This Bride Designed Her Entire Wedding Wardrobe Around A Pair Of Margiela X Louboutin Tabis
It is one thing to admire a place from afar, another to arrive and feel as though you have already been there.
For years, a framed photograph of a rugged cobblestone street hung in Kiran Kaur’s hallway in Los Angeles. She passed it daily en route to her office in Culver City, where she works as a senior analyst in entertainment finance, often wondering where in the world it might have been taken – until, on a trip to Mallorca in 2024, she found herself stepping into its very frame.
It happened one drizzly afternoon, after lunch at De Tokio a Lima in the hilltop enclave of Valldemossa, as she and her then-boyfriend, Khush Brar, a freight manager, set off to explore the surrounding village. As they turned a corner, the sun began to pierce the clouds, and Kiran slowed to a halt. Something about the street ahead felt oddly familiar – the green-shuttered windows, the terracotta pots, the overhead wires strung between houses like washing lines – and then, all at once, it clicked. By the time she glanced back, Khush was already on one knee.
Only later did she realise how carefully the moment had been constructed: for months, Khush had been tracing the photograph back to its source, certain it would provide the perfect setting for their proposal. “There was a lot of planning behind it,” he says. “Google Maps, Pinterest… I kept digging until I figured it out.” He contacted locals to confirm the precise location, arranged for a photographer to be ready in place, and even made sure Kiran had packed outfits that would work for the setting. “I wasn’t nervous,” he says. “I just knew everything would be perfect.”
The couple first met at secondary school in Jalandhar, India, in 2016. “It was her presence, her style, her confidence – how calm she was,” Khush says. “That’s what I noticed first.” At the time, Kiran had just returned from Hong Kong and wasn’t thinking about dating, but Khush persisted, happily falling into the habit of waiting outside her classes, and striking up conversation whenever he could. “I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he says. “I just kept showing up.” Eventually, she gave him a chance. “It’s always felt easy since,” he adds. “She brings me peace. We’re best friends.” When Kiran later moved to the United States to pursue an MBA in finance at the University of Redlands, Khush followed, and together they began building a life – even raising a golden retriever, named Rooney, in honour of their favourite Manchester United player.
By October 2025, the Kraur-Bra wedding was well underway, largely self-organised, and beginning with a 90-guest sangeet at the Huron Substation in Los Angeles – its 45-foot vaulted ceilings, steel beams and weathered brick walls transformed with a verdant floral installation. For the occasion, Kiran wore a forest-green Sabyasachi lehenga, ordered just the day before, with help from her friend and stylist Suzaina. The skirt was dense with thick bands of gold embroidery, offset by a garnet strand necklace by Shri Paramani. “Nothing quite matched, but everything made sense,” she says. “I also kept the henna light – it’s part of the tradition, but I still wanted to feel like myself.” Khush, meanwhile, opted for a custom kurta and vest with Hermès shoes.
The following morning’s ceremony was a more intimate affair, with just 30 loved ones in attendance – small enough to feel personal, yet large enough to matter. Guests, dressed in a palette of ivory, blush and lilac, gathered at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, a 400-acre expanse of meadows, towering redwoods and waterfalls nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains. “It was an immediate ‘yes’ of a venue, like love at first sight,” says Kiran, who chose to forgo the traditional farewell ritual of Indian weddings, describing marriage as “an expansion, not a departure”. Instead, she took her first steps into married life beneath a canopy of oak trees, wearing a pair of crystal-festooned Maison Margiela X Christian Louboutin Tabi shoes. “Those Tabi-Loubs became my muse,” she adds, noting how just about everything else was built up around them: elaborate Shri Paramani jewels alongside a coral lehenga, sheer dupatta and veil by Tarun Tahiliani – a new experiment in colour for the designer. “It all came back to the Tabis.”
When the couple saw each other for the first time that morning, Khush – wearing an ivory Sabyasachi sherwani, his turban notably tied himself – told his fiancée: “This is exactly how I envisioned you as a bride.” He could just as easily have said the same later that evening, when Kiran changed into a flaxen, pearl-trimmed lehenga by Manish Malhotra, paired with uncut diamond Shri Paramani jewels for the reception. There, guests, now dressed in black and midnight blue, found their seats on a wooden, tree-top deck decorated with oversized scarlet bows – “I took inspiration from a Dior Beauty installation in LA a few years ago,” Kiran says – via apples inscribed with their names. The couple entered to “Vibe” by Diljit Dosanjh, while candlelit speeches and fairground carousel photo calls followed – the evening stretching on far longer than planned, and somehow still not quite long enough. “I lost all sense of decorum,” Kiran says. “My outfit had this huge train, which made dancing a little tricky, but nothing was stopping me.”
And yet, for all the set pieces, one moment lingers. “Just sitting together,” Khush says. “Everything went quiet in my mind, and it was peaceful, like everything had fallen into place.”
