On Thursday morning, as part of the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s
Fashion Futures program — launched in partnership with Singapore Fashion Week in
May — three Singapore-based designers touched down at Prabal Gurung’s atelier in
the heart of New YorkCity’s Garment District for a chat and tour. The experience
was just a small part of the jam-packed, three-day immersive fashion program
aimed at nurturing rising fashion talent in the Southeast Asia country.
The itinerary, organized by the CFDA and Mercury Marketing and
Communications, will introduce the three established designers — Chelsea
Scott-Blackhall of Dzojchen, Sabrina Goh of Elohim, and Priscilla Ong of Ong
Shunmugam — to the American fashion industry via designer showroom visits (to
Carolina Herrera’s, Diane von Furstenberg’s and Thakoon Panichgul’s, in addition
to Gurung’s) and meetings with fashion public relations firms and retailers such
as Kirna Zabête and Fivestory. As part of the trip, the trio will also tour the
CFDA Fashion Incubator and visit a New York manufacturing operation under the
CFDA’s Fashion Manufacturing Initiative.
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Blackhall and Ong have run their respective women’s contemporary sportswear
brands locally in Singapore for five years; Goh has had her brand for six.
Gurung,who is in the midst of designing his spring 2016 collection, spoke to the
women about the importance of following one’s instincts. “I launched this
collection in 2009, deep in the recession,” said the designer, who was born in
Singapore but grew up in Nepal. “A lot of people told me, ‘Don’t do it.’ But
I’ve always believed this: the biggest thing you need to do is to gain
experience but also to truly understand your instincts. They will guide you if
you’re attuned to yourself and the things that are happening around you. I felt
it was the right time in spite of everyone telling me not to do it.”
After one of his looks landed on the cover of WWD, Gurung started to receive
calls from retailers, and he credits actresses Zoe Saldana and Demi Moore for
helping to propel the brand into the spotlight. “Demi [Moore] started tweeting
about my brand, and I joined Twitter to say ‘thank you’ to her,” Gurung said. “I
had never tweeted, and I was really not into it. But I immediately got 500
followers when she responded back to me. This was about five or six years back,
when the majority of the fashion industry was not open to social media….The
minute that happened, I was like, ‘OK, there’s something here. [Social media] is
an easy, free tool for p.r. and press.’ So I started doing it more. You have to
listen to your instincts. And I’m not trying to say I did social media before
anyone else — but I felt it was right for me. It’s really important to be true
to yourself.”
Gurung, citing his work with Nepal earthquake relief, also stressed the
responsibility designers have to use their platform to raise awareness for
bigger issues. “What I’ve realized is that I have a platform and I’ve created an
audience,” he said. “And I felt that it was important for me to do something and
turn the attention that was coming to me onto [issues] that were bigger and more
important…Being able to channel that attention and energy into something else
besides my passion has given [fashion design] newfound meaning for me. I suggest
to not get distracted and truly follow your passion, but to also remember that
if you have an audience of even one person, then there’s a responsibility for
you to talk about things other than yourself and your clothes. I’m motivated by
that.”
Another important piece of advice: Know yourself. Gurung pressed the
designers to ask themselves a series of questions: “Why is there a need for this
collection? What is it that I’m saying? And then look at your competition: What
price point do you want to be at? Who are your competitors? What are they doing?
I think it’s important to study the market. It seems easier than it is; it is
extremely challenging and extremely demanding. Think about things like: Where do
I belong? Where do I want to belong? Who is the woman that I want to design
for?… I’m very aware of my customer base and fully embrace it. You have to
accept it. It’s better to understand who you really are.”
Ong asked Gurung if he had any thoughts about representing the Asian
community in the fashion world. “I’m proud that I’m able to represent the
American fashion industry,” Gurung said, “because I wasn’t born here. They talk
about the American dream; I left my family back in Nepal, had never come to
America, came here knowing no one, went to school and built this brand. I feel
it’s only possible in America to do this. This is the country that gave me the
opportunity. All the Asian designers – from Jason [Wu], Alex[ander] [Wang],
Joseph [Altuzarra], Thakoon [Panichgul], Richie [Chai] and Phillip [Lim] — we’re
all friends. We text each other. We have these crazy group texts going on….It is
my heritage and I’m extremely proud of it.”
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