How Do You Design A Feeling? Amazon Fashion Reimagines The Art Of Festive Celebration

Romita Bhandary, Head of Brand and Creative at Amazon Fashion & Beauty India, on working backwards from the customer, capturing the many dimensions of India’s festive season and turning Amazon’s extraordinary selection into an inspiring, curated experience.

Romita Bhandary, Head of Brand and Creative at Amazon Fashion & Beauty India

Amazon Fashion’s Festive Magazine 2026 began not with a list of categories, but with a customer insight: festive is more than an occasion. It is a feeling that shapes how people dress, care for themselves, gather, host, gift, travel and celebrate.

Fashion remains the creative heartbeat of the magazine, while beauty, wellness, home, food, gifting, travel, books and technology complete the world around it. Romita Bhandary speaks to ELLE India about the thinking behind the magazine, the changing language of festive style and what it means to create a distinctive editorial point of view at Amazon’s scale.

ELLE: Before There were Shoots, Pages or Product Selections, What Did you Want the Festive Magazine to Capture for the Customer?

Romita Bhandary (RB): At Amazon, we always begin by working backwards from the customer. In this case, the starting point was recognising that festive is not simply an occasion or a shopping moment. It is a feeling, and it unfolds over an entire period of time.

It is about celebrating with family and friends, but also about the rituals we create for ourselves. Getting dressed can be a way to express who we are and, for some, feel more confident. Beauty and skincare rituals can reflect self-care and the importance of looking after ourselves. Then there is refreshing our homes, choosing thoughtful gifts, planning what to serve and finding the energy to enjoy the season. All of it comes together to shape how the festive season looks, feels and is lived.

We wanted to create a guide to that complete experience. Something that offers inspiration, makes the season easier to navigate and recognises that celebration can be shared with others, but can also be deeply personal.

ELLE: Once you had Identified that Broader Idea of Festive, What did you Want Customers to Feel when They Experienced the Magazine?

RB: We wanted customers to feel the excitement and possibility of the season, without feeling overwhelmed by everything they needed to plan or buy.

For us, ‘festive’ feels warm, colourful and expressive. There can be glamour and abundance, but also humour, personality and ease. It can be deeply traditional or completely contemporary. It can be a large gathering with everyone you know, or a smaller ritual created entirely for yourself.

Our approach was to bring those feelings together in a way that felt stylish, approachable and relevant. The magazine should inspire customers, but it should also invite them in. They should be able to recognise something of their own festive experience while discovering ideas they may not have considered before.

The cover reflects that mood. It is a portrait of celebration, but it feels relaxed, cool and fashionable rather than overly formal or ceremonial. That balance carries into the magazine, where all of it becomes interconnected parts of the experience.

Every story also needed to do something for the customer: offer inspiration, simplify choice, create useful connections or make discovery more enjoyable. Bringing that world together required close collaboration across teams, but the idea holding it all together was simple. It should feel unmistakably festive, distinctly Amazon and genuinely useful to the customer.

ELLE: Amazon Offers Customers Extraordinary Breadth and Choice. How Does the Magazine Make that Selection Easier to Navigate?

RB: The magazine provides a very sharp point of view. Every page is tightly curated around a particular story, mood or customer need, so the inspiration feels clear and considered.

The page is also an entry point. When customers scan it and move into the on-site story, they discover a broader selection connected to the same idea. That selection remains highly curated, while offering more choice across brands, styles and price points.

A customer may respond to a complete fashion look in the magazine, but want to interpret it differently. They may be drawn to the colour, the silhouette, the jewellery or one particular accessory. The on-site experience allows them to explore more options within that same creative direction and find the version that works for them.

The magazine gives customers a confident starting point, and the digital experience expands the story. The curation remains consistent across both, while the customer has the freedom to explore more deeply and make the idea personal.

That is where Amazon’s breadth becomes particularly powerful. We can express a clear editorial perspective while still giving every customer the choice to interpret it in their own way.

ELLE: What is Changing in the Way Indian Customers Approach Festive Fashion?

