Curtain Up, in Every Shade of Pink
Certain shows open a season, and a rarer few fix its mood for months afterwards. On the opening night of Lakmé Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI, presented by LAKMĒ × Tira, péro belonged to the second kind, unveiling Dream Dress-Up, its Spring Summer 2027 collaboration with Barbie®️.
Rose and raspberry washed over the room, where crushed velvet curtains framed a life-size Barbie box striped in candy pink and printed with a storybook bedroom of roses, ruffled frames and tiny flowers. Models stepped into it, leaned against its edge, struck their poses and walked back out, each one a doll who had picked her own outfit for the day.
Fashion seldom produces a pairing this natural: a label built on childhood nostalgia, meeting the doll who has been dressing the world's imagination since 1959.
Inside the Dream Wardrobe
Stripes carried the season. Candy-pink pinstripes, bold black-and-white awning stripes and sun-washed bands of teal and coral ran through tailoring, knits and trousers, echoing the striped walls of the Barbie box itself. Over them came vintage Barbie illustrations, ribbon bows, floral garlands and gingham, layered with the easy confidence of a child raiding a dressing-up trunk.
One look set a crisp black-and-white striped suit against a sheer floral shirt, its jacket scattered with embroidered keepsakes: a pink Barbie cap, a striped bow, heart-shaped sunglasses and a compact mirror. Another draped a pink pointelle knit, stamped with a varsity "59" patch as a sweet nod to Barbie's birth year, over a full, ruffled skirt printed with bows and roses. A striped ivory coat in teal and pink opened onto a lace-trimmed slip and a skirt printed with Barbie's earliest fashion sketches, while a trench painted with illustrated dolls closed out the story in péro's signature pink picot edging.
The men's range arrived with a joy all its own. A "Ken You Believe It" striped knit sat beneath a flowing teal shirt, and a coral-and-teal striped waistcoat met bubblegum-pink shorts, a knotted bandana and pink cat-eye sunglasses. A rose-striped jacket crowned wide striped trousers, a pink visor and a patchwork tote with a tiny pink roller skate swinging from its handle. Here, pink belonged to everybody.
Handwork gave every outfit its pulse. Beaded charm necklaces, crochet flowers, pastel hair clips, scrunchies, layered pearls and quilted mini bags made each look feel collected and deeply personal. LAKMĒ × Tira finished the picture with dewy skin, flushed cheeks and glossy lips, and the evening also marked the fashion week debut of the Lakmē 9to5 HYA Glam Range.
Two Worlds, One Pink Box
Dream Dress-Up came to the runway through Dream Theatre, Mattel's licensing agency in India, in partnership with Mattel, Inc. It lands with dedicated ranges for women, men and children, and it draws on values both houses have held for decades: individuality, imagination and the freedom to be whoever you wish to be.
The collection invites you to dress by instinct, curiosity and mood. Be soft or bold, playful or powerful, feminine, masculine or both at once, and change your mind, the look and the story as often as the day allows.
Aneeth Arora | Fashion Designer
For Aneeth Arora, the meeting point came instinctively. "Barbie®️ has always represented the freedom to dream beyond what is expected – to Dress-Up, play with identity and imagine all the different ways of being," she says. "That spirit feels very close to péro. With Dream Dress-Up, we wanted to bring our worlds together through craft, colour and play, and create a season that feels open to everyone."
Mattel reads the partnership with the same warmth. "Collaborating with péro gives us a new way to extend that relationship through a distinctive Indian design perspective, bringing together craftsmanship, colour and storytelling," says Kathy Shek, Director, Consumer Products at Mattel.
Jiggy George, Founder and CEO of Dream Theatre, sees in péro "the perfect partner that celebrates being Barbie while bringing India's rich fashion heritage and textile tradition to the world."
A Box Is Made to Be Opened
One idea anchors the whole season, and it is a lovely one. The box holds the worlds we build for ourselves, and its edges mark the spot where the adventure begins. A box is made to be opened, for dreaming, imagining, exploring and discovering something new.
