There are Diwali parties, and then there is a Manish Malhotra Diwali party. The arrivals alone offer enough festive dressing inspiration to fill several moodboards. But beyond the photographs is an evening the designer measures by a rather different yardstick: how reluctant his friends are to leave.
“The best compliment is when nobody is in a hurry to leave,” he says.
For someone whose work has helped dress so many celebrations, Malhotra is refreshingly relaxed about what should happen at his own. Flowers, candles and a well-stocked bar all have their place. The guest list comes first, followed by food and music. Once everyone arrives, he wants to join the conversations, enjoy his friends’ company and let the evening unfold. “My home should still feel like my home,” he says.
That interest in how people experience a celebration also reflects in his festive collaboration with Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve. For the limited-edition packaging and glass, Malhotra brings together gold, florals, flowing botanicals and ornamental details drawn from Indian decorative traditions. He imagined the pieces being gifted, placed on a table and brought out when friends arrive, with a life beyond the festive season.
As Diwali approaches, we speak to the designer about the art of making guests comfortable, knowing when to stop planning and why the host should always get to have a good time.
Manifest (M): Your Diwali parties have become something of a tradition. What, for you, makes a great host?
Manish Malhotra (MM): For me, a great host is someone who makes everyone feel completely at home. You can plan the most beautiful evening, but ultimately it is about the warmth, the people and the energy in the room. I love having friends over, especially during Diwali, and I want people to come in, relax, meet each other, eat, have a drink, dance and really enjoy themselves. The best compliment is when nobody is in a hurry to leave.
M: When you’re planning a party at home, what do you get right first: the guest list, food, drinks, music or décor?
MM: The guest list first, always. The people create the evening. Then definitely the food and the music. I love beautiful flowers, candles and creating the right atmosphere, but I don’t like things to feel overly styled or formal. My home should still feel like my home.
M: What are your non-negotiables when entertaining at home?
MM: Good food, great music, flowers, candles and a very well-stocked bar. But my biggest non-negotiable is that people should feel comfortable. I don’t like entertaining that feels too formal or orchestrated. I want people moving around, talking to different people, laughing, dancing and making themselves at home. There has to be a sense of warmth and ease to the evening.
M: What does the bar at a Manish Malhotra party look like?
MM: The bar is always an important part of the evening because it naturally becomes a place where people gather and conversations begin. I like it to be generous and beautifully presented, but not complicated. There should be something for everyone.
M: A great party finds that sweet spot between being beautifully planned and feeling spontaneous. How do you keep the evening flowing once guests arrive?
MM: I think the secret is to stop planning once the party begins. I like to make sure everything is taken care of beforehand, so when my friends arrive, I can actually be with them and enjoy the evening. I don’t want to spend the night worrying about what is happening next.
Good music helps enormously. The mood changes naturally as the evening progresses, people start dancing, conversations move around the room, and at some point the party finds its own rhythm.
M: Who is always guaranteed to get the party started, and who is usually among the last to leave?
MM: I don’t think I can name just one! I’m very fortunate that my Diwali evenings bring together friends I have known for many years, and everyone brings a different energy. Some arrive ready to dance, some settle into long conversations, and there are always a few who make sure the evening goes on much later than planned.
M: What drew you to Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve for this festive collaboration, and what did you want the limited-edition design to reflect?
MM: It’s the shared appreciation for craftsmanship and attention to detail. Both fashion and whisky are worlds where the experience is shaped by what goes into the making, not just what you see at the end. That’s what drew me to Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve. It has its own language of whisky, heritage and refinement, with a natural sense of occasion that felt complementary to my world of fashion, craftsmanship and visual storytelling.
With the limited edition, I wanted the design to reflect the character of the whisky and the feeling of the occasion around it: rich, refined and celebratory, but with a sense of ease. It needed to feel special for the festive moment, yet timeless enough to be enjoyed beyond it.
M: What elements of your design language did you bring to the packaging and glass?
MM: I think every medium gives you a different way of expressing the same creative instinct. In fashion, I work a lot with movement, proportion, texture and the interplay between something that feels familiar and something that feels new.
I have always been drawn to the richness of Indian decorative language. Gold felt like the perfect starting point. It is deeply connected to our festive visual language, it is a colour I have always gravitated towards in my work, and it also connects beautifully with Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve.
From there, I layered florals, flowing botanicals and ornamental details to create something rich and celebratory, yet contemporary. I also brought in familiar Indian decorative codes, reimagined through a glamorous and elevated lens. Extending the design across the outer packaging and glass allowed me to create a complete visual expression, but also give the pieces a life beyond the festive moment.
M: You have spent much of your career designing for celebrations. What makes festive design feel fresh to you?
MM: I have always been surrounded by the visual language of festivities. What interests me is not simply recreating those familiar cues, but finding a way to make them feel relevant to the moment. When I was designing this for Black Dog, I wanted it to immediately feel like part of the festive season.
What kept it from feeling predictable was thinking less about decoration and more about how these pieces would actually live during a celebration: being gifted, brought out when friends arrive, placed on the table, used to pour a drink and start a conversation. I wanted them to feel special in that moment, but also have enough character to stay with you beyond it. For me, that is when a festive design becomes truly collectible.
M: After hosting so many memorable evenings, what is the one rule of entertaining you swear by?
MM: Enjoy your own party. If the host is relaxed and having a good time, everyone else feels it. You can plan every detail beautifully, but you cannot manufacture the energy of an evening.