Lucknow: As 2025 draws to a close, Lucknow’s rich cultural calendar has solidified its role as the city’s unofficial style director. From the lingering buzz of November’s Koshala Literature Festival to the much-anticipated Lucknow International Film Festival in early December, these events aren’t just about discourse or drama—they’re where the city’s influential youth test-drive and normalize modern, versatile trends. The result is a vibrant, vibe-driven wardrobe that screams effortless cool, perfectly situated within India’s accelerating apparel market.
“2025’s events turned Lucknow into a pop-up runway; what you wore to Koshala one weekend was your Monday uniform the next,” says influencer Anas Affan Siddiqui, whose terracotta co-ord reel from the festival’s gastronomy sessions racked up 5.2 million views in a week. This year’s cultural surge, amplified by UNESCO recognition, fueled hybrid aesthetics: think sustainable linen sets layered with chunky sneakers, or gender-fluid cargos echoing indie cinema vibes. The social media flywheel—hashtags like #LucknowLitDrip and #LSFFStyle—pushed a striking 190% spike in co-ord searches (Google Trends, Q4 2025). Here’s how 2025’s key gatherings became the blueprint for the city’s sartorial soul.
Literature Festivals: Intellectual Edge Meets Elevated Casual
The post-pandemic shift saw literary gatherings morph into day-long fashion showcases for the “quiet luxury” aesthetic, emphasizing comfort, quality, and meticulous layering.
The Koshala Uniform and the Gastro-Glow
The Koshala Literature Festival (late November at UP Darshan Park) was a study in elevated minimalism. Attendees, amidst sessions on Awadhi poetry and cuisine, channeled the “gastro-glow” uniform: wide-leg linen trousers tucked into cropped cable-knit sweaters, paired with shearling-lined loafers for the winter chill. The festival’s “Daawat-e-Sukhan” soirées cemented the terracotta palette—rusty co-ords nodding to Lucknow’s clay craft—worn by 70% of the 12,000 visitors. This influential styling translated rapidly: the viral look of a beige trench over a ribbed tank, sported by the festival founder, boosted sales of similar pieces at Hazratganj’s high-street stores like Zara by 55% post-event.
Riverside Relaxed and Weekday Chic
Following suit, the Gomti Book Festival (River Front Park, late November) leaned into “riverside relaxed”: breezy poplin shirt dresses with asymmetrical hems, layered under oversized denim jackets for the evening mushaira (poetry recital). The relaxed vibe influenced a 35% uptick in sustainable cotton separates at local boutiques like The Boho Street. Crucially, college-goers from Lucknow University quickly adopted the half-tuck trend, blending the soft fabrics with chunky silver chains, proving the lit fest blueprint for weekday chic.
Film Festivals: Cinematic Edge and Statement Layers
Film screenings, from major festivals to indie rooftop events, provided the necessary canvas for bold, high-contrast, and dramatically layered statement looks.
The LSFF Statement and Utility Core
The Lucknow Short Film Festival (LSFF) Season 6 (October 25-26) redefined red-carpet realness with its audience-first policy: “Statement or step aside.” The 4,000 attendees embraced deconstructed layers: cropped leather bombers over sheer mesh tanks, cinched with utility belts, and baggy cargo culottes in olive drab. Director Laksh Maheshwari noted the overwhelming visibility, stating, “Instagram was 85% outfits, 15% films; the cropped jacket over cargos became our unofficial poster child.” By November, Myntra reported a 48% sales jump in “film-fest cargos” among Lucknow users, with non-binary cinephiles pioneering harnesses as gender-fluid, everyday accents.
Bollywood Meets Indie and Date-Night Drop
The Jagran Film Festival (September 19-21) amplified this energy. A screening of Jolly LLB 3 sparked “courtroom casual”: slim-fit chinos under boxy blazers, accented by bold red pocket squares. Later, Bhuvan Arora’s appearance in a monochrome tank and low-rise flares fueled the Y2K revival, causing a 62% rise in flared denim queries. Even low-key rooftop screenings at PVR Sangam became style scouts, popularizing the “date-night drop”: all-nude fits contrasted with one electric pop, such as neon green crossbody bags, turning casual viewings into influential style moments.
