How Diwali Became The Most Glamorous Date On The Global Calendar
India’s spectacular celebrations are unparalleled, but with glittering, couture-clad events springing up in capital cities like New York, London and Singapore, Diwali parties are fast becoming the hottest ticket in town. NATASHA BIRD meets the tastemakers offering a fresh perspective on the Festival of Lights and discovers how to celebrate in perfect style this year
A brief prayer: the ‘Aarti’ before the party. A grandmother’s heirloom gold as a final touch to contemporary couture. Traditional Indian sweets served alongside crisp, cool cocktails, while a Rajasthani brass band builds up to a DJ spinning desi-disco until the early hours. Welcome to Diwali in 2026.
Celebrated this year on November 8, Diwali – also known as the Festival of Lights – is one of the most important Hindu occasions, though it is also observed by Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists too, each with their own traditions and interpretations. Honoring the triumph of light over darkness, it is a moment for renewal, generosity, bringing the whole family together and, increasingly, attending some of the most fabulous parties of the global social calendar.
For Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder of award-winning fashion app By Rotation, the festival’s evolution has been glorious to experience: “Growing up, I spent Diwali in Singapore and India with lots of prayers, food and non-stop firecrackers. I now celebrate in London, where the focus is really on friends, fashion and great parties.” Diwali’s limelight, she believes, is long overdue. “It always should have been a huge cultural moment! Hinduism is, after all, the third largest religion in the world. It deserves that level of visibility.”
Across London, New York, Mumbai and beyond, Diwali has become a hugely glamorous fixture, bringing together an elite crop of fashion designers, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and international tastemakers. The guest lists are extraordinary, the fashion is a feast for the eyes and the parties go all-out. A most illuminating part of this new era, though, is the way a younger generation is reinterpreting the celebrations, by bringing together inherited traditions and contemporary culture without sacrificing the fun and meaningfulness of either.
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Diwali’s high-society circuit
In London, one of the most coveted invitations belongs to publishing maven Divia Thani, whose annual Cartier-backed bash is a gem of the city’s fall social season. Held annually at one of the capital’s most prestigious addresses, The Dorchester Hotel, it is a brilliant and ultra-glamorous cross-section of South Asian creative talent and international society. “It’s the Diwali party of the year,” says Kabra-Davies.
Aisha Bennett, founder of luxury travel and hospitality agency AB Collective, and fashion journalist Katrina Mirpuri are putting together the final touches on what is becoming their own annual soiree. This year, it’s being held at London private club Soho Mews House on November 13 for members plus other invited guests. Their event is a little less black-tie formal, more elevated cool, with the dress code demanding “desi, drama, disco!”
“Last year there were dhol [drum] players and mithai [sweets]; by the time legendary DJ Ritu took over, shoes were off and everyone was singing along to desi hits,” the pair explain. This year, they’ve appointed a Rajasthani brass band and a desi-disco set from Club Are resident Riya Bains. Food and cocktails will be courtesy of Tamil Prince and Desi Daru, while cult NYC fragrance house D.S. & Durga will scent the space with tendu leaf and tuberose. Even the wristbands will be reimagined as rakhi bracelets.
New York too, has its own sparkling line-up. “There are so many glamorous Diwali parties,” says Kavi Ahuja Moltz, co-founder of D.S. & Durga, “I love that everyone takes the cue to get really decked out.” Among the best invitations is the annual All That Glitters Diwali Ball, hosted by entertainment mogul Anjula Acharia. Last year’s edition took over Manhattan’s magnificent Lotte New York Palace, with Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas joining a guest list that included designer Prabal Gurung and actors Kal Penn and Bhumi Pednekar.
And if you’re regal enough, your presence might be requested at the crown jewel of Diwali affairs at Jaipur’s magnificent City Palace, where the royal family, led by Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh, celebrates Diwali surrounded by 18th-century architecture, traditional Lakshmi Puja ceremonies and the ringing of temple bells.
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More than just a party
Of course, Diwali has always been an occasion. In India, the festival has illuminated palaces, temples and entire cities for centuries, while South Asians around the world have maintained elaborate traditions. What is changing is the scale and visibility of the festivities, particularly in international fashion and cultural circles, where Diwali is now feted well beyond the communities in which it originated.
