None of the staff get any kind of discount. 'I try them on as any customer would and pay at the counter. It will be very convenient if a bride came into the store and got everything instead of taking a 24 hour trip to India,' says Dongre, who sources bridal fabric from Varanasi and has two embroidery factories in Jaipur.Ī core team of five to six young designers per label create 250 designs for each brand per season a fashion season spans three months.ĭongre approves every design and has even called back clothes from stores if there was something she didn't like after spotting it on the shop floor.ĭongre proudly wears only her creations and buys them from the stores. 'I don't want to open my store in the high street because my client is very niche.

The fashion house has four brands - AND (Western prêt), Global Desi (bohemian chic), Anita Dongre (Bridal) including PinkCity jadau jewellery and Grassroot (handloom contemporary Western wear).Īccording to the company profile, the design house has 700 points of sale with more than 185 exclusive brand stores in 84 Indian cities and in Mauritius.ĭongre is all set to launch Anita Dongre bridal studios, intended as a destination location, in New York in March, followed by Los Angeles. What lovely talent gone to waste,' she says with an apologetic smile.ĭongre, 53, is firmly anchored in her 10,000 square foot, environmentally compliant building, which serves as the headquarters of The House of Anita Dongre Limited. She was the only one who went on to make a career in design. There were 32 girls who graduated with a degree in fashion from the SNDT University in Mumbai along with Dongre. Those days we could not afford models, so we used to wear our clothes and walk the ramp.' 'I designed, cut, stitched and modelled it for my annual show in design college. 'That's the first garment I ever created that's me on the left wearing it,' she says, pointing to her younger self, wearing a one-shouldered jump suit. Natural light bathes the room as she thumbs through her phone to retrieve a photo her college mates sent the other day. In a black linen dress and sneakers, she is sitting on the ground floor of her design hub in Navi Mumbai, on the outskirts of Mumbai. She also likes to have meetings on the bridges that serve as breakout areas in the House of Dongre and work without air-conditioning in her office, which has a big balcony with a view of the hills.Īnita Dongre - one of India's most successful and exciting designers - has draped some gorgeous women ( including Kate Middleton) but dons a simple style of her own.

ATH-LEISURE: Anita Dongre finds swings therapeutic.

Dia mirza in anita dongre