Pero
International aesthetics using local skills
Founded in 2009 by Aneeth Arora, a graduate from National Institute of Design in India, the name Pero means “to wear” in Marwari, a dialect of Rajasthan.
Make it stand out
Based in New Delhi, Pero pieces are instantly recognizable.
Drawing inspiration from textile artisanship from around the world, the brand has its own distinct signature expressed through the riot of craftsmanship utilized to produce the collection.
The men’s, women’s and children’s collections transcend boundaries between gender, age and geography, and has been described as
“lavishly simple and staggeringly complex”. .
Based on a love of craft, the collection sells in 35 countries through a network of 350 stores worldwide.
Ridiculously cute, Pero’s visual imagery is childlike and playful, but the artisanship utilised in each piece is no joke.
A riot of colour, print and pattern, everything is embroidered, embellished and appliqued. The real beauty in a Pero dress however is often hidden, it’s the tiny contrasting hand stitched hem, the weighted metal button tie attached with a ribbon and the contrasting fabric facing.
Based on a love of craft, the collection sells in 35 countries through a network of 350 stores worldwide. Ridiculously cute, Pero’s visual imagery is childlike and playful, but the artisanship utilised in each piece is no joke. A riot of colour, print and pattern, everything is embroidered, embellished and appliqued. The real beauty in a Pero dress however is often hidden, it’s the tiny contrasting hand stitched hem, the weighted metal button tie attached with a ribbon and the contrasting fabric facing.
This is artisanship to the extreme. Clothing that never fails to bring a smile to the one wearing it, as well as the one admiring it.
It’s the love child of Vivienne Westwood and a Harajuku girl, with subtle woollen checks encrusted with colourful beading, three dimensional flowers and ditsy printed appliques layered with organza prints and a profusion of picot edged frills.
One of India’s most respected young designers, Aneeth Arora won the British Fashion Council ’s Young Fashion Entrepreneur Award in 2011 and was also awarded India's Ministry of Textiles' Threads of Excellence Award.
Nevertheless, it’s quite hard to find information about Pero and even more difficult to find information about its founder Aneeth Arora, who is known to be extremely private, something in direct opposition to the effusiveness and exuberance of the brand identity.
Aurora lets her designs do the talking and doesn’t feel the need to promote herself above the work of her artisans. Arora doesn’t consider herself a fashion designer, but instead a textile designer who makes clothes.
The brands emphasis on traditional craft is a direct result of Arora’s MA in textiles from India’s National Institute of Fashion Technology where she experimented with traditional dyeing, weaving and embroidery.
While Arora’s early travels in Gujarat educated her to the importance of craft and its makers. “When I work with craftspeople, I stay with them, I eat with them.
It informs me about why that craft is what it is. A craft is made up of the place it comes from.
If you take those people out of their space and context, it’ll become a skill, not a craft.
“I was always fascinated with traditional Indian costume. Not the royal costumes but the sheer jamas – the clothes they slept in, or the under garments they wore at home.”
Arora’s creative process is an anethema in an industry dominated by Western systems of product development. She doesn’t sketch out her designs but instead begins her work by travelling to different locations across India, where she immerses herself in local dress traditions, often trading clothes with locals as a means of studying the construction of their clothing.
As an avid collector of textiles, costumes, and clothes from her travels, research forms the basis of her creative process, using garments to inform new designs and a Pero-isation of the construction and embellishment. It’s a very hands-on approach to design development. At least two months of research goes into developing a collection theme, with as much as two years in research, textile and embellishment experimentation.
Despite the diverse starting points for collection development however, Pero always work with the same craft clusters, maintaining long term relationships, building a common visual language with them over time. They don’t helicopter in to a craft community for a season, instead they build sustainable livelihoods for the artisans over the long term. “When we started the label, it was a conscious attempt to appreciate … craft and provide more work.”
Pero’s craft clusters are spread across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka, each engaged in their own regional expression of craft. From ikat in the south to checks from West Bengal and Maheshwari from Madhya Pradesh, Pero leverage the breadth of Indian material culture.
The diversity of techniques used in the collection, means the clothing itself is the result of many skilled hands, with Pero’s team growing into around 5,000 people, with new craft clusters added every season as the brand continues to diversify and expand their collection.
Pero’s studio is located in Patparganj, a busy neighbourhood in Delhi, where Arora has created a quirky creative play space brimming with books, clay figurines, heart souvenirs and dolls.