Theatre & Performing Arts: Dramatic Drapes and Fluid Forms
Theatre became a laboratory for maximalist expression and gender-fluid aesthetics, with costume-inspired drama quickly filtering into street style.
Repertwahr’s Style Storm and The Harness Hype
Repertwahr Festival Season 13 (December 19-22) evolved into a four-stage style storm. Daytime theatre performances saw cycling shorts under tailored blazers, offering a sporty-yet-polished daytime look. The night shows, featuring Anuv Jain and the silent disco Taal, flipped the script to metallic-threaded co-ords. Organizer Vineet Maxwell David observed, “Crop tops outnumbered scripts; the harness-over-hoodie look from our gender-fluid panels is now Gomti Nagar’s go-to.” The festival’s #RepertwahrDrip trended nationally, driving a rapid 40% blazer sales spike at Wave Mall.
Nawabi Neutral and Folk Fusion
The Lucknow Mahotsav (late November-early December) wove traditional theatre and Kathak performances into its massive cultural tapestry. This fostered the “nawabi neutral” trend: pleated culottes in ecru, paired with gold-hooped vests, directly mirroring the elegant drapes of the classical dancers. The festival’s vast fringe bazaar pushed asymmetrical hems and folk flair, fueling a 28% search increase for “Mahotsav drapes,” blending heritage with modern minimalism. Meanwhile, Bharangam at Sangeet Natak Akademi went full maximalist, with mesh overlays and combat boots, establishing a high-drama look that was instantly adopted by university theatre clubs.
Music Gigs & Markets: High-Energy Hype and Punchline Polish
Music and comedy nights became the proving grounds for high-energy streetwear, while flea markets validated sustainable and niche micro-trends.
Boho Bounce and Metallic Athleisure
Gigs like Boho Fest (December 6-7), fusing music with lifestyle pop-ups, birthed the “boho bounce” aesthetic: reflective puffer vests over holographic tanks, with bucket hats grounding the look for sets featuring artists like Divine. The vibe popularized metallic accents on athleisure, driving a 52% uptick in puffer sales post-event as the city embraced the chill with practical, high-visibility style.
Punchline Prep and Campus Cool
Stand-up nights featuring comics like Zakir Khan and Anubhav Singh Bassi demanded “punchline prep”: the “clean girl” uniform of slicked-back ponytails, fitted white tees, and straight-leg jeans, with gold hoops adding a refined edge. This look quickly became the standard for the city’s intellectual youth. At the grassroots, the Sunday Soul Sante flea (Janeshwar Mishra Park) exploded the “knit vest revival” in December, while college fests like Amity Youth Fest cemented oversized rugby shirts as the campus uniform. The IITR techno-fest crowned blood-red trenches as 2025’s power hue, demonstrating how localized events dictate color palettes for the whole season.
The 2025 Dress Code Doctrine
Lucknow’s style ethos, cemented by the city’s cultural calendar, is now based on three practical and defining rules:
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Comfort is Non-Negotiable: Prioritizing breathable fabrics (linen, cotton poplin) and loose silhouettes (oversized shirts, cargo culottes).
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One Focal Flex is Essential: A single, powerful statement piece—a harness, a neon bag, or a bold-hued trench—is used to break up an otherwise neutral look.
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Mix High and Low Shamelessly: The Zara blazer is layered over a flea market-sourced thrift chain, and H&M basics are paired with custom-tailored chikankari culottes.
In a year of cultural highs, Lucknow’s gatherings didn’t just host conversations—they styled them. As designer Siddhartha Bansal observed, “Events aren’t dictating trends—they’re democratizing them; a fest fit today is tomorrow’s staple.” In 2025, if you wanted to know what Lucknow would wear next, you simply needed to check the style spotted at the nearest literary or film festival.
