Priyanka Chopra Jonas accepted the Global Vanguard Honor at Gold House’s fifth annual Gold Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday in custom Amit Aggarwal, wearing a white sari-inspired dress that brought chikankari into a couture frame.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas in custom Amit Aggarwal at the Gold House 5th Annual Gold Gala held at The Music Center on Saturday in Los Angeles, Calif.
Chad Salvador
Aggarwal and stylist Ami Patel created the dress from a two-decade-old chikan sari, reworking the hand-embroidered textile with the designer’s sculptural surface language.
Chopra Jonas’ dress was cut with one shoulder strap and an asymmetric, petal-like neckline. The bodice stayed close through the torso, where Aggarwal added a dimensional fan-like treatment at the waist. From there, the surface moved into denser embroidery and openwork, with the original sari’s sheer, lace-like quality still visible through the skirt and side draping.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas in custom Amit Aggarwal gown created with 20-year-old chikan sari.
Gilbert Flores
The dress drew from chikankari’s Lucknow-rooted vocabulary of fine whitework, shadow-work, jaali-like openwork and floral, vine, paisley and mango motifs. On Instagram, Patel described the project as “marrying the vintage with the now,” with the two-decade-old sari reworked through Aggarwal’s signature materials and modern texturizing.
The sari reference stayed clearest in the drape. Chopra Jonas held one sheer embroidered panel out from her side, opening the fabric wide enough to show the repeating pattern and scalloped border. A longer embroidered section trailed behind her on the carpet.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her mother, Madhu Chopra.
Gilbert Flores
Chopra Jonas wore the finished piece with Bvlgari jewelry, including a diamond necklace set with green stones. As for glam, Chopra Jonas opted for a shimmering deep berry lip, a pop of pink blush and a golden smokey eye.
The appearance also extended Chopra Jonas’ recent run of clothes with built-in narrative, along with a clear pull toward drape, transparency and body-framing construction. In February, she wore an Antoinette Messam-designed cuirass from “The Bluff” with a draped Who Decides War skirt for the film’s Los Angeles premiere, then followed it with sheer black Epuzer lace on “The Tonight Show.” At Gold Gala, the armor and pirate references were gone, but the same instincts remained: semi-sheer fabric, sculpted shape and a piece with history already worked into it.
