Prabal Gurung (Q5515)
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Prabal Gurung is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Prabal Gurung |
Prabal Gurung is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
2009
founder
Apolitical Prabal Gurung is not. During the last presidential election cycle, for spring 2020 Gurung posed the question: Who gets to be an American? This time around the question might be, Can a woman of Jamaican and Indian heritage become America’s first female president? It was clear what Gurung hopes the answer will be even before he took a bow in a T-shirt that read VOTE on the front and Harris/Waltz on the back: Note the minidress with a beaded coconut tree and the brown-and-white “coconut paillettes” (look 9).The state of America had been weighing heavily on Gurung’s mind, he explained in a pre-show interview. Asking himself when was the last time he felt free, Gurung found an answer in the Hindu festival of Holi, a celebration of color, love, and spring. One of the customs of this celebration is the throwing of colored powders. The collection was well underway when Harris became the Democratic nominee, but Gurung, who has dressed the Vice President on several occasions, found a way to mix politics and piety, by sending a cadre of models in “suffragette” white out at the end of the show. Perhaps it was the wind, but the pink pigment that was thrown into the air, presumably to color the garments, left hardly a mark on the clothes. Several crystal beaded numbers (looks 24 and 25) give a better idea of the desired splatter effect. That was also the intent also of a double-faced print with splashes on one side and polka-dots on the other.The marriage of Eastern and Western clothing tradition is a constant preoccupation for Gurung, one that he explored especially beautifully for spring 2024, and which he returned to this season starting with look one, denim/wool sari pants paired with a pleated tank. There were shorts versions and sherwani-inspired jackets. Of note were the sari/Grecian hybrid gowns that play with the earthy goddess look that is very much of the moment. Taking things in another, more classically American direction were bubble-skirted numbers and a printed set, mini dress and coat, that owed something to Bill Blass, where Gurung worked for a time.Maybe it’s because the designer has launched Prabal Gurung Atelier, the dressy looks were, happily, less grand. Even more encouraging is to see how the designer employs craft to zhuzh-up pieces that could fit into, or are inspired by, a daytime wardrobe. There were sharp denim trousers, and any number of floaty tops, some tank-shaped.
The suiting was strong and the sheer-to-opaque knits were a nice surprise. Note must be made of all the handwork that went into the pieces, notably the light-as-air chiffon plissés. While there were many beautiful individual pieces, the collection would have benefited from a tighter edit. It was easier to suss out where Gurung stands politically than to take away a clear point of view from this line up; still his message of hope and optimism came through loud and clear.
7 September 2024
Things got off to a powerful start at Prabal Gurung, where the first model strode out in head-to-toe red, a fluid dress over a turtleneck and pants. Make no mistake, this was not a cutesy “tomato girl” ploy, nor was it didactic. “I’ve done the slogan tees with the political messages. I’ve gone past that,” said the designer. This time it was personal, a meeting of East (sportswear separates) and West (sarilike) draping. The third look, a showstopping coat in the same hue, paid homage to the dress traditions of Gurung’s Nepalese father and family, and introduced one of the main material stories of the season, shearling, which was used in myriad ways for trimmings and full-on looks, some accessorized with muffs.That band shape, in turn, was an important and peripatetic element in the collection. In one instance, it wrapped around the shoulders; in another, it appeared as a furry trim at the hem of a dress. One two-tone minidress was essentially a tube with sleeves. Close to the end of the lineup, the wide band was cut into narrow strips that were reattached and assembled into a floaty dress. In the finale trio, in which the inner foundations of the dresses were partly revealed, the bands started to separate or unravel. This undone-ness was the visual representation of the collection’s theme: fragmented memories.In some ways, the show was like a slideshow of Gurung’s life; the cast included three of his friends:AndJust Like That…actor Sarita Choudhury,Westworld’s writer-director Lisa Joy, andPachinkoauthor Min Jin Lee. The tender bond of friendship seemed to be referenced by large scarves wrapped around the body. The addition of a sheer trailing streamer to a close-cut red satin suit was a happy meeting of structure and flou, as was a loose-fitting gown of ochre dévoré velvet (à la Fortuny) paired with black leather pants. (Hand-cut fringe was a nice complement to the shearling texture and the burnout fabric.) There was a lot of softness in the collection, and, as the designer noted, in the looser silhouettes that more closely relate to the amorphous quality of dreams and memories. “I almost needed [things] to feel lived-in,” Gurung noted.The designer picked up some of the threads from last season, though this isn’t as much of a breakthrough. There’s a bit less clarity here, and certainly less joy; to be fair, the world looks grimmer than it did six months ago, which seems to be reflected in those prettily undone dresses.
