Good At Everything

Fashion entrepreneur Pernia Qureshi is also an accomplished author, dancer and actressPhoto of Pernia Qureshi by Albin Mathew  Pernia, who had come to give a talk on retail sales, at the India Fashion Summit, last month, is always assessing design styles. That is because she runs a popular online store called 'Pernia's Pop-Up Shop'. Asked how she got the idea, Pernia says, “One day I realised that there was nowhere to shop online for high-quality clothes for Indian women. So I took the plunge four years ago.” The name 'Pop Up' is American in origin. Originally, there were shops in America that appeared at a location for a short while, and then vanished. Pernia named her shop, 'Pop Up', because the collections are there for a little while and then she changes it and puts up new clothes. She does her selection by following her gut feeling, after looking at the silhouette, cut, colours and what works best. “Indians love colour,” she says. “That's because we have so much of colour in our food, clothes and the environment. We are also taught by society that black or white is for mourning.” But since this is luxury wear, the prices usually range anywhere from Rs 2000 to Rs 6 lakh. So far, 450 designers have been featured on the site. “The talent in India is amazing,” she says. And the trends are changing. It is neither Indian or Western, but somewhere in the middle, which is how most people are living these days, she says. Pernia is stylish, as well as accomplished. Having done her schooling in Woodstock at Mussoorie, she did pre-law and criminal justice at George Washington University, USA. But Pernia realised that she loved fashion more. And she was lucky enough to get internships at top fashion magazines like 'Elle' and 'Harper's Bazaar' at New York. “It was the best foundation for me to start a career in the fashion industry,” she says. (The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)