Designs on a decade

Swati Rai

Sustainability, upcycling, minimalism, personalisation of style... These big words we hear all the time have placed fashion in a churn. The bottom line hence is that there are no staple style sheets. In these times, Aneeth Arora of Péro, which means ‘to wear’ in Marwari, has tried to stay true to the roots. Taking inspiration from what surrounds her, she interprets international aesthetic and uses local material and skills to create designs that connects with people. As her label enters the tenth year of being, the textile graduate from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, shares her journey so far and plans for the future.

Changing design philosophy

My philosophy has always been about handmade products. In India, tradition pieces are passed on from one craftsperson to the other, and it’s touched by many hands. What we get in the end of a unique piece. Apart from that, we’ve also always looked at things around us and incorporated them into our design. So, it has been a very simple philosophy of seeing what you have around you getting inspired by it and then offering it to people in a special way.

Virtual world, real money

We have not been selling from an online platform yet, but social media has helped us a lot in telling our story to people because it’s an easy media that lets people come into our world. And the brand has really benefited out of that as the more people learn about the process of making of Péro, the more keen they are to know about the brand.

On unavoidable plagiarism

When we started a good 10 years back, we were one of the very few brands that were using Indian textiles and looking at comfort clothing in the fashion industry. I had seen that void in the industry. So when we saw our designs being copied, it would bother. However, we now take it as a challenge and we try to innovate and offer something new to people every time.

Crystal gazing

We’ve just completed 10 years and are in the process of archiving everything we’ve done so far. So, this is going to be a very crucial part of completing a decade, stopping and looking back to analyse what we’ve done right and where we have gone wrong. The idea is to strive to become better.

Innovations

Currently, a lot of brands are looking at the techniques in Indian crafts. This is a very positive thing for Indian culture and crafts. And the fact that many people are working on the same crafts but trying to innovate and challenge the skills of the craftspersons also, is a big positive. The international attention has led Indian designers to valuing their own crafts.

Offsite ramp shows

Through our shows, we try to transport people to a different world. We narrate a story through every little detail that we incorporate in the show. For the initial few seasons, we were transforming the space within the fashion week, but realised that it helps to take to space which has a character of its own, which is what has led to us doing off-site shows. It also cuts down on a lot of waste and resources involved in transforming the space for a show.

Aneeth Arora calls herself a ‘textile and dress maker’. She says effortless dressing styles inspire her. Perhaps that is why her designs are timeless.

Trend-watcher or follower?

I am a trend watcher, if not a follower because at Pero we believe in creating our own trends. However, it’s very important to be aware of what’s going on in the fashion world. So we’ve always kept ourselves updated with what’s happening in design and technique. We do watch trends, but don’t follow them.

Inspiration notes

It’s an ongoing process. Everything that we see when we are travelling or when we are hanging out with people inspires us. We don’t realise but it is the smallest of things that stay with us. It is like having a little travel diary and writing things in it. And all of them surface when they have to. It could be a piece of music that’s playing somewhere or a good meal that we’ve eaten. So, I think, the source of inspiration is endless.