From little hearts floating on smocked dresses, Hello Kitty nostalgia, to intensive embroidery details, as well as design interventions on textiles, Aneeth Arora celebrates 15 years of Pero with a FDCI show at LFW. It has been a long road from Udaipur to creating a million-dollar business for this craft crusader.
By Asmita Aggarwal
Udaipur is a quiet town, very underexposed, living in a microcosm, but Aneeth Arora’s mom wore Garden saris, and Babita (the erstwhile Bollywood actress, better known as Kareena Kapoor’s mom) inspired kurtas and churidar sets, she loved fashion.
She stitched clothes for a young Aneeth, from leftover fabrics from her grandfather’s kurtas—replete with cartoons, laces, patches, and flowers. “I do not know how she had children’s catalogues, Korean looking kids in them. In my friend’s circle when I went down to play in a middle-class housing society, in the evening, my dresses were admired. ‘The girls would say ‘look what Aneeth is wearing today’. My mom was quick too so every week I had a new one on,” says Aneeth, who opened the LFWXFDCI 2024 at 13 Barakhamba Road, in the capital. Entire building resembled a child’s birthday party!
Thus, “nostalgia” plays a huge role in all her collections, this year is special, she celebrates 15 years of her brand, it is the core of her ideology. “There is a seriousness when we work with textiles, I thought there must be a lightness when we present it to the world,” she smiles.
When her sojourn began, very few buyers understood textiles, there was no dearth of craft, but it did need refinement. Either they would starch the Jamdani too much or the wool was too coarse making the wearer extremely uncomfortable.
Intervention must be from the yarn stage, is what she learnt at NID, Ahmedabad, also garments must feel good against the skin—like her Kullu Pattus, soft merino wool, refined, and it has been wholeheartedly embraced, the dyes used to bleed now they do not.
When you see a Pero outfit, you will always notice little hearts floating around, somewhere there is romance, even though when she started, she was not sure if the buyer would like it, she would hide them in folds. It was her way of giving love to them through embroidered hearts, later this became one of her many intimate signatures.
After two years Pero’s show is back, it is much anticipated, as she works with handloom, she wants nothing to be rushed—woven textures take time to execute. Pero shows whether it is a pajama party, or “Cuckoo and Co.”, with mad hatters or “Alice in Wonderland” are a treat for the audience, and what she is successfully able to do, is present textiles minus the rigidity, rather than being academic about techniques she makes it fun.
“I learnt this from my mom, she would teach me through stories, she would sing ‘State and capital’ to me and I know it till today. I could never mug up or memorise, but storytelling always worked,” she grins, maybe that’s why you see models dancing, as confetti burst on the runway, it is part of her expression of style, transporting you into the world of a child, where she creates her own universe.
In her press kits there is always a piece of Pero, once a year she shares her joy of crafting a collection, and like Coco Chanel she loves the flower Camellia, maybe because it represents resilience unlike other delicate ones, it can withstand harsh winters. “I like it, as it is underrated, the rose is considered the king, but I call camellia a modest rose,” she adds, even though Aneeth can never be seen donning florals, she is more of a Baby Breath or Forget-Me-Nots, the little blue flowers, kind of person.
Unlike Rahul Mishra, or even Gaurav Gupta who in their own ways are marketing crafts to a global audience through Paris Fashion Week, Aneeth does trade shows, if given an opportunity she would love to. “Globally they don’t know our story, only our product,” she admits, Pero is available in 350 stores worldwide in 35 countries.
Few know her fans extend beyond the swish set—she has ace photographer Dayanita Singh who comes and shares her latest projects, Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy works in her Patparganj studio known for the bright red letterbox standing outside like a modern-day mural, Mira Nair the famed filmmaker is a diehard Pero fan. “I am not much of a reader but I love pictures, I am a book collector and I have everything from art to architecture, we have always attracted alternate artists, like-minded individuals, filmmaker Kiran Rao whose film Laapataa Ladies is India’s entry for the Oscars. There is an honest relationship with them, pure appreciation from both sides,” she adds.
Even as the world is corporatizing and fashion brands have been taken over by ABFRL and Reliance brands, Aneeth like Yohji Yamamoto or Issey Miyake does not want to sell her business—she wants to be small but impactful. She never invested in a huge retail space. “I do believe there is a right time for things to happen, the universe is a big planner, I want to create a space where I can tell my own story,” she admits.
This LFW she is paying homage to the culture of DIY, GenZ loves making their own clothes. She has indulged in old textiles cutting them up and making new ones -patchwork—maybe it is grandma core but she has elevated it with French knots and crochet. There are beautiful Calcutta bedsheets in white poplin with red embroidery that have been converted into easy dresses. It also resembles Hungarian table cloth Aneeth saw, and loved the austere lines.
Her constants have been Mashru and Patan checks, Chanderi and Maheshwar done in a DIY way, she mixed fabric together. But what about those who cannot afford a Rs 50,000 Pero dress? Some years back she had a capsule line titled “Lazy Pero” where embroideries were less, fewer detailing mostly lounge wear. “Covid changed all that, I wanted to make luxe clothes handmade, attention to detail was far more, hoping to create heirloom pieces, you can wear forever,” she confesses.
If not, a designer Aneeth would be “a gardener, it’s therapeutic and peaceful” she laughs, but she is interested in people’s lives, maybe she would be an anthropologist, or would be travelling to different countries capturing cultures through her camera. Though with her brother Jasmeet joining the business, Aneeth can concentrate on just design, “we don’t interfere in each other’s work” she says.
“I like simplicity, till today I do classic basic pieces, but techniques and processes are elaborate, deep within I am a minimalist, less is more and more is less for Pero,” she smiles as she says the venue for the show is “redemption”. She had planned a show here and Covid struck four years ago, so it was only right to do it now!