The silhouettes carry that spirit into the cut. Relaxed and roomy, they are made for movement, ease and expression, leaving the body plenty of space to breathe and play. Gender moves freely across them, pink is shared by all, and getting dressed turns into an invitation to dream.
A Language of Joy, Spoken Since 2009
Behind the joy stands a house with a long love of dressing up. péro takes its name from the Marwari word for "to wear," and since Aneeth Arora founded the label in 2009, it has worn its heart on its sleeve. Headquartered in New Delhi, the house dresses men, women and children through chota péro, and carries the same warmth into the home with péro is home.
Its design vocabulary is lavishly simple and staggeringly complex in the same breath. Each garment holds a mosaic of craft, colour and texture, gathered from age-old techniques across the world and stitched together by a love of textiles that sits at the very centre of the brand. Today péro retails in 35 countries through 350 stores, including pérodise, its flagship in Delhi's Lodhi Colony Market.
The opening slot completes a graceful arc. In March 2026, péro closed Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI with the Grand Finale, and this October it opened the season. The FDCI reserves its Opening Show for the designer it sees pushing Indian craft and creativity forward, and Chairman Sunil Sethi described péro as a brand that "consistently delivers the most talked about showcases at the platform." Last night proved him right once more.
Dressing Up, for the Joy of It
péro Barbie Dream Dress-Up releases worldwide in Spring 2027, carrying the spirit of dressing up purely for the pleasure of it: mixing, layering, playing and imagining. Clothes become a canvas for self-expression, craft meets fantasy, and the everyday makes room for a little wonder.
As the last model stepped out of the pink box, the message of the night rang clear. Barbie®️ boxes are made to be opened, and péro has opened one for everyone. The season ahead looks brighter, warmer and a great deal pinker for it.
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Curtain Up, in Every Shade of Pink
Certain shows open a season, and a rarer few fix its mood for months afterwards. On the opening night of Lakmé Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI, presented by LAKMĒ × Tira, péro belonged to the second kind, unveiling Dream Dress-Up, its Spring Summer 2027 collaboration with Barbie®️.
Rose and raspberry washed over the room, where crushed velvet curtains framed a life-size Barbie box striped in candy pink and printed with a storybook bedroom of roses, ruffled frames and tiny flowers. Models stepped into it, leaned against its edge, struck their poses and walked back out, each one a doll who had picked her own outfit for the day.
Fashion seldom produces a pairing this natural: a label built on childhood nostalgia, meeting the doll who has been dressing the world's imagination since 1959.
Inside the Dream Wardrobe
Stripes carried the season. Candy-pink pinstripes, bold black-and-white awning stripes and sun-washed bands of teal and coral ran through tailoring, knits and trousers, echoing the striped walls of the Barbie box itself. Over them came vintage Barbie illustrations, ribbon bows, floral garlands and gingham, layered with the easy confidence of a child raiding a dressing-up trunk.
One look set a crisp black-and-white striped suit against a sheer floral shirt, its jacket scattered with embroidered keepsakes: a pink Barbie cap, a striped bow, heart-shaped sunglasses and a compact mirror. Another draped a pink pointelle knit, stamped with a varsity "59" patch as a sweet nod to Barbie's birth year, over a full, ruffled skirt printed with bows and roses. A striped ivory coat in teal and pink opened onto a lace-trimmed slip and a skirt printed with Barbie's earliest fashion sketches, while a trench painted with illustrated dolls closed out the story in péro's signature pink picot edging.
The men's range arrived with a joy all its own. A "Ken You Believe It" striped knit sat beneath a flowing teal shirt, and a coral-and-teal striped waistcoat met bubblegum-pink shorts, a knotted bandana and pink cat-eye sunglasses. A rose-striped jacket crowned wide striped trousers, a pink visor and a patchwork tote with a tiny pink roller skate swinging from its handle. Here, pink belonged to everybody.
