Indian designers are waking up to prêt: Anita Dongre

Designer Anita Dongre believes that the Indian fashion industry is evolving with pret coming of age and designers waking up to its global popularity. "Pret is coming of age and designers are waking up to that. The pret market will only grow now because designer labels are coming into everyday wear and everyday pricing," Dongre told IANS in an email interview.

"We have always believed in creating designs for all women. All my brands have sizes from 8 to 18," added the designer, who also runs Grassroots, a label dedicated to Indian crafts, handlooms and textiles. Talking about couture she said, "Couture is all about bridal wear. Weddings are the only time people buy beautiful couture. It is a great time for designers to put the most lavish collections together."

From Manish Malhotra, Anju Modi to Rocky S and Sabyasachi Mukherjee, designers are reviving the definition of fashion in films with their creations. But Dongre likes to maintain her distance from the silver screen. "Bollywood has a huge reach in our country. People look up to the celebrities for fashion trends. And these days most of the bollywood girls are extremely well-dressed.

They're big fashion influencers, said Dongre, who roped in actress Kareena Kapoor Khan as a muse for her brand ‘AND’ and Aditi Rao Hydari for the 'Love Notes' campaign of her label Anita Dongre recently. She also said that Kate Middleton's decision to pick her ensemble for one of her outings in India back in April brought her brand into spotlight globally.

"Of course it is a matter of immense pride that I am the only designer who dressed duchess Kate Middleton on her visit to India. It was a wonderful experience for me personally and the label made headlines across the world," said Dongre, who is known as much for her pret lines as for her couture creations.

Dongre will be showcasing her ‘Love collection’ at the FDCI India Couture Week (ICW) 2016 this week and will soon launch a 10,000 sq ft flagship store at Kila Mehrauli near the Qutub Minar this year. Asked about her collection at the ICW 2016 Dongre said, "Our muse, the young gypsy princess is free-spirited and yet embraces tradition in her own special way. Traditional styles like the lehenga choli and sari are reinvented in contemporary silhouettes."