Best Kurtas for Men This Dussehra 2026: Styles, Colours and Outfit Ideas

Dussehra 2026 falls on Tuesday, 20 October. It is one of those occasions when traditional dressing feels right, but your outfit does not have to look predictable. A family celebration, a temple visit, a festive gathering, an evening out — each asks for something slightly different, and a well-made kurta gives you room to answer all four without looking like you are wearing a costume.

If you are looking for the best kurtas for men this Dussehra, there is more range than the season usually gets credit for. Everything below is part of The Machis Edit, our festive edit this season.

The best kurtas for men this Dussehra

A kurta is the easiest festive decision you can make, and the one with the most room in it. Browse the full range of designer kurtas for men in the edit — or take the styles one at a time.

Embroidered kurtas are the most direct way to look festive without wearing something heavy; the detail does the work, so the silhouette can stay clean. Scale it to the hour — lighter thread work and smaller motifs for daytime, yoke embroidery and metallic thread after dark. Hand embroidery, worked by hand rather than by machine, reads differently up close and is worth the difference for a function where you will be photographed. Most are cut in falling raw silk, which holds its drape through a long evening instead of creasing by the second hour.

Printed kurtas are the easier choice if you want colour without ceremony. Prints carry the outfit on their own, so everything else can stay quiet — which makes them right for family lunches and afternoon visits, the part of Dussehra that involves sitting down and eating.

Hand-painted kurtas are the honest answer to festive season producing the same five outfits in every photograph. Each one is painted by hand, so no two are identical. Keep the rest of the outfit plain; a painted kurta is already the whole idea.

Solid kurtas prove that not every festive outfit needs pattern. With nothing to hide behind the fit carries everything — shoulder seam, sleeve length, where the hem falls. Choose fabric for the weather: giza cotton and linen for a daytime October in the south, dupion or raw silk once the sun is down.

Kurta sets solve the hardest part of festive dressing, which is the trousers. If you would rather build the look yourself, the quickest way to make a traditional kurta feel current is to change the bottom silhouette — a wider or flared pant shifts the whole outfit forward while leaving the kurta as the focus. Keep the kurta shorter if the pant is wide; both voluminous at once reads as fancy dress.

Kurta with a Nehru jacket

A Nehru jacket is the most useful layer you can own for a festive week, because it lets one kurta do two jobs. Jacket on for the pooja and the photographs, jacket off for dinner.

The rule is one statement, not two. A plain kurta under an embroidered jacket, or a detailed kurta under a plain one. Both heavily worked and they fight each other.

If you would rather skip the kurta

Not every festive occasion needs ethnic wear, and a designer shirt in the right fabric reads just as considered at an evening gathering — particularly if the celebration is closer to a dinner than a pooja. Printed, textured or solid, in silk or cotton satin, worn with a dark trouser.

Which colours work for Dussehra?

Dussehra leans warm — marigold, mustard, saffron, deep red, maroon — and those are genuinely good on most Indian skin tones in October light. Green, ivory, cream and beige work just as well and photograph more calmly. Deeper shades such as wine, teal and midnight blue come into their own after dark.

Two things worth more than picking a traditionally festive colour. First, daylight flattens pale shades and deepens dark ones, so a kurta chosen under shop lighting may look different at a 2pm pooja. Second, if the celebration is being photographed, avoid anything too close to your skin tone — it washes you out in a group shot more reliably than any wrong colour.

What should men wear for Dussehra?

There is no single answer, only a fit between the outfit and the occasion.

• Temple visit or pooja. A solid kurta or a kurta set, in cotton or a light silk. Easy to sit in, easy to remove shoes for.
• Family lunch. A printed kurta. Comfortable, unfussy, survives being handed a plate.
• Evening celebration. An embroidered kurta, or a kurta with a Nehru jacket over it.
• Something more contemporary. A hand-painted kurta with a wider pant, or a designer shirt if you would rather step away from the kurta entirely.

Dussehra kurtas for men in Hyderabad

If you are looking for Dussehra kurtas in Hyderabad, HILO DESIGN's flagship store is in Jubilee Hills — First Floor, KVR Holdings, Plot 715, Road No. 36, Aditya Enclave, Venkatagiri. Open 10:30am to 8pm, every day.

You can see the full range in person: designer kurtas, Nehru jackets, shirts and festive occasion wear, with someone on hand to help you put a look together for the specific function you are dressing for. Find the store.

Ordering from elsewhere in India, or from the USA

Most of what we make ships across India and to the USA, which matters in a season where the festive calendar does not wait for you to be in the right city.

If you are shopping from a distance, book a video call with a stylist before you order. Ten minutes on a call covers fit, fabric and what works for your function, and is considerably cheaper than an exchange across an ocean.

The Machis Edit

Machis means matchstick. The edit is named for the thing a small flame does to a room.

The Machis Edit is up to 30% off across festive wear this season — designer kurtas, statement shirts, Nehru jackets and occasion pieces, chosen for distinctive colour, contemporary cut and detailing that holds up close.

Whichever way your Dussehra goes — pooja, family lunch, late evening — wear something that looks festive and still looks like you.

The Machis Edit. For men who choose to carry the spark.