LOS ANGELES — When I first met Anet Abnous, the founder of Anet’s Collection in 2018, she had already earned the title of “Scarf Lady” in the community, with her artistic scarves occupying valuable shelf space in many stores. She had also co-curated Manhattan’s first Armenian female art exhibition in 2007.
So, I carefully choose a cobalt-blue and raspberry-pink scarf by imagining her critique.
“You are a small-scarf woman then,” Abnous said, turning a keen professional eye to the effect.
During the last four years, Anet’s Collection has become a mainstay in more than 12 stores, including museum shops in the U.S. and a showroom in Europe. Recently she has expanded the brand collection by going into jewelry, leather goods and other accessories.
Her passion for fashion started long before she immigrated from Iran to the United States with her family in 1996. Her father, Marcel Abnous, was a tailor in a province near Tehran and owned a suit factory, a business that he built from scratch.
During the apex of his career, the Islamic Revolution took place in 1978, and the factory was burned to the ground the revolutionaries. “No one was wearing a suit after the revolution. It was considered Western. I was only 4-5 years old but I remember all that,” said Anet Abnous.