Both Bennett and Mirpuri grew up with grandparents who had moved to London in the 1960s, and their childhood Diwalis were colourful and warm, with ‘aarti’ – ghee-slicked wicks lit and offered in worship to deities – and feasts of chaat, biryani and lamb chops. These days, their parties might lean into a contemporary mood, but they are still a continuation of those memories: “The shape of the celebration has changed, but the feeling hasn’t: family, faith, food, and permission to have a really good time. Honoring our elders doesn’t mean turning the volume down.”
Continuity is just as important to Ahuja Moltz. As a mother, she thinks about which details her own children will carry into adulthood. At D.S. & Durga, the connection between fragrance, candlelight and Diwali inspired the creation of a seasonal candle, Rama Won’t You Please Come Home, named after the Hindu God whose return to Ayodhya is one of the festival’s best-known narratives.
Fashion’s Festival of Lights
As a spectacular expression of cultural confidence, Diwali dressing is enjoying a bigger spotlight internationally, with contemporary Indian designers and stars taking prominent positions on the global fashion stage.
In 2025, Jimmy Choo released a Diwali capsule collection fronted by Princess Gauravi Kumari of Jaipur. Italian footwear house Rene Caovilla collaborated with Indian couturier Gaurav Gupta in 2025, and then introduced Eternal Radiance, its spring/summer 2026 collection inspired by the Festival of Lights. “When a fashion house chooses authenticity in cultural representation, this is where we get to feel immense pride,” says fashion publicist Kavita Khanna, who worked with Rene Caovilla during the collection’s launch.
Celebrity stylist Siân Gabari – who has both attended and dressed plenty of luminaries for high-profile Diwali events – sees the growing international interest as a welcome acknowledgement of Indian fashion’s long-standing influence. “As someone with Indian heritage working within the fashion industry, it’s so special to see Diwali being embraced by the luxury world. The recognition of the richness of Indian culture is meaningful to me. There is so much beauty, craftsmanship and colour in our traditions.”
Kabra-Davies is enthusiastic about the Indian designers that are specifically redefining occasionwear. Her favorites include Rahul Mishra, who creates intricately worked couture, and Papa Don’t Preach by Shubhika. “She champions how Indian women are perceived and treated, throughout the year, not just Diwali,” she adds, of founder Shubhika Sharma.
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Your invitation to celebrate
While the fortunate few receive Cartier invitations or a place on a royal guest list, across the world the festival is inspiring everything from black-tie charity balls to elaborate culinary experiences, offering plenty of opportunities for everybody to join the festivities.
If you are interested in celebrating Diwali this year, here are a few brilliant options globally:
- In Toronto, the fourth annual Lit Gala takes over the Fairmont Royal York on November 14. With formal attire encouraged, guests should expect an opulent, Diwali-inspired evening featuring live DJs, cocktails, dining and a charity auction.
- New York’s Diwali is for food-lovers. On November 4, the James Beard Foundation is hosting a Diwali dinner at Pier 57, with chef Vinu Raveendran of acclaimed Flatiron restaurant Kidilum preparing a multi-course celebration of coastal South Indian cuisine.
- In Singapore, where Deepavali is a national public holiday, Little India is a lovely, immersive alternative to the formal gala. Throughout the festive season, the neighborhood’s streets are transformed by elaborate light installations, colourful bazaars and cultural performances. This year’s Festival Village runs from October 10 until November 8.
- Back in London, for an elegant musical celebration, legendary Indian vocalist Kavita Krishnamurti joins the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on November 1 for Celebrating Diwali, an evening of specially composed orchestral arrangements. Meanwhile London’s annual Diwali on the Square returns to Trafalgar Square on October 25, with 200 dancers opening the show.
“The setting can change, the clothes can change, the music can get louder,” say Bennett and Mirpuri. “But the importance is in the ritual and the reason we bring everyone together. Hopefully we will be part of someone else’s nostalgia.”
Actor Avantika’s Diwali Party photographs by Dani Case