From vintage Bollywood to high-end couture, here's a glittering timeline of sequins and their evolution

From ancient Egyptian tombs to Taylor Swift’s stadium tours, sequins have seen it all. Once made from actual beetle wings (yes, really), these tiny discs of drama have shimmered their way through centuries, shape-shifting from royal regalia to disco dance floors to sustainable couture. Think flapper girls in the ’20s, Zeenat Aman in the ’70s, Michael Jackson’s single glove in the ’80s, and Naomi Campbell redefining runway nostalgia in the ’90s: every era had its own sequin story.

Beetle-wing embroideries

Among the most famous embroideries in Mughal India and henceforth in the Middle East, parts of Southeast Asia and eventually in Europe was beetle-wing embroidery. The jewel beetle’s forewings or elytra is particularly known for its luminescent hues. These beetle casings were essentially the early forms of modern sequins. Pictured here is among the most famous beetle-wing embroidered designs, the Peacock dress, worn by the wife of the Viceroy of India and featuring the embroidery alongside metallic zardozi work. It was made collaboratively in India and by Parisian couture house, House of Worth in 1903.

Pharaohs and flapper girls

Post the discovery of the ancient Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, sequins became
the rage across the West. The pharaoh was found buried in garments sewn with gold sequin-like disks, a signifier of the cultural practice of burying royals with decorative wealth for the afterlife. In the following years as popularity increased, gelatin sequins, significantly lighter than their metal counterparts, took over markets. The drawback? They’d melt if they became too wet or too warm. The sequins were also part of flapper dresses (named after flapper girls of the roaring twenties), as also seen on actor Carey Mulligan who played Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (2013).

Zeenat Aman’s daring gown

With a dramatic, low-cut neckline and a sculpted silhouette, iconic actor Zeenat Aman’s sequinned outfit turned more than a few heads in the ‘70s (as she herself admits in an Instagram post). Created by costume designer Mani Rabadi based on a design of Aman’s making, the actor was quite literally “sewn into” the dress. This was at the Turf Club in Mumbai for Shalimar’s (1978) opening.

Mother of drag and queer inspirations

American activist Marsha P Johnson (1945-1992), affectionately known as “drag mother” was known for
her extravagant style. Co-founder of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970, she ran one of the first organisations in the US to open communal shelters for LGBTQIA+ homeless youth. In the photo above, Johnson is seen wearing a long, black sequinned dress featuring a plunging neckline and a partitioned lower half. While it is an iconic representation of the sequinned look, the queer community has for long incorporated the shine in their vibrant, outspoken style that is both personal and political.

Jackets for Jackson

American pop icon Michael Jackson was known for many things, but one among them was his heavily sequinned bomber jackets. Embellished and sparkled, they were often paired with his signature white sequinned glove. First worn at a performance for the single Billie Jean in 1983, the glove would go on to become synonymous with Jackson, much like his moonwalk. He was also often found to have occasionally worn a crystal-encrusted pair of socks.

Abraham & Thakore’s X-ray discs

An Indian experiment with sustainable sequins is by Delhi-based design and textile label, Abraham & Thakore. Their AW25 collection titled ‘Alternate Realities’, features sequinned discs cut from upcycled X-rays, sourced from hospitals. This limited edition dress, in particular, is made using a georgette base screen printed with metallic silver in a floral pattern, which is then entirely hand embroidered using a mix of white plastic sequins and upcycled black X-ray discs. Disco disks are the real diagnosis.

Naomi shines on

British supermodel Naomi Campbell re-wore one of her iconic looks she had modelled for French design house Chanel, for its Fall 1996 couture showcase. A sheer black sequinned gown with pearl-stringed straps, it was designed by its late creative director, Karl Lagerfeld. Campbell wore the dress again at the Cannes Film Festival, styled by Law Roach, tweaking the original look and switching the slip with some sexy lingerie.

Algae-based sequins

Sequins may be pretty, but they are dominantly plastic, too. In 2020, under the One x One foundation, American designer Philip Lim launched a dress made of algae-based sequins and a carbon-neutral fabric. In collaboration with scientific researcher Charlotte McCurdy, who had been studying bioplastic from algae, the duo created the dress using an antiperspirant and thermoregulating fabric. Inspired by the process of photosynthesis, the dress almost seems to breathe as its wearer moves.

Taylor Swift in Ashish

A listicle on sequins would be incomplete without the mention of the Delhi-born, London-based designer Ashish Gupta. Designing under his eponymous label, his work with sequins has garnered clients across the spectrum of Hollywood, ranging from pop star Katy Perry to actor Cate Blanchett. His sequins have also often been spotted on pop music icon Taylor Swift who wore a custom black and red sequinned bodice and coat from the brand in October 2023. She wore it while singing the fan-favourite ten-minute version of her song 'All Too Well', as part of her record-breaking Eras Tour concert in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Also, did you know about Alaïa’s Mumbai-embroidered Spencer jacket?

In Inspired by India: How India Transformed Global Design (2022), fashion anthropologist Phyllida Jay talks of an exquisite Spencer jacket by the late Tunisian couturier Azzedine Alaïa, as part of his Spring/Summer 1996 collection. The embroidery at the back of the jacket was designed by Maximiliano Modesti, founder of Les Ateliers 2M in Paris, a craft and design development studio. The jacket is embellished by Mumbai-based artisans who used bugle beads and, particularly, sequins that followed the lengthwise grain of Alaïa’s signature sculptural designs.

This article first appeared in Cosmopolitan India's September-October 2025 print edition.

Lead image: Getty Images, IMDb, Instagram/Zeenat Aman, Wikimedia Commons and respective brands

Also read: Sidewalks are basically catwalks and this PFW street style edit is proof!

Also read: Velvet is back and these pieces are all you need this season