Prabal Gurung FW‘26
Designer
Illustrator
Photoshop
February 2025
A design study analyzing Prabal Gurung’s womenswear collections, emphasizing modern tailoring, color use, and contemporary luxury detailing.
Background
This project involved a deep dive into Prabal Gurung’s aesthetic language, focusing on how his designs balance clean tailoring with bold color and pattern choices, along with the help of Stephanie Waggenmen, a former designer at Prabal Gurung. The ideation consisted of examining runway collections, editorial spreads, and key design motifs to understand his approach to proportion, texture, and silhouette. The goal was to interpret and translate these elements into conceptual sketches while maintaining my own voice in the world of Prabal Gurung.
Research
Looking into the brand identity, I found strong connections between Prabal Gurung’s early collections and how he reflects his asian identity in his design codes His philanthropy work and initial collections, with their references to Laotian dress, Laotian colors, and draping techniques, demonstrate a his approach to representing Asian heritage in contemporary fashion. These elements were useful in guiding my own design process to fit Prabal Gurung.
Ideation
Color was one of the most defining elements of Prabal Gurung’s design identity, so I began this collection by selecting a palette as the primary source of inspiration.
Rather than starting with silhouette, I explored how color could inform form. Focusing on hues, contrasts, and layering to shape the visual impact and spatial presence of each piece. Once I developed color pairs and narratives within the palette, I turned to additional art sources for inspiration, including Sarah Moon’s photography, Victorian bandage diagrams, and Prabal’s signature use of red throughout his collections, which I connected to the vibrant reds found in traditional Laotian dress.
Final Lineup + Flats