the Lok Sabha, Gayatri Devi remained closely associated with royal Jaipur throughout her life, known for a refined, minimalist elegance that made the chiffon saree synonymous with her name. Together, mother and daughter turned a foreign fabric into a distinctly Indian fashion statement, one that is still associated with old-world royal glamour today.
It’s worth noting that chiffon did not replace tradition. Royal women continued to wear the characteristic handloom textiles of their home states for formal and ceremonial occasions. This included the richly brocaded Banarasi saree, the cotton-silk Maheshwari weave, the temple-bordered Kanjeevaram silk, and the tie-dyed Bandhani craft associated with Rajasthan and Gujarat. Chiffon became the fabric of European soirées and international travel, while regional handloom remained the fabric of home and heritage.
Luxury patronage by Indian royals
No discussion of royal fashion is complete without mentioning the extraordinary relationship between Indian princely states and European luxury houses. Indian royals were among the most significant international clients of brands like Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Mont Blanc and Rolls-Royce during the early to mid-20th century, commissioning custom pieces on a scale that shaped these brands’ own creative direction.
Cartier’s connection to Indian royalty is particularly well documented. The relationship reportedly began at the 1911 Delhi Durbar itself, where Jacques Cartier travelled to India specifically to meet potential royal clients gathered for the event, a strategy that led to invitations to palaces across the country in the years that followed. Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala became one of Cartier’s most significant patrons, commissioning what remains one of the most elaborate jewellery orders in the house’s history. He sent a collection of gemstones, including thousands of diamonds and a large historic yellow diamond, to be remade into a spectacular multi-strand necklace. According to records of the commission, the piece was created between 1925 and 1928 and became known as the Patiala Necklace, one of the most valuable jewellery orders ever placed with the house.
He was not alone. Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar II of Indore was known for his refined, modernist taste and became closely associated with Cartier’s Art Deco commissions during the 1920s and 1930s. Rani Sita Devi of Kapurthala, celebrated for her beauty and personal style, also featured among Cartier’s distinguished Indian clientele, part of a broader circle of Kapurthala royals whose relationship with the maison spanned decades. These patrons did more than simply buy jewellery. Their commissions often blended Indian gemstones and design motifs with European craftsmanship, directly influencing the aesthetic direction of Art Deco jewellery in the West.
What do you think?
What do you think? Do you see traces of this East-meets-West royal aesthetic in contemporary Indian bridal or festive wear today? And as fashion students, how do you think this era’s blending of Indian craftsmanship with European tailoring shaped the way we define “ceremonial” Indian fashion now?
References
- https://www.indianculture.gov.in/node/2730147
- https://www.livehistoryindia.com/story/eras/delhi-durbar-of-1911-2
- https://www.worldhistory.org/Delhi_Durbar/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherwani
- https://imp-art.org/articles/achkan/
- https://www.shethepeople.tv/womens-firsts/maharani-indira-devi-of-cooch-behar-chiffon-saree-4418143
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri_Devi
- https://www.the-cartiers.com/blog/cartier-and-the-maharaja/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patiala_Necklace
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