“I think dreams and hopes and optimism all have to be rooted to reality, and reality is also grief,” said Gurung, who finds, and shares, a lifeline in his work. “My thing is, I know what I know to make; I would say beautiful, feminine clothes, and I hope there’s strength in this beauty.”
10 February 2024
In recent years, Prabal Gurung, one of New York’s most socially conscious designers, has taken to using his shows as platforms for politics and advocacy. Between these activities and his taste for glitz and glamour, it sometimes felt as if the designer person—versus the designer persona—got lost. That dynamic was reversed this season when Gurung presented a kind of homecoming collection outside in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park on Roosevelt Island.The location had personal significance for Gurung, who in 2018 participated in a “Freedom From Fear” light installation in support of gun control. He is also moved by President Roosevelt’s list of fundamental human rights: Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear. It’s these things that have made America a mecca for people from all over the world, and turned the island of Manhattan, together with all the boroughs, into a melting pot. Born in Singapore, and raised in Kathmandu, Gurung worked in New Delhi prior to immigrating to New York. Part of his baggage was a sense of “rootlessness” and “unbelonging,” he noted in a pre-show interview. On a recent visit with relatives in India, Gurung experienced the pleasures of home on many levels. Not only did he unearth some deeply rooted personal memories (happy ones), but some of the patterns in the collection were inspired by his grandmother’s wallpaper, and, overall, the clothes were based on traditional Nepali and Indian garments. “It’s about time the West meets the East,” rather than vice versa, he said, noting that he’s observed a shift in “international power dynamics.”Fashion lovers are more likely to fixate on his power shoulders (not to mention gathered waists and tapered silhouettes). “It’s ’80s Escada and ’80s Bollywood—and also Bill Blass,” he said. “My time there and all those archival jackets are still a big part of my memory.” Ditto the jewelry “my aunts wore with their saris when they came to America with their broad shouldered jackets,” he said. This personal memory was translated into amber drops that dripped from an airy sheer tank, and also the oversized earrings made for the show. Fashion family memories came alive in the casting: Anne Vyalitsyna opened in a warrior woman white look to the strains of Björk’s “Hunter,” and Tasha Tilberg wore the penultimate ensemble; a sort of tank with a peplum borrowed, Gurung explained, “from the angrakha blouse that at lot of Rajasthani male dancers wear.
” Feathers that bopped on a knit number got close to Bottega Veneta territory, but in almost every other way, this line-up showed a side of Gurung not often seen. Indeed, the contrast between past seasons’ collections and this one was striking. There was a lot more ease here, more separates (see look six with the gorgeous draped pants and a corset layered over an apron-like chiffon panel that trained out in back). There were a number of beautifully pleated pieces, including a metallic blue one-shoulder dress and a longer yellow number constructed of rectangles of starched linen, which probably one-ups Mary McFadden’s synthetics in the sustainability stakes. In any case, working with “humble” fabrics like denim and linen allowed for new shapes and textures and brought things a bit down to earth, if not back to basics; Gurung makes dress-up clothes and these fit the bill, but in a way that felt modern.It might have rained on Gurung’s parade, but maybe that was also a sign of good luck, like they say at outdoor weddings when the weather doesn’t cooperate. In the end, the designer seemed to have somehow watered his soul. “I was so stressed, but it all worked out in the end,” Gurung said. “It was the models who told me, ‘Your job is to make clothes and ours is to show them, so don’t worry, we got this.’” No man, it seems, is an island, after all.
9 September 2023
What’s with all the lingerie and stockings in Prabal Gurung’s resort lookbook? On a Zoom call from Nepal, where he’s been working for the last few weeks with his Shikshya Foundation, which is dedicated to providing education to the country’s underprivileged children, the designer hinted that an official news blast would be coming soon. Gurung, it would appear, is in expansion mode, and underpinnings and hosiery make sense for him; he’s an eveningwear specialist. There’s also the fact that pantyhose and tights have made other New York designers a lot of money. See: Donna Karan.His models played the vamp in an off-the-shoulder minidress made from lace and draped chiffon, an hourglass-y plunge-front silk LBD, and a brocade-front leather Perfecto with nothing underneath save for high-waisted briefs. The power tailoring and polite printed dresses that have won Gurung fans like Kamala Harris and Huma Abedin were downplayed, but he didn’t completely neglect the more decorous part of his repertoire. An asymmetrical dress in a gold lamé dotted oversize floral was inspired by traditional saris.
