My Clothes Are For Powerful Women

She wears her success lightly but with over 250 exclusive outlets and four exclusive clothing brands, fashion designer Anita Dongre has created a `700 crore company that knows what women want

- Kaveree Bamzai

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the more you produce the less you want. That is certainly the motto that Anita Dongre follows. The fashion designer who has four brands, employing 2,800 people directly, with 250 exclusive outlets, 656 large format stores, and 83 multi-brand outlets across India, could well be called the queen of consumption. Hers is a `700 crore company with stores now in Mauritius and New York as well but the aesthetic that drives this money spinner is as spare and personal as her work ethic. Most comfortable in her trademark shift dresses, Dongre is quite happy to wear them in different colours till they wear out. It is her unique, frugal and pragmatic style statement that infuses everything she designs— from pockets in lehengas for the bride who dances at her own wedding to sizes that range from the culturally appropriate 6 to a more realistic 20.

It comes from having lived for a long period of time in a large joint family in Jaipur—a city the 54-year-old still goes back to for design inspiration and family affection. Joint families teach you to work together, she says. They teach you tolerance, patience, and grace. “My maamis were the best hosts in the world. The way they conducted their lives left a deep mark on me. They would be constantly running the joint family, have no time off and never complain,” she says. Her parents moved to Mumbai just before Dongre went to college and she remembers she could bring home five friends and her mother would always have a snack and a smile ready. “She raised three boys and three girls and still had time to stitch clothes for us,” says Dongre.