India's favourite designer Anita Dongre makes a bid for western acclaim

Dongre found global visibility after Kate Middleton wore one of her designs during India visit

The Duchess of Cambridge, Priyanka Chopra and Sonam Kapoor have worn her designs. Last year, Fortune India ranked her No. 21 on its list of the country’s most powerful women. Her clothes and jewellery are sold in India, the Middle East and Africa.

But not — until now — anywhere in the West.

This month, Anita Dongre, a designer born and raised in Mumbai who opened her first store in India nearly two decades ago and has since expanded her fashion house to include five brands — AND, Global Desi, bridal, Pink City and Grassroot — finally came to America, opening the fifth brick-and-mortar location for Grassroot in SoHo, in Manhattan.

What took her so long?

The move followed a year of success for Ms Dongre, who achieved an astounding level of global visibility after the Duchess of Cambridge wore one of her designs during a royal tour of India and Bhutan last spring. Hours later, AnitaDongre.com crashed from an onslaught of orders, with the highest number originating in the United States. By year’s end, Ms. Dongre was the seventh-most-searched designer on Google, after Kendall and Kylie Jenner and Beyoncé. With such visibility, Ms. Dongre decided the time was right to set up shop in the United States, home to nearly four million peoples of Indian descent.

She decided to use Grassroot as her vehicle for entry because she believes that its combination of handwork at affordable prices will resonate with women, said Yash Dongre, Ms. Dongre’s son and the head of business for House of Anita Dongre. (Ms. Dongre’s sister and brother are also employees of the company.) “People care about what the clothes stand for,” Mr. Dongre said.

The Grassroot collections combine contemporary silhouettes, such as a strappy dress ($335), a drawstring top ($95) or a billow-sleeved shirt in blush pink ($225), with traditional techniques, such as bandhani, a tie and dye method used for creating patterns, jamdani, a way of weaving on the loom, or Chikankari embroidery.

“We grew up in this environment having handicrafts available,” Mr. Dongre said of customers in India, “so we take them for granted. People are more price conscious. They don’t care about the stories. In the U.S., we can price it at a premium, and that won’t make it inaccessible.”

Ms. Dongre, 53, a fast talker and vegetarian who keeps to a strict 9 p.m. bedtime no matter where she is, began designing for herself when she was 15. Though born and raised in Mumbai, she spent her summers in Jaipur, India, and would work with local artisans to customize outfits, bangles and mojari (a type of shoe).

“I came from a traditional family where good little girls didn’t work,” Ms. Dongre said. “They studied and got married. When I chose my career path, it was actually quite shocking to my parents. The only reason they allowed me to learn stitching and embroidery was, they said, ‘Oh, that will be a good attribute when we go to the arranged marriage.’”

She studied design at SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai, despite her family’s reservations, and began working immediately after graduation. In 1995, she started her company with the help of her sister, Meena Sehra. From the early years, Ms. Dongre incorporated artisanal techniques into her work, using block-printing, embroidery and more. But in the last few years, her perspective on the value of these traditions has deepened.

“At that time, I worked with it because I liked the craft,” she said. “Now I’m working with it, 25 years later, because the artisans are dwindling, and the next generation doesn’t know the techniques. I’m realizing the craft may die.”

Ms. Dongre conceived of Grassroot about 10 years ago but kept it on the back burner because of time constraints. “I kept saying I would make Grassroot big one day,” she said.

Two and a half years ago, she decided to meet with members of the Self-Employed Women’s Association, a trade union in the Indian state Gujarat. “I realized I could not keep wasting time” Ms. Dongre said. She opened the first Grassroot store in August 2015 and has worked with the association since, as well as with a nongovernment group called Women Weave to produce handmade pieces in limited quantities with artisans across India.

“I have come to the stage where I’m questioning everything,” she said. “One thing on my bucket list is to record my grandmother’s recipes. She had a repertoire of 200 recipes. My mom has 100. Out of those 100 I know 25.” She added: “Whether it’s losing out on your grandmother’s recipes or your culture or artisan techniques, I suppose when you get older, you think back: ‘What am I doing to preserve that? What am I doing with the environment and saving it for the next generation?’”

The new store is part of her answer. “It takes courage,” she said. But, “The handcrafted traditions of India really need a global platform, and New York is the best place to start.”

© 2017 New York Times News Service