For years now, Indian weddings have only had one undisputed main character: the bride, obviously. Not the groom, even though he might have been deluded into believing that with the horse, the baraat, and the fanfare, he too matters on the day. Not the bridesmaids. Not the mother of the bride. And certainly not the cousin who spent six months perfecting her dance performance.
At her wedding, the bride is the sun around whom the whole “wedding universe” revolves. And nobody does the spectacle like South Asians anyway. The big fat Indian wedding is a multi-day, multiple outfit, multiple look extravaganza. That is why Bridal beauty is not a wedding sub-category in India, it is a whole industry of its own.
That’s why M.A.Cs latest bridal campaign “Forever in M.A.C.” feels surprisingly refreshing. Instead of treating the bride as the only person worthy of a moment of glamour, the campaign includes the whole bridal party. The mother gets her due and so do the bridesmaids. But M.A.C’s most revolutionary act is letting the groom enter the beauty conversation.
Yes, you read that correctly. M.A.C’s new campaign put makeup on the Indian groom. Someone alert the authorities.
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A revolutionary campaign
Why is the campaign revolutionary? Well, for years, the beauty marketing around weddings has operated on the assumption that beauty begins and ends with the bride. Everyone else there is an accessory, just to fill the frame. But that idea feels a little outdated.
Modern weddings with their long itineraries all have a different aesthetic language which means there is space for everyone to exist, without stealing the protagonist’s spotlight. All those who are a part of the wedding have now stopped treating beauty as an afterthought.
M.A.C understands this better than most brands because, let’s be honest, the brand has been a permanent resident of Indian makeup artists’ vanity kits for decades. Somewhere between the foundations, lipsticks and Fix+, M.A.C became less of a product and more of a wedding-day essential. Long before brands started talking about the Indian wedding market, makeup artists had already made space for M.A.C in their kits.
So, the campaign is less like advertising and more an acknowledgement of what the brand has seen over the years. It has also arrived at the right time. The wedding season is ready to descend upon the country yet again with its usual pomp, glitter, and logistical chaos. Maybe “multiple protagonists” can be the theme of this season. Yes, the groom too.
Behind every spectacular bride there is a mother having her own beauty renaissance, a bridesmaid documenting everything for Instagram, a cousin fixing everyone’s jewellery, and now, apparently, a groom wearing a little concealer and looking all the better for it.
Because the most compelling weddings are the ones where everyone has their own personality, not where everything looks identical.
The bride may still be the protagonist. But now there is space for her people to stand beside her.
(Edited by Janaki Pande)