What Anita Dongre said after controversy over her 'Love All' campaign

Anita Dongre has responded after designers Mehar Toor and Sachi Raval raised concerns over similarities with her Love All campaign.A model poses for Ada by Mehar's campaign (left), designer Anita Dongre (centre), a model poses for brand Same Sisters' campaign (right).Designer Anita Dongre has broken her silence after two independent fashion designers publicly raised concerns over similarities between their work and Dongre’s latest campaign, “Love All”.The controversy unfolded on Instagram, where Mehar Toor of Ada by Mehar and Sachi Raval of Same Sisters shared videos drawing attention to similarities they perceived between their earlier campaigns and Dongre’s newly released campaign. Their reels gained significant attention online, bringing a wider discussion around originality, creative influence and the challenges faced by smaller fashion labels into the spotlight.Neither designer directly accused Dongre of plagiarism. Instead, both questioned how creative ideas from smaller, independent brands can be absorbed into campaigns by larger labels without credit or acknowledgement.The controversy explainedMehar was careful to make that distinction in her video. Referring to her own campaign, which went live in March, she said she did not believe Dongre had “copied” her work, but felt the newer campaign was “inspired” by it. She pointed to similarities in the visual language and composition of the two campaigns, including what she described as the use of similar left-and-right framing. For Mehar, however, the bigger issue was not simply that two campaigns could look alike. It was what happens when a similar creative idea is taken up by a much larger brand with significantly greater reach.Watch Mehar Toor's video here:She spoke about building a young fashion label, where designers often have to spend money on media, work with influencers and actively pursue visibility. A campaign from a major fashion house, by comparison, can receive attention and coverage at a scale that a smaller brand may struggle to achieve.That disparity, she suggested, is what made the similarities particularly painful.Sachi’s concerns followed a similar line, but with another layer to the story.The founder of Same Sisters pointed out that her brand had explored the intersection of tennis, sport and Indian fashion in a 2023 collection also titled “Love All”. Dongre’s latest campaign similarly brings tennis together with Indian fashion and uses the same phrase.Yet Sachi herself acknowledged that those similarities, on their own, did not necessarily establish that one campaign had influenced the other. Tennis is a shared visual language, and “Love All” is a familiar tennis term. Two creative teams could, in theory, arrive at similar territory independently.Here's what Sachi Raval of Same Sisters posted:What left Sachi more unsettled was an earlier interaction involving someone from Dongre’s creative team.According to Sachi, a significant member of the team behind the campaign had posted an Instagram story seeking athleisure recommendations about a year earlier. A friend subsequently shared posts from Same Sisters’ collection, which Sachi says were personally acknowledged by the individual.“I don’t know what happened after the references were sent, and I don’t know if my work influenced the campaign at all,” she said.That uncertainty appears to be at the heart of Sachi’s concern. Her argument is not that a brand cannot explore tennis, Indian fashion or even the phrase “Love All”, but that the situation feels different when a smaller designer’s work may have been seen by someone involved in a much larger campaign.She also noted that similarities had been raised between Dongre’s campaign and Ada by Mehar’s work, bringing the concerns of the two independent designers into the same conversation.What Anita Dongre saidAs the videos gained traction online, the conversation eventually prompted Anita Dongre to address the issue herself.In a personal statement, Dongre acknowledged the founders’ concerns, writing: “I hear you, I see you, and I understand why you feel the way you do.”She said she understood the experience of building a brand from the ground up, particularly as a woman entrepreneur, and recognised why the two designers could feel strongly about the similarities.Dongre explained that “Love All” was rooted in a long-standing belief that lasting love is based on equality. She described the tennis volley as a metaphor for two people beginning on equal ground, leading to the campaign’s “Love All. Zero Zero.” concept.She also placed the campaign within the wider history of her brand, saying that love had been a recurring theme in its storytelling for years. She cited previous projects including Love Notes and Epic Love (2016), Tree of Love (2017), Jaipur Love (2019), Love Song (2020) and A Wildflower in Love (2021).Dongre maintained that the campaign was the result of an independent creative process and a narrative that had been developed over many months.“Different creators can sometimes arrive at overlapping creative expressions,” she wrote.She further argued that tennis and fashion have shared a creative language for generations, while “Love All” itself is a phrase originating in tennis.Dongre did not apologise for the campaign or concede that the work had been copied. Instead, her statement sought to acknowledge the concerns while defending the independent origins of her creative direction.“For over three decades, I have tried to build this brand with integrity, originality and respect for creativity,” she wrote, adding that those values were the reason she felt it was important to address the issue personally.- EndsPublished By: Medha ChawlaPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 17:52 IST