Prabal Gurung | Success Story Of A Modern Luxury Designer

Prabal Gurung is a luxury fashion designer his roots are in Nepal. His success story describes that boundaries can’t stop talent from making its way. Prabal is a designer, but he is also known as a philanthropist for his works in Nepal. He contributes as much he can help in the development of Nepal.

Early Life

On the 31st of March 1979, Prabal Gurung was born and Singapore. Later his family moved to Kathmandu, Nepal. He has two siblings, and his mother worked as a boutique owner. At the same time, his older brother is an Indian film director. And Prabal’s sister contributes to social work and is a teacher by profession. He completed his schooling at St. Xavier’s School at Jwalakhel. 

He has a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management. But fashion Caught his attention when he moved to Delhi, India. He even attended the National Institute of Fashion India, New Delhi. After this, he worked as an apprentice in several local fashion houses like Manish Arora. He got his first exposure by working as an Assistant stylist in London and Melbourne during the fashion shows for international print media.

Career

Prabal Gurung moved from New Delhi to New York City in 1999. He studied at Parsons School of Design and worked under an internship with Donna Karan. Gurung then went on to design for five years as a design director. He launched his major fashion line during Fashion Week in February 2009, branded PRABAL GURUNG.

His other achievements include designing for first lady Michelle Obama, Duchess Kate Middleton. He is listed as one finalist among many others when it comes to winning the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award (2012) & receiving the CFDA-Swarovski Awards twice. He has also worked with Lane Bryant (2017), Target (2013), and MAC Cosmetics (2014). Finally becoming a member of both The CFDA and The Costume Institute Museum at the Metropolitan Museum.

Philanthropy

Apart from being a fashion designer, Prabal is also a philanthropist. He established the Shikshya Foundation in Nepal, a non-profit program to benefit underprivileged children in Nepal. Prabal created this program in 2012, which has helped over sixty students to date. He collaborated with TOMS design company to raise awareness for his project in 2016.

Also, Prabal Gurung has taken steps to raise awareness for Planned Parenthood. In 2015 he created a relief fund for Nepal earthquake victims, raising almost 1 million. Gurung has been part of campaigns like “Stop Asian Hate.” Its focus is to stop the rise in Asian hate crimes and racism as intensified by the pandemic situation in 2020.

Lesson to Learn

Prabal Gurung once said,  “There is undoubtedly a lot of pressure that comes with recognition, which can be a good thing and bad thing all at the same time. But if you stay focused and don’t lose sight of what you’re doing and who you are, you can rise above it.” Everyone can give a pep talk to make your mood lighten for a minute or an hour. But only you can change your life and move on. People tend to notice the bad things in their life really soon and leave the good parts on hold. You need to notice your talents and see what makes you happy. And once clear, no one can stop you from being the best because you got yourself.

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