15 June 2023
Animals are turning up all over the New York runways. At Prabal Gurung tonight, it was butterflies, their wing patterns supersized and printed on the asymmetrically draped dresses he favors and knitted as intarsias into sweaters. Backstage he explained their presence. Over the holidays he did a 10-day silent retreat, during which time he didn’t talk to anyone, and wasn’t even supposed to make eye contact. But he did come face-to-face with a butterfly, and he found it a useful metaphor for finding the beauty in impermanence.Gurung used the butterfly motif on waist shaper belts trailing long sashes and as accents on choli blouses. The collection was a dialogue between western and eastern modes of dress, between hard and soft, and masculine and feminine. The sash-like belts, for instance, smoothed the edges of sharply tailored trousers. Elsewhere, he topped delicate metallic lace slip dresses with swaggering duster coats, and reimagined the midriff-bearing choli as a cropped black leather jacket with a baby pink faux fur collar. Juxtapositions of this kind are what animate fashion. If a tuxedo jacket chopped off at the sternum and a pants-free look that pairs a silk blouse with nothing but briefs fail to shock us now, once upon a time they did.Gurung’s colors were bold and varied, as were his patterns, and most of the looks were heavily accessorized with jewelry: earlobes full of earrings, stacks of bangles, three-dimensional chain mail scarf necklaces, the occasional anklet. Interrupting the muchness was an icy white double-breasted coat dress paired with a long half-skirt and a draped ivory dress whose asymmetric skirt revealed a black inner lining. Historically, Gurung has never been a minimalist, but as he suggested backstage, all is change.
10 February 2023
Lately Prabal Gurung has been targeting a new demographic. “I’ve been looking at where real change is happening,” he said at a pre-fall appointment. “This collection is an ode to them.” Gurung sees a freedom in the young generation that he didn’t experience himself in his youth, and he worked with the photographer Cruz Valdez and stylist Kyle Luu, who are both 30-ish—“the future,” he called them—to help him channel it for pre-fall.This is a designer who dresses the Vice President. Gurung put a pair of pantsuits in this lineup, dialing up their hues to electric red and bright royal blue, and elongating the silhouette of the jacket, but the attitude here is more after-dark than boardroom. Spiked heels, PVC pants, and elbow length gloves send the message, and some of the dresses are photographed shorter than they looked hanging on the racks in the studio, the better to show off the models’ over-the-knee boots presumably.Corsets are a popular item across fashion and Gurung said they’re working for him too, so the lookbook opens with a floral version paired with a stretch sequin skirt and a mesh bolero. The finaleis a vivid yellow sari with floral appliqués sprouting at the hem that taps into his roots in Nepal. In between Gurung touched on tweed tailoring, deconstructed shirt dresses (one exposed the entire midriff), and fluttery shifts pieced together from delicate strips of chiffon, tulle, and crepe. Familiar Gurung fare, but given a sexier gloss. “It’s an evolution,” he said, landing on an adjective he liked: “defiant.”
6 December 2022
Prabal Gurung is troubled by the rightward swing of America. The overturning ofRoev.Wadehas set a dangerous precedent for the rolling back of other rights. What comes next—the outlawing of gay marriage? Intolerance for other forms of difference? He is outspoken on this subject on his social media platforms and in real life. At a resort appointment a few months back, he put it succinctly: Don’t shrink. The message on the runway today was similar.It started with the casting, which was something of a departure for him. Though he has long been a champion of inclusivity of all kinds, this show was “much more about characters,” he said. “And I gave them a scenario.” His models were at the club or a big night out at another kind of venue and they were dressed to be noticed. “You want to be seen,” he said, “not monitored.” But if this collection was a celebration of individuality, it was also about a sense of undoneness. Sleeves slipped off the shoulders of chiffon blouses, and trouser waistlines dipped to bumster levels. Lace bras and briefs peeked out from sheer blouses and pants, while tulle dresses provided glimpses of their bustier foundations.Unfortunately, there’s such a thing as too undone, an impression that wasn’t helped here by the overbearing styling. Early on, Gurung built his reputation on making elegant, neatly constructed clothes, and over the years he has won over power women like Vice President Kamala Harris with his suits. He doesn’t need to repeat himself on the runway, but nor should he shrink from what he’s previously done so well.
