Fashion Week Designer Download: Prabal Gurung

By Nandini D'Souza
February 14, 2011

Prabal Gurung If you were to explain a top fashion designer’s relevance in sports terms, having Demi Moore (she of the 3 million plus Twitter followers) Tweet about how much she adores your clothes is like winning the Super Bowl. To then have Michelle Obama wear one of your dresses isn’t even quantifiable—maybe the Super Bowl, Wimbledon, World Series and Triple Crown rolled in one? But such is the trajectory of top fashion designer Prabal Gurung, who also happens to be one of the nicest guys in fashion.

Top fashion designer Prabal Gurung attends the 7th Annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

Much has been made of his sudden, seemingly travails-free rise since launching his signature collection exactly two years ago. In fact, Prabal Gurung (who himself boasts almost 18,000 Twitter followers) is an fashion industry veteran. After interning at Donna Karan he worked at Cynthia Rowley and Bill Blass, where he was design director for five years. It wasn’t until leaving that American heritage brand that Prabal Gurung was able to fully let loose his own fashion design point of view—modern, feminine, sophisticated, immaculately constructed.

Both the red carpet and fashion trendy crowds took immediate notice. There was Demi Moore, of course, and Michelle Obama, who wore a stunning red Prabal Gurung dress to the White House Correspondents Dinner last May, and again more recently, just a few weeks ago at a taping for the Oprah show. Hollywood starlets Zoe Saldana, Kristen Stewart, Carey Mulligan, Anne Hathaway and Thandie Newton also became fast fans of Prabal Gurung. And the fashion accolades rolled in as well. In 2010 alone, Prabal Gurung won the Ecco Domani Fashion Fund award, was nominated for the Swarovski Womenswear CFDA and was a finalist for the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund.

Celebrities wearing Prabal Gurung: US First Lady Michelle Obama attends the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, DC, May, 2010 (Photo by Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images); Demi Moore at the Cartier 100th Anniversary in America Celebration at Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion in New York City, April, 2009 (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images); Carey Mulligan at the Independent Film Awards at Old Billingsgate Market, December, 2010 (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Though so much has happened in so little time, Prabal Gurung has nevertheless already found ways to give back. Born in Singapore and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal (and ultimately trained at New Delhi’s National Institute of Fashion Technology and Parsons School of Design), he has set up a special fund, the Shikshya Foundation Nepal, to help provide educational and leadership opportunities for Nepalese children.

As Prabal Gurung prepped for his Fall 2011 presentation, which was this Saturday at Lincoln Center, we asked him what to expect.

The Inside Source: What was your inspiration for your Fall 2011 collection?

Prabal Gurung: My inspiration for the upcoming collection draws from the Victorian times with a slight savage, street-wise and romantic edge. In a way it’s reminiscent of Miss Havisham meets John Singer Sargent’s “A Parisian Beggar Girl.” It’s hard to pick my favorites as so much goes into each piece, but overall, I really love the languid shapes that I use and the plays on volume seen throughout.

Prabal Gurung Fall 2011

Prabal Gurung Fall 2011 Runway fashion (Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images for IMG)

The Inside Source: I know you're thinking Fall, but what are your favorites from the spring collection in stores now?

Prabal Gurung: There is something I really love about the unexpected color combinations I used in the first few looks that were sent down the runway. The boldness of the hues and the simplicity of the silhouettes make them an exciting choice for spring and incredibly versatile. They seemed to have been received very well, which is always great for a designer to see.

The Inside Source: Which fashion designers inspire you?

Prabal Gurung: There are so many designers who inspire me all the time, including Azzedine Alaïa, Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld and Raf Simons.

The Inside Source: What have you learned from the places you've been: Donna Karan, Cynthia Rowley, Bill Blass?

Prabal Gurung: With each experience I have been able to take with me an appreciation for different design approaches, a better understanding of fashion overall, how to really understand the importance of detail and most importantly, patience.

The Inside Source: What does acknowledgment like the CFDA nomination mean to you?

Prabal Gurung: It really means the world. It opens doors business-wise, elevates the brand image and personally, it justifies the past ten-plus years of effort I have made to do every day what I love doing.

The Inside Source: Demi Moore, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Obama have all worn Prabal Gurung—you could do worse....

Prabal Gurung: To have these leading ladies walking down the red carpet looking as beautiful as they do in a creation of mine is exhilarating and at the same time, great for business. There happens to be a snowball effect when celebrities endorse a brand. With that red carpet moment comes press followed by peaked interest from the retailers and overall greater brand recognition. With all of the celebrity driven magazines and blogs, it is inevitable that they will impact business.

The Inside Source: Last year was big for you. What’s your future game plan?

Prabal Gurung: There are of course goals that we aim to reach each year…. Of course I would love to expand into other brand categories, launch e-commerce, keep the door open for potential collaborations and increase our number of doors. I also need to make sure not to get ahead of myself and have every decision be well thought-out and strategic.

The Inside Source: Tell me a little bit about the Shikshya Foundation Nepal you created and your ongoing work there.

Prabal Gurung: Shikshya Foundation Nepal is an initiative that I started with my siblings and friends back home in Nepal to provide education and other educational resources to underprivileged children. Individually all of us had been doing charitable work for a long time and it just made more sense for all of us to come together and join forces to help build a better Nepal.

The Inside Source: What was the first thing you ever bid on/won on eBay?

Prabal Gurung: I often go on eBay to look at different fabrics and materials that they offer. Even if I do not end up purchasing straight away, I am often inspired by what I see on the site. Their offerings are endless, which sets them aside from other sites. The first few things I ever bought included a DVD of Madonna’s Virgin Tour, an old Wuthering Heights book, an old weather beaten camp tee shirt and a silver tie pin.

The Inside Source: Do you use eBay online auctions for inspiration?

Prabal Gurung: The best thing about eBay is that there is nothing they do not have. It can be anything from a button and a fabric to an old designer frock or accessory. I also like doing my research on price comparisons and it’s a terrific site for that.

The Inside Source: What are your favorite things to search for on eBay?

Prabal Gurung: Vintage prints and patterns from the most obscure places, old magazines like Face and all the great fashion magazines, white tees from all over the world—I collect them, art.