Anokhi Fashion Lifestyle Entertaiment

A disappointing revelation à la the Rolling Stones, I’ve discovered that one part of their well-known song lyrics rings true: You can’t always get what you want. And unfortunately, if you try sometimes, you just might find, you don’t get what you need. Case in point; no matter how hard I tried for the past five months, I couldn’t get what I needed. Namely, 10 minutes of fashion’s newest “it” boy Prabal Gurung’s time. Back and forth with Gurung’s office in New York yielded nothing more than a blank page. Judging by the way Gurung’s publicist guarded the designer you’d think I was trying to interview Obama instead of merely looking for a few quotes from one of my favourite names in fashion. Alas, in an inspired idea, I resorted to the lowest of the low — YouTube videos, Twitter accounts and Facebook profiles. Social media, as it turns out, is an interesting way to profile a person.

“I feel alive when I’m designing,” the short in stature designer smiles in a video taken two years ago. “It’s the reason why I’m doing this.” Dressed in a white T-shirt, black skinny jeans and white runners, Prabal Gurung’s unassuming appearance belies the fact that he’s the fashion world’s latest darling.

A bright palette of yellow, pink, red and green with an abundance of black and white, hand embroidery, polka-dots, cut-outs and patterns, Gurung’s latest venture, his Resort 2012 collection, is nothing short of sophisticated fun. It takes true talent to put together a cohesive collection of the aforementioned without having it look like a fabric store spewed its contents onto the runway. “I wanted to do something not just commercial but also covetable,” Gurung told Style.com. The masses were given a sneak-peek of the designer’s new collection with rapper Rye Rye’s music video for her latest song “New Thing,” in which she’s decked out in his clothes. “Nobody’s going on vacation with this stuff,” he told Vogue, “It’s about going back to the bestsellers people have been asking for, and reworking them into something fun.”

The darling of the fashion industry and the apple of Anna Wintour’s eye, Gurung has a design knack for turning the average — and not so average — woman into a goddess. With a collaboration between nail polish giant Sally Hansen, the 2011 CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear, the Ecco Domani Fashion Fund Award, a limited edition line for J. Crew and his recently launched Resort 2012 line under his belt, the 37-year-old Singapore-born and Nepal-raised designer has attained critical and commercial acclaim since the debut collection of his eponymous label a mere two years ago.

While some are touting Gurung as an overnight sensation, they neglect to acknowledge the hard work the designer has put in to be where he is today. Despite being involved in the industry for many years (he held the position of design director at Bill Blass, interned at Donna Karan and designed with Cynthia Rowley), it’s only recently that he’s stepped into the limelight with his self-titled label, Prabal Gurung. “Instant success is not something that you strive for; you work, develop your skill and build it up,” Gurung says modestly of his sudden rise to fame. “Sometimes it’s not about when you get there, it’s about how you get there,” he relays to his followers on Twitter. Since being chosen as one of the 12 designers for the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s (CFDA) Fashion Incubator for 2010-2012, the busy designer has been going full-throttle.

Launched in fall 2009, Gurung designs clothes for “a thinking man’s sex symbol” and, having dressed such beauties as Rachel Weisz, Zoe Saldana, Thandie Newton, Leighton Meester and Demi Moore, it’s clear that the thinking man’s sex symbols are donning what he’s designing. Gurung’s foray into fashion began while studying at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi, India. The cheerful student had the opportunity to work under quirky Indian couturier Manish Arora, aiding in production and design. “I love the way women dress in India,” Gurung told CNN, “I want women to look sensual without being vulgar.”

After graduating from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gurung travelled to Melbourne, Australia, and London, styling fashion shows and photo shoots for designers and international magazines. After seven years on the road, he took a determined leap of faith and moved to America — where he didn’t know a single soul — to attend Parsons and carve out a name for himself. And after 11 years, he’s finally arrived. One of Oprah’s favourite designers, Gurung is nothing short of inspirational. He’s a lesson in what hard work, dedication and determination can bring; proof positive of the tired but true ‘you can do whatever you want as long as you set your mind to it’ cliché.

The designer is also a proponent for human rights; in addition to his hectic work schedule and multitude of projects, Gurung was recently appointed as a goodwill ambassador for Maiti Nepal, a non profit organization fighting to stop human trafficking and sex slavery in Nepal. On top of acting as a goodwill ambassador for Maiti Nepal, Gurung also has his own charity: The Shikshya Foundation Nepal, which is helping 23 underprivileged girls by providing them with education. “I believe in empowering women,” says Gurung who established the foundation with his sister Kumudini Shrestha and his brother Pravesh Gurung.

Apart from New York Fashion Week and nurturing his Resort line, what’s up next for the designer? I, for one, am crossing my fingers that Gurung follows the likes of Michael Kors and creates a less-luxe line that is available to the masses. One can dream.

BY JACQUELINE PARRISH / PUBLISHED IN THE 9TH ANNIVERSARY / JANUARY 2012 ISSUE