At this point, we already know what a Péro show feels like. There is always a sense of story in the air before the first look even walks out. And this season feels especially significant, because the label is closing Lakmé Fashion Week with its finale presentation. Expectations naturally run high when a show sits at the end of the schedule, but if you ask designer Aneeth Arora, the mindset behind it remains steady.
“I don’t really think in terms of opening or closing,” Arora tells me. “What I do know is that people have their eyes on Pero. Whether it’s a show in the middle of the week or the opening slot, we approach everything with the same energy and effort. For us, it’s always about telling our story honestly.” There is, of course, a little bit of nervousness that comes with the finale moment. “There’s a bit of nervousness because it’s the finale, and people may expect something more. But in terms of preparation, nothing changes, no compromises, just 100% effort.”
In the middle of a very packed schedule of planning the finale show and pulling together the collection, I managed to catch Arora for a quick twenty minutes to talk about what this season is going to look like. What is the idea behind the collection, how it started, and how it eventually found its direction.
The collection itself begins with a very simple but striking starting point. Instead of winter’s predictable colour palette, Arora decided to strip things down. “Every season begins with a very simple thought,” she explains. “Sometimes it’s as basic as saying, ‘Everyone is doing black for winter, let’s do pink.’ This time, we decided to surprise people by doing something completely devoid of colour, just blue and white. No other colours at all.” It is an interesting shift for a brand that has often embraced vibrant winter palettes in the past. This time, working within just two colours feels deliberate and refreshing.
The idea gradually evolved as the team worked with textiles that had been in development for nearly two years. Péro’s process always begins there, with fabric first and narrative later. “When we started seeing a lot of pinstripes and stripe variations in fabrics like mashru, it naturally led to an office vibe,” Arora says. “At the same time, some of our bolder stripes reminded us of French Riviera patterns you see by the beach.” What emerged from that contrast was a story about transition. A moment between work and escape. The collection imagines the feeling of being at the office while thinking about a holiday, or perhaps returning from one.
Interestingly, Arora does not approach fashion the way many brands do today, with trend forecasting and market predictions. “We don’t forecast trends at all. Everything we do is instinctive,” she says. “In fact, I often say we’re not following trends, we’re wanting trends.” It is a perspective that makes sense when you look at how organically the collections come together. “Our strength lies in our process. It’s extremely rigorous and evolves step by step. When we begin working on textiles two years in advance, there’s no fixed story or theme. That only develops much later, once we start seeing the materials come together.”
On the runway, that office meets vacation idea unfolds through mood and styling rather than something literal. Arora describes it almost like the rhythm of a workday. “The show reflects the progression of a typical workday, the morning rush, the post-lunch lull, and then the anticipation of the day ending.” Beneath that routine sits the thought of stepping away from it all for a bit. “There’s this underlying idea of escape, of dreaming about being out of office.”
The styling carries those hints in small ways. Winter caps appear in the mix, referencing skiing trips or the Swiss Alps. Even the early looks, which represent the morning office moment, come styled with a slightly unexpected energy. “Our approach to styling is almost childlike,” Arora explains. “It’s instinctive, not overly thought-out. We want people to reconnect with that sense of freedom and imagination we all had as children.”
Textiles, as always with Péro, form the centre of the collection. Working within blue and white led the team to references that travel across cultures and histories. Chinese porcelain, Delft pottery, and French Toile de Jouy became part of the visual starting points. “Our prints are inspired by Toile de Jouy,” Arora says. “Traditionally, it’s a narrative textile, but we’ve reinterpreted it using florals. From a distance, it resembles Toile, but up close, it’s purely floral.”
Surface details build on that language. The embellishments include glass beads and stones that echo blue pottery tones. Some are half blue and half white, creating interesting texture when seen closely. Then there is one of the more intriguing material experiments in the collection. “We’ve introduced a hand-knitted wool technique that mimics the texture of fur,” Arora says. “It’s not faux fur. It’s 100% wool, knitted by hand, but it gives that same visual effect.”
Alongside this, there are heavy tweeds and textured weaves from regions like Himachal and Punjab. Stripes play a major role, from fine pinstripes to bold Riviera-style stripes interpreted in textiles from across different parts of India including Gujarat, West Bengal, and the South on silk. The collection moves between these ideas quite naturally, bringing together workwear references and holiday energy within the same space.
For Arora, after more than three decades of seasons, the process itself now feels deeply familiar. “Honestly, I don’t think of anything as particularly challenging anymore,” she says. “After 34 seasons, we’ve reached a point where we believe nothing is unachievable.” What remains exciting is the discovery within each stage of making the collection. “The entire process felt fulfilling. Every step was a discovery.”
The only part that still comes with a bit of pressure is the turnaround time before the finale show. The team will have just a few hours to transform the space. “We have about seven hours to turn it around,” Arora says. “That might be challenging, but right now, we’re just enjoying the process.”
We already know that Péro knows how to put up a show. We have seen it time and again, from the dining table show to the Hello Kitty show that became such memorable moments on the runway calendar. I am very much excited to see what show they put up this year. And my anticipation did make me ask Arora what it is going to be and she answered shortly that “It is going to be a surprise.” Well, we will wait for this pleasant surprise.
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