10 September 2022
Prabal Gurung likes his women strong, and strong women like his clothes. After dressing Kamala Harris in his suits for several years, he met the Vice President in the White House Rose Garden at a reception for Asian Americans last month. Michelle Yeoh, the kung fu mastering star of the excellentEverything Everywhere All at Oncewas his date to the Met Gala.“Femininity with a bite” is how he’s described his aesthetic in the past. At his resort shoot he used the phrase “unapologetic femininity.” There’s a subtle difference, one that implicitly asks: Why does being a woman in 21st century America have to be a fight? Why is the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for half a century? Gurung has been thinking long and hard about these questions. “I have to, I profit off of women,” he said, explaining that he decided his contribution would be to make sure that his customers “don’t shrink.”The result is a tightly edited collection that finds Gurung at his most exuberant. Not that he’s ever lacked for zest, but here he’s turned it way up: working with floral printed brocades in electric shades of fuchsia and blue, cutting matching sets in plissé sequins in the same bold colors, and adding lace overlays and insets to fitted jackets and clingy dresses respectively. There’s no shortage of ruffles, either on cotton shirts or silk slip dresses, and a garden’s worth of fabric blooms accent necklines. Definitely no shrinking violets here.
3 June 2022
The pandemic has kept Prabal Gurung from visiting his native Nepal for nearly three years. “It’s a tale of two cities,” he said of his new fall collection, “the city I live in, New York, and the city that I long for, Kathmandu.” Gurung’s heritage has informed other collections in recent seasons, most notably the spring 2020 show where the models emerged at the finale wearing sashes printed with the question “Who gets to be an American?”The East–West dialogue here was in a lower key. Gurung adapted the traditional midriff-baring choli blouse, adding crisscrossing straps that connected the top and bottom of dresses in embellished tweed or sequined animal prints. Other dresses applied sari draping techniques—turquoise or rhododendron print silk swagged at the hip or cowled at the neckline. The go-to dip-dyes that Gurung produces in Nepal made a return appearance here on stretchy ribbed knit dresses as he paired them with intarsia’d furs that picked up their colors.“I always say my woman is unapologetically feminine and glam, but this has a little more pragmatism to it,” Gurung said. By that, he must’ve meant the single black pantsuit in a shimmering cloqué, belted at the waist for a flattering shape. More tailoring wouldn’t have gone amiss, particularly considering the emphasis on bared midriffs elsewhere. Backstage Gurung explained that he has a lot of mother-daughter pairs as private clients, but those moms were a little underserved here. One look that delivered unapologetic glamour? Precious Lee in Gurung’s purple sequins.
16 February 2022
A month ago, Prabal Gurung and a few of his designer and fashion-adjacent friends launched the side project House of Slay, an online comic book in which their alter-ego superheroes combat anti-Asian hate. Gurung and company call themselves the #Slaysians, and they have a tagline: “Alone, each of you can be broken. But together you make a radiant fist.” The potential brand extensions are myriad and might one day include a TV or movie deal.IRL, Gurung has been finessing pre-fall, a collection that “slays,” to borrow a term, while remaining grounded. Emphasizing versatility, he added the rouleau buttons that have trimmed cutouts on many a Gurung dress over the seasons to a dark-rinse denim corset top and full skirt with contrast stitching, so that the pieces can be worn separately or as a fit-and-flare dress. Similarly an embroidered shift has a button-off sleeve.There’s also quite a bit of dip-dyed knitwear: simple pullovers, shrunken twinsets, and stretchy midi-dresses, which Gurung makes in his native Nepal. He likes the unexpected combination of a lotfy, boxy ribbed knit with a sequined sarong. Elsewhere, ruffled dresses in floral prints shot through with metallic threads take their style cues from Yves Saint Laurent, who was a favorite of Gurung’s very own superhero, his mother. Saint Laurent had a knack for special pieces that retained their ease—maybe that’s why they look so timeless decades later. Gurung worked on maintaining that balance even with his red carpet fare. A bustier and ball skirt separated by those rouleau buttons and a flash of midriff looked fresher and more modern than a traditional one-piece gown would have in its place.
10 December 2021