Ushna Khan1/41“Styled by my friend and stylist, Suzaina, in Sabyasachi and Shri Paramani jewels. Nothing quite matched, but everything made sense.”
Ushna Khan2/41“Before the guests arrived, we had a drink and took it all in. Khush’s eyes are exactly where they needed to be.”
Ushna Khan3/41“I kept the henna light – it’s part of the ritual, but I still wanted it to feel like me.”
Ushna Khan4/41“Less a photo, more a full-blown conversation.”
Ushna Khan5/41“Beneath the arches of Huron Substation. My florist Meredith transformed the space with a striking green installation, bringing a sense of wildness into the sangeet.”
Ushna Khan6/41“My mother sharing a lighthearted moment with the groomsmen.”
Ushna Khan7/41“When the guests understand the assignment.”
Ushna Khan8/41“My crystal-tipped Tabis – the shoes we built the look around – a hint of Loewe in the air, our invitation suite reading ‘Meet us in Malibu’, and the small details that made the day feel like ours”.
Ushna Khan9/41“As I walked alone, I felt the absence of my father, brother and sister, who couldn’t make it – but also a happiness, knowing I’m walking towards the love of my life.”
Ushna Khan10/41“My jewellery by Shri Paramani was delicate and understated, just as I wanted.”
Ushna Khan11/41“As an Indian bride, I carried more than a dress – prayer, beauty and the weight of becoming.”
Ushna Khan12/41“Khush’s sisters, chatting between moments.”
Ushna Khan13/41“Khush stands amid the greenery in an ivory Sabyasachi sherwani.”
Ushna Khan14/41“The coral lehenga – custom by Tarun Tahiliani – inspired by the Tabis and softened with a sheer dupatta and veil.”
Ushna Khan15/41“Khush waits for our first look, in Sabyasachi with an emerald necklace from Shri Paramani.”
Ushna Khan16/41“In our long-awaited first look, we shared a quiet, joyful moment.”
Ushna Khan17/41“It all came back to the Tabis.”
Ushna Khan18/41“Khush tells me he had imagined me exactly like this as a bride. We couldn’t stop laughing – joy taking over after years of anticipation.”
Ushna Khan19/41“Just before the pheras, we walked and paused on the lawn, my veil drifting across the grass as we took it all in.”
Ushna Khan20/41“A floral arch by Meredith and her team, tucked beneath the trees, was an extension of the landscape it sat within.”
Ushna Khan21/41“Holding hands with my grandparents. The same hands that once taught me how to walk, now guiding me towards marriage. My grandmother had tears in her eyes.”
Ushna Khan22/41“Khush’s sister and cousins helping him get ready before the baraat.”
Ushna Khan23/41“Khush with his family beneath a willow tree, as they gather for a family photograph.”
Ushna Khan24/41“Sitting with the granthis [priests] in prayer was one of the most grounding moments of the day – a pause to breathe and take it all in.”
Ushna Khan25/41“Here I am, walking in my custom Tarun Tahiliani, the veil cascading down my back.”
Ushna Khan26/41“I folded my hands to seek blessings, and thanked God for not tripping and falling during the pheras”.
Ushna Khan27/41“Guests gathered in ivory, blush and lilac, a palette that echoed the stillness of the ceremony.”
Ushna Khan28/41“My sisters made the wedding happen with a responsibility, grace and love I’ll always be grateful for.”
Ushna Khan29/41“With my sisters and my husband – the ones who held me, and the one I was walking towards.”
Ushna Khan30/41“My mother’s expression gave nothing away, but you could feel it.”
Ushna Khan31/41“My crazy friends: beautifully dressed, slightly unhinged, and exactly what the day needed. The village I didn't just need, but was lucky to have.”
Ushna Khan32/41“I took inspiration from a Dior Beauty installation in LA a few years ago – an oversized bow that stayed with me. We reimagined it in deep red, a little dramatic, a little playful, and very much in step with the night.”
Ushna Khan33/41“Reception florals in deep reds, set against guests in black and midnight blue – rich, a little cinematic. Old Hollywood in mood, but still very much us”
Ushna Khan34/41“For the reception, I chose something more dramatic: Manish Malhotra, paired with Roger Vivier.”
Ushna Khan35/41“From ceremony to celebration – a shift in the night where everything felt lighter and a lot more alive. Khush changed into a Giorgio Armani suit with Louboutins. Classic but still very him.”
Ushna Khan36/41“And just like that, Mr and Mrs Brar.”
Ushna Khan37/41“Couture, Sabysachi and champagne. My friends got it just right.”
Ushna Khan38/41“My friend celebrating me, and thankfully not spilling all the facts.”
Ushna Khan39/41“And then, I lost all sense of decorum.”
Ushna Khan40/41“My outfit had this huge train, which made dancing a little tricky, but nothing was stopping me. I just held it up in one hand and went for it. With Khush being a sport through it all.”
Ushna Khan41/41“Ours was very much an Indian wedding. We celebrated every bit of it.”