Handwork gave every outfit its pulse. Beaded charm necklaces, crochet flowers, pastel hair clips, scrunchies, layered pearls and quilted mini bags made each look feel collected and deeply personal. LAKMĒ × Tira finished the picture with dewy skin, flushed cheeks and glossy lips, and the evening also marked the fashion week debut of the Lakmē 9to5 HYA Glam Range.
Two Worlds, One Pink Box
Dream Dress-Up came to the runway through Dream Theatre, Mattel's licensing agency in India, in partnership with Mattel, Inc. It lands with dedicated ranges for women, men and children, and it draws on values both houses have held for decades: individuality, imagination and the freedom to be whoever you wish to be.
The collection invites you to dress by instinct, curiosity and mood. Be soft or bold, playful or powerful, feminine, masculine or both at once, and change your mind, the look and the story as often as the day allows.
Aneeth Arora | Fashion Designer
For Aneeth Arora, the meeting point came instinctively. "Barbie®️ has always represented the freedom to dream beyond what is expected – to Dress-Up, play with identity and imagine all the different ways of being," she says. "That spirit feels very close to péro. With Dream Dress-Up, we wanted to bring our worlds together through craft, colour and play, and create a season that feels open to everyone."
Mattel reads the partnership with the same warmth. "Collaborating with péro gives us a new way to extend that relationship through a distinctive Indian design perspective, bringing together craftsmanship, colour and storytelling," says Kathy Shek, Director, Consumer Products at Mattel.
Jiggy George, Founder and CEO of Dream Theatre, sees in péro "the perfect partner that celebrates being Barbie while bringing India's rich fashion heritage and textile tradition to the world."
A Box Is Made to Be Opened
One idea anchors the whole season, and it is a lovely one. The box holds the worlds we build for ourselves, and its edges mark the spot where the adventure begins. A box is made to be opened, for dreaming, imagining, exploring and discovering something new.
The silhouettes carry that spirit into the cut. Relaxed and roomy, they are made for movement, ease and expression, leaving the body plenty of space to breathe and play. Gender moves freely across them, pink is shared by all, and getting dressed turns into an invitation to dream.
A Language of Joy, Spoken Since 2009
Behind the joy stands a house with a long love of dressing up. péro takes its name from the Marwari word for "to wear," and since Aneeth Arora founded the label in 2009, it has worn its heart on its sleeve. Headquartered in New Delhi, the house dresses men, women and children through chota péro, and carries the same warmth into the home with péro is home.
Its design vocabulary is lavishly simple and staggeringly complex in the same breath. Each garment holds a mosaic of craft, colour and texture, gathered from age-old techniques across the world and stitched together by a love of textiles that sits at the very centre of the brand. Today péro retails in 35 countries through 350 stores, including pérodise, its flagship in Delhi's Lodhi Colony Market.
The opening slot completes a graceful arc. In March 2026, péro closed Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI with the Grand Finale, and this October it opened the season. The FDCI reserves its Opening Show for the designer it sees pushing Indian craft and creativity forward, and Chairman Sunil Sethi described péro as a brand that "consistently delivers the most talked about showcases at the platform." Last night proved him right once more.
Dressing Up, for the Joy of It
péro Barbie Dream Dress-Up releases worldwide in Spring 2027, carrying the spirit of dressing up purely for the pleasure of it: mixing, layering, playing and imagining. Clothes become a canvas for self-expression, craft meets fantasy, and the everyday makes room for a little wonder.
As the last model stepped out of the pink box, the message of the night rang clear. Barbie®️ boxes are made to be opened, and péro has opened one for everyone. The season ahead looks brighter, warmer and a great deal pinker for it.
TO BE CONTINUED, FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.
This is where the surface ends and the reporting begins.
The complete piece, the full archive, and access to The French Press Circle. Reporting answerable only to its readers.
Already a subscriber ?
Login
Read these on the house, with our compliments.
A selection from the current issue, open to all readers. Read them in full. The rest is one decision away.
