Renegades | Prabal Gurung on Being Unapologetically Himself
Gold House
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Welcome to Renegades, Gold House’s newsletter series spotlighting Asian Pacific leaders and creatives who are carving their own paths and defying stereotypes along the way. This week, we sat down with designer, Vice Chair of the CFDA, and co-founder of Gold House, Prabal Gurung. Born in Nepal, Prabal came to America motivated by a dream to live freely through creativity. He talks to us about his journey, learning from fashion experts, launching his own brand, and eventually became one of the biggest and most influential names in fashion.
What did you want to be when you were growing up and how does that compare to where you are now?
All I ever wanted to be while growing up was free and unapologetically myself. It started with this whole idea that I could never belong to a group, so I kind of had to be in my own world. Fashion and creativity became an early signifier of that simply because I would see my mother get dressed up, transform herself, and tell a story of a version of herself to the world, very freeing and liberating. As I was growing up, I didn’t know exactly that I wanted to be a fashion designer, I just knew that I loved clothes and that it could help me show a different side of myself to the world.
Around middle school I used to sketch a lot and became quite obsessed with it, drawing, sketching, all my notebooks were filled with it. My siblings, my brother in law, they all keep reminding me of that. I was 16 years old when I realized I wanted to be a fashion designer, even though there was nobody there back home in Nepal that was a designer. So I had to figure it out myself. I found out about designers like Yves Saint Laurent. He was my favorite designer of all time, who I learned about through my mothers perfume bottles, lipsticks and all that stuff. Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel I would say.
Can you share a little bit about the journey that led to you becoming a Creative Director, Vice Chairperson of the CFDA, and founding member of Gold House?
I came to New York knowing no one to study at Parsons. Right after Parsons, I started interning at Donna Karan, then Cynthia Rowley, then Bill Blass. At Bill Blass, that’s where my true learnings were about the craft, about everything that I know today as a designer about how to make clothes. If Parsons was like my degree, I would say Bill Blass was like my PHD. After that, I had a little bit of savings and I launched my own brand with a few friends. I honestly just wanted to start a small brand and grow slowly but it just took off immediately.
I was in the industry for a while so I started winning awards, like the Vogue CFDA Fashion Fund Award. When there was an earthquake back in Nepal, the CFDA was the first one to give a donation to my campaign. They reached out to me to be on the board because they needed different, newer voices. It was a big learning experience. What was surreal for me was the first time I was at a board meeting, it was Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren, Diane von Furstenberg, Anna Sui. It felt like the whole journey and the path that I’d taken - leaving home in Nepal - was the right one.
Gold House started right after Crazy Rich Asians. The studio had reached out to me to look at the screening, so I went with my team to watch it. At that time, I was one or two of the only designers who spoke about any political or social issues, so they wanted my take on it. I immediately reached out to all the creatives, designers, editors, everyone from the Asian diaspora in the fashion industry; I realized, because of my work, I had access to all the important tables within my industry and outside in culture. When I walked into those rooms I was often the minority. But I understood the power of a collective of thought leaders in one room, so I was like I want a seat at the table but I also wanted to create a table. And that was the collective idea of Gold House and how it started.
You’ve dressed some of the most prominent women in the world, from Michelle Obama to Kate Middleton, Simone Ashley to Alia Bhatt, Oprah to Lady Gaga. When you’re designing for such famous and unique women, how do you approach merging your own celebrated design mentality with their individual and iconic fashion sensibilities?
My job as a designer is to make sure people who are wearing my clothes - women, men, however they identify - it’s to make sure that they truly shine. I’m not putting them on a runway and showcasing my clothes, it’s in real life. So when I get an opportunity to dress people of such promise, people who’ve impacted the culture and society so positively and inspired all of us, it is not only an honor it is incredibly humbling because it really boils down to me collaborating with them rather than forcing them to do something. It’s about listening to them, talking to them, it’s about what it is that they want to showcase. As a designer, my design should not be overpowering the person who is wearing it. In a perfect world it should be working together like two different notes coming together to create the best harmony.
It impacts the business professionally, there’s a visibility factor of it. But it also tells a story that as an immigrant, I came here knowing no one and I built this business based on my dream and my desire to tell a story. I always think about the power of this country, what America stands for, why this is one of the greatest nations in the world despite all the ups and downs. It is still a country where you can challenge authority, ask a question, and have open dialog. A story like mine is only possible in America. So what it really does is all those people we’ve dressed, they’re life is that same American dream story. Hopefully by virtue of me being able to dress these people, there are other people who feel inspired that that is possible for them too.
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Rei Kawakubo once said “You need to design not only the clothes but the business as well. It is important to be in control of your business, as it will allow you to be in control of your creation.” As the Creative Director of your eponymous label for nearly 15 years, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about the herculean task of balancing running a business while also pushing fashion forward?
Patience, patience, patience. And also, don’t compare and despair. I’ve realized in the past 15 years, you really have to charge your own territory and understand what success looks like to you and what the dollar amount associated with it is. Otherwise you’re forever going to be miserable, there’s always going to be someone bigger or better than you are. So patience, pragmatism, a clear understanding of who you are and where the business is growing. You also need the ability to say “I don’t know,” and to hire the right people around you to build it out; This becomes really one of the most important things in growing a business or building a brand.
Though the world of fashion has broadened out to be much more culturally inclusive today, that wasn’t necessarily the case when you were starting out at Parsons School of Design in the late 90’s. How have your Nepali heritage and your focus on both fashion and activism most meaningfully intersected throughout your journey? Has the relationship between those two things evolved or time?
As a person of color running a namesake business for public consumption, you have a choice. You can assimilate to grow the business, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Or you can embrace your identity, however unaccepting or narrow that growth opportunity might be. I decided to take the latter simply because I did not know how else to be but myself.
Once I started getting notoriety, I decided to talk about it even more to make sure that the world we lived in could look like the dinner table at my own house, which is filled with people of different walks of life, genders, sizes, and races. I wanted to create that world because to me that is America. America is a colorful amalgamation but one thing that's common is this relentless pursuit of your dreams.
The South Asian region has blossomed as a luxury fashion market over the last few years, with many global luxury businesses shifting their focus towards entering the region. Having grown up in Nepal, having lived in New Delhi and Bombay, and having dressed many South Asian celebrities, what do you feel is one of the biggest misconceptions about luxury shoppers in South Asia today?
The biggest misconception is that the South Asian or East Asian world is going to take any kind of product that the western world creates. Especially in South Asia, India, Nepal where artisan craftsmanship is such a big part of the culture, while the shine of a western brand will have an initial attraction, the craftsmanship and the quality become important especially for the luxury customer. We grew up in that kind of environment where we saw artisans and craftsmen doing all that very elaborate hand work, we saw it in our backyard, it was part of our existence.
One thing that is also extremely important is that you have to understand the local market and what their needs are. The shopping habits of people in Japan, China, India, Korea, the shopping habits - and I've traveled everywhere - are extremely different. So the western brands really need to understand the nuance of it.
What project are you currently working on that excites you the most?
Right now on my mind is the September, spring show, which I’m really really excited about. And that’s all that's on my mind.
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1wFirst “Renegades” piece I’ve read & left very inspired. Amazing to have a platform like this for Asian/Asian Americans. I would never have imagined something like this could exist having been “solo” for decades✊🐲. Thank you for sharing your journey. Continued success.