WHEN I SPEAK TO ANITA DONGRE, the firebrand bridal couture designer with a ₹1,000-crore large business, 11 stores around the country and a firm footprint outside of India, she is unassuming and humble.
It’s a Sunday and I’ve caught her in her private moments, winding down from the week gone by and preparing for the one ahead. On the outskirts of Mumbai, where she lives overlooking a large expanse of forest land, Dongre leads a nondescript life eating what she grows in her backyard, driving electric cars and recycling any waste that her house inadvertently produces.
For Dongre, her bridalwear empire, now 12 years old, has been built on the premise of purpose. She’s found the sweet spot between consciousness and couture, where a legion of brides with a similar belief system find themselves surveying racks of clothing that represent, empower and employ the craft belly of India. Take her recent bride, Kirti Poonia, for example. The ex CEO of Okhai, an organisation dedicated to positively impacting 2,500 women artisans in Gujarat, wore a pristine white lehenga for a wedding ceremony that subverted religious rituals for thoughtful social ones, including guests planting trees and giving thanks to nature.
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Breathe In, Breathe Out
A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork
Red Pill, Blue Pill
India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum
Sign of the times
No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily
Return to form
Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports
Dimple, All Day
YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone
Let it grow
When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.
Beauty and the feast
The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.
Sweet serendipity
From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.