RB: People are no longer asking, “What is the correct festive outfit?” They are asking, “What feels like me, but more festive?”

There is still a strong emotional connection to Indian silhouettes, textiles, colour and craft, but the styling has become more individual. A sari can feel entirely different with a modern blouse. A kurta can be transformed through contemporary jewellery, an unexpected bag or a great pair of shoes. A minimal outfit can create impact through one strong accessory or beauty choice.

Customers are also collecting references from many places: designers, creators, films, travel, street style and emerging brands. They are combining different ideas to build looks that feel personal rather than recreating one reference exactly.

Versatility matters too. People still want something spectacular, but they also want clothes they can move in, enjoy the evening in and wear beyond one occasion.

Tradition remains an important reference point, but it is not a rigid set of instructions. Our role is to offer inspiration without becoming prescriptive. The final expression should always belong to the customer.

ELLE: The Magazine is Fashion-Led but Moves into Beauty, Home, Wellness, Food, Gifting, Travel and More. What Does that Breadth Say About how People Celebrate Now?

RB: It reflects the fact that people experience the festive season holistically.

Fashion is the creative heartbeat because what we wear is one of the most immediate ways we express celebration. But the experience begins before the outfit and continues well beyond it.

Beauty is part of the ritual of getting ready. Home creates the setting in which people gather. Food, hosting and gifting are expressions of generosity. Travel often brings people back to the people and places that matter to them. Books, technology, children’s products and thoughtful objects reflect the different lives and interests that continue through the season.

Wellness also belongs within the festive conversation. Looking good and feeling good are deeply connected. Skincare, movement, nourishment, rest and mental well-being all shape how people prepare for and move through a demanding celebratory period. Looking after ourselves allows us to be more present for the celebrations and the people around us.

The magazine brings these different dimensions together because that is how customers actually live. We wanted it to feel like a complete portrait of the season, with fashion at its centre and the wider experience of festive life surrounding it.

ELLE: Why Create a Tactile Magazine Experience for Amazon When the Shopping Journey Itself is Digital?

RB: One of the biggest opportunities is to help customers discover more than what they initially came to Amazon to find.

For customers who receive the magazine with an Amazon order, it feels like an extra treat. It offers a curated and tangible view of what we believe the festive season can be, and gives them an opportunity to browse without already knowing what they want.

They may discover a fashion look, beauty product, gifting idea, home story or brand they would not have thought to search for themselves. Amazon already creates curated stories within the on-site experience, but the physical magazine brings different categories and ideas together in one place and builds a larger narrative around them.

It allows customers to hold that curation in their hands, move through it at their own pace and experience Amazon’s selection through connected stories rather than only as individual products.

From there, technology makes the inspiration actionable. Customers can scan a page and enter a broader but still curated on-site experience, exploring the story according to their needs, style and budget.

The physical and digital experiences build on each other. The magazine can inspire customers to return to Amazon not only to find what they already need, but also to discover something they had not considered before.

ELLE: What Part of the Magazine Feels Most Personal to you, and What do you hope Customers Take Away from It?

RB: For me, it is probably the balance between seemingly different things.

The magazine is polished but playful. It is fashion-led but curious about everything around fashion. It creates aspiration, but it also needs to feel accessible and useful. There is room for glamour and abundance, but also for ease, humour and personality.

That reflects how I approach creativity. I want the work to feel elevated, but never intimidating. It should have a clear and confident point of view without telling customers who they should be. Instead, it should help them express who they already are.

I am interested in creating desire while respecting the customer’s individuality. We can offer ideas, guidance, curation and access, but the final expression should always feel personal.

Ultimately, I hope the magazine gives customers a few moments of delight through something beautiful, accessible and useful. I hope it inspires them to think about the festive season more holistically: how they want to feel, how they want to dress, how they care for themselves, how they gather, host and give.

They may discover a gift they had not considered, a new way to style something, a different approach to hosting or a small ritual that makes the season feel more meaningful.

The magazine represents our point of view on the festive season, but it is also an invitation for every customer to make that season entirely their own.