Anita Dongre is taking everyone along

Even before we walk into designer Anita Dongre’s home in Bandra, Mumbai, we’re greeted by her two dogs, Liza and Bella, the first a Golden Retriever, and the second an Indi pup she rescued during COVID. This is the second shoot and interview that Dongre, 61, is doing for the day, both her least favourite tasks, but after a brief lunch break between the two and a quick retouch of her hair and makeup, she’s ready to bravely step up to the mat.

Dongre’s apartment is on the 21st floor, with a splendid view of the sea. It’s airy and neat—no unnecessary tchotchkes or accumulated memorabilia. Everything looks like it’s there for a reason, and the few accents you see are either antiques collected by her husband, Pravin Dongre, or a splash of colour in the form of textiles from her eponymous label. The space is a distinct contrast to the clothes she sells, particularly her bridalwear—the lehengas, saris, gowns, and kurtas that are dense with sequins and beads, covered with traditional prints, and sparkle with gota patti, zardozi or resham threadwork.

Yet Dongre seems content to live within these contradictions. In fact, this balance may be what enables her to create such interesting work. To her, the distinction is clear. The work is an end but it’s also a means to an end; she’s catering to a consumer need while simultaneously fulfilling “the main purpose in my head, which has always been to give employment to people”. In her own space, however, she’s looking to answer, “the call of something deeper, one that craves the smaller, the simpler, the softer impulses of life and lifestyle”.

Those gentle impulses also occasionally spill into her work. Like the spring/summer 2025 collection, Vaana, where whimsical landscapes peppered with birds and deer, palm trees and flowering bushes were hand-painted and embroidered on to bridalwear essentials, all in soothing pastel tones. For Dongre, the great outdoors is a never-ending spring of inspiration. “I love just sitting by my window and creating. Watching the birds, being surrounded by trees...,” she says describing her factory and office in Rabale, Navi Mumbai. To reset and recharge, there are weekend escapes to their farmhouse in Pavana or a getaway to their house in Nainital.

On first appearances, Dongre seems reserved, like someone who gives little away, conserving her energies for better things. A morning person, she wakes up at 6 am and spends half an hour in silence, occasionally meditating. “I just need to be alone before I go out of my bedroom and face the world,” she says. Her son Yash Dongre, who has been with the company the last 10 years, says he’s the opposite. “I’m trying to squeeze in every last minute of sleep, so my morning is much more rushed. Get up, go straight for my workout… I would rather get 30 more minutes of sleep!”

Vaana, the spring/summer 2025 bridal collection

At the shoot, however, Anita Dongre is willing to chat, urging the team to have some chocolate cake (her son’s recipe, made of almond flour, as she’s been vegan for the last five years) and nimbu paani, given the summer heat. “Everybody in the family works together and lives together,” she tells us.

Some designers construct myths around themselves, feeding into the stereotype of creatives as solitary geniuses. But creating thousands of garments is definitely a shared labour, which is why right from the start Dongre has only sought to bring more people into her world.

The brand already has a long-time partnership with SEWA, a non-profit that works to empower women artisans. An emphasis on pichwai painting in the last few years is the result of a collaboration with Lekhraj, an artisan from Jaipur whom she met while he was restoring the ceiling of the City Palace. “He called me because he needed work, and now he’s able to employ 30 people. He’s become an entrepreneur,” she shares.

Anita Dongre was also one of the first Indian brands to sign up with the NGO Canopy, which works to eliminate the procurement of raw materials from forestland and also runs community tailoring units in rural Maharashtra. These layers of co-operation are crucial to how she sees her brand evolving, growing while carrying others along.

Over the years she’s also added (and removed) multiple sub-brands to embrace a bigger audience. Right now there is AND for contemporary western wear; Global Desi for affordable and Gen Z-friendly fusionwear; Grassroots, a luxury prêt line; and of course the Anita Dongre bridal range.

Few Indian designers have produced such a robust body of work. Dongre’s journey is reflected in the clothes she’s put out in the world. The prêt labels are a symbol of her early impulses, when, as a fresh graduate of SNDT College in Mumbai, she was inspired by Giorgio Armani to build a brand that would have multiple access points—from ready-to-wear to couture—and be worn by women across the country. Grassroot, her youngest brand, was a passion project, launched in 2015 to bridge the gap she saw between artisans and consumers. As she got older, she realised that instead of retiring and working in social services, fashion could be a tool for change. She says, “There will definitely be bigger collections from Grassroot in the coming years. We’re focussing on working with a larger team there, and right now anything to do with craft excites me.”

At the same time, her own team is just getting bigger. Almost 30 years since she launched her label in 1995 with her sister, Meena Sehra, who looks after production; her brother, Mukesh Sawlani, who takes care of the finance and operations; and their four master tailors. It’s now almost 1,500 people strong. They retail from over 80 brand stores, including a bridal store in New York. The fact that she works with family might, in fact, be one of the secrets to her success, along with her own drive and vision.

I ask Yash what it was like growing up in a home where work was such a priority. “Both my parents were first-generation entrepreneurs, in very different businesses [his father works in agricultural commodities], so they were very busy. But that meant I was exposed to what it takes to start something from the ground up,” he says. Was mother’s guilt ever a thing for her? “I was a very good mom and, to be honest, Yash was actually brought up by five women—me, my two sisters, my mother, and my mother-in-law. It really took a village, but I was always very hands-on,” says Dongre reminiscing about the early years. “Once I came back from work, I don’t think I had a social life. I was devoted to Yash. I gave up reading fiction because I couldn’t afford to be up till 3 am sucked into a book!” But there’s no Succession-type family dramas to be seen here—she never presumed Yash would join the family business. “He just started coming to work one day. It was very easy, I don’t even know when it happened. That’s the great thing about working with family. Things are seamless.”

Art Direction by Mehak Jindal