For its monthly interaction, Entrepreneurs for Nepal invited New York based young Nepali designer Prabal Gurung as their main speaker. Clad in well-fitted white shirt and dark denims parlayed with hi-top sneakers, Prabal looked all sleek at the event held on April 1 at hotel Dwarika’s in Battisputali, Kathmandu.
Prabal Gurung runs his namesake luxury clothing line in New York and was recently nominated for the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) -- the Oscars of the fashion industry – in the Swarovski Womenswear Award category. He has added, to the long list of admirers, the First Lady of the United States of America Michelle Obama earlier this month who donned one of his Spring 2010 collection’s designs for the donation of her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian Museum’s First Ladies Collection.
Crediting the success that he has achieved so far to his family, Prabal talked about his fashion journey from the doodling at St Xavier’s School to working for Manish Arora in Bollywood and later as creative designer at Bill Blass in New York.
“The person that I’m today is all due to my family, especially my mom, who believed in being different, celebrating each other’s differences and not following the norm,” he said adding that he was not a brilliant student and was often lost in his own world.
“Education is extremely important but prescribed education was getting very stagnant for me,” he candidly said of his schooling days in Nepal. But, he immediately added, looking at his niece seated at the front row, “But, it’s important to study for you guys.”
He also highlighted the need for integrity and passion to achieve one’s dream and find that niche of audience for your product. “If I can find a small audience that respond to what I am doing, my job is well done. If you try to please everyone, you will please no one, including yourself,” Prabal said of his early days.
Prabal said he decided to leave for New York and try his luck after watching the Oprah show. “Living your dreams struck a chord with me. I wanted to give it a shot. I wanted to live in New York. Even if I made a mistake, I would rather live with that mistake than regret that I never gave it a shot,” Prabal said. Oprah wore one of his dresses for the cover of her O magazine in 2009.
A self-proclaimed die-hard party person, Prabal said, “As hardworking as I may be, I also love to party. It’s absolutely necessary to enjoy life, enjoy success. Party gardaima bigriney hudaina.”
At the interaction, Prabal also shared his not-so-good experience of ordering knitwear for his Spring collection (at the New York Fashion Week) from Nepal. “The level of efficiency is still to be desired,” he said. According to him, he had a tough time because the delivery was not made on time.
If working conditions were better, Nepal is a possibility for his production, he opined. “Nepal has problems like traffic, power-cuts and pollution. Stating the obvious is the most boring thing, the issue is what are we doing individually to bring change?” he asked.
Prabal said his inspirations are drawn from every walk of life and “not always the prescribed way or from books.” He informed the gathering that he was coming up with different fashion products such as handbags and accessories. He also announced that he was starting philanthropy with a project on education with his siblings.
The serious interaction was punctuated with witty inputs every now and then. His story was followed by a tête-à-tête with the audience where participants asked him about his fashion line and life in New York.
Answering a question regarding using ethnic fabrics, Prabal said he did not focus on ethnic fashion because he wanted to be an international designer and not just a Nepali designer. “I wanted to be a designer from Nepal, not a Nepali designer because (Nepal) is such a small market,” he said and added that the Nepali youth should think beyond Nepal.
Answering another question about why he opted for designing rather than modeling, he said as a designer you control everything, but as a model, you just walk. And he did not want to just walk.
Prabal credited his success to his roots and said the reason that he was being able to stand out in a competitive city like New York was because of where he came from. He said Nepal has always remained a topic of priority during his interviews. “Every time I am given a platform whether it’s the New York Times or Vogue, I make sure Nepal is mentioned. I am extremely proud of my heritage, where I am from,” the designer in his 30s said.
The designer opined that he has only just started and “has miles to go before he sleeps. If success gets to your head, you might as well leave it,” Prabal said.
Entrepreneurs for Nepal is a network of over 2500 young professionals and entrepreneurs and meets every last Thursday of the month to share experiences and network.
Stupida, there's a simple answer to your query. As you have agreed all postings are not moderated. Once in while I have to step in to moderate things here and there just so that things don't go too haywire. It so happened that the post in question caught my attention as being intolerant and I decided to include my small message in there to serve as a reminder.
As far as rules being different for people - it's just like speeding. You generally don't get caught but once in a while a policemen sees you and you get a ticket. It's not true that other policemen didn't give you a ticket coz they know you or coz of some financial benefits, it's just that they didn't see you speeding :)
the admin needs to be consistant and deligent in filtering out intolerable character assissination of regular ppl as well. I see I am almost calling it quits from sajha because there is a lot of adult content floating around in the regular thread. I dont want to get into trouble by opening such things at my workplace!!!
I could not believe ppl were posting private/personal photoes of people and started nasty threads related with that...
Please create an adult section for those kind of threads....
Actually, I am looking for Ricky Martin's Twin Parenting Class. I think they gave me the wrong direction. Alphabetically, I am at the right place..P,Q, R.....PRABAL...then Q..and..RICKY...OH..never mind.!!
Rajendra Bhatta from of Bhim Dutta Municipality-4 of Kanchanpur district was selectedas the Satellite Calibration Scientist at the NASA centre based in the state of Virginia back in 2009 andno one talked about him.
"Aabakgarne" is very right here. Should be consistant and efficient. "Jun din time miloye teyo din hernay, ani man paray na vhanay delete garnay, ani aru din time nai chaina." I guess there were more disgusting and personal targets in this sajha than we just saw today.
I know San, You gave a nice example of police and tickets. But, one thing is sure, a loophole or some erorrs on systems cannot be corrected by pointing out silimar errors in similar systems. I know most of the ppl in hihgway drive over limits, yet only few receive tickets. I guess thats just luck or say a system is trying to create a fear in ppl driving over higway in over limit. Do u want us to be same here - get lucky or afraid of raising our voice with ...............fear?
If sabkosathi is right in what was written.........then I think there is nothing wrong with it. Make some speculations abut some sexual orientation ? common r we leaving in 19th centyry?........Everyone should have rights to express what he or she thinks unless he/she is not harming others. Now common don't tell me they were harming by defaming or something - k vhancha ni "charitra hatya" in nepali.
When u become famous, He should have courage to face the ppl inputs and everything that comes with it. Everything has its cost. Pppl usually don't talk abut anyone who they don';t know.
What is big deal abut it If he ia gay? or He has done bad things to others?....... He looks like and He should be proud of what he is.
I admire what Prabal Gurung has achieved and thus made a name for himself. By association, we Nepalese share his fame. By the same token, we do mud ourselves with the infamy of Kaushal Niroula and alike. Separately, their achievement could be viewed as an individual success/failure and we could take a neutral stance. However, as this thread has been marred by glittering censorship, I am befuddled by the responses. As is the case, I can safely deduct that it's not okay to say obscene to the good person while it's alright to say anything to a infamous one. Double standards much??
If there is a censorship, it should be applied evenly. This selective bias mentality maybe a human characteristics but I, for one, do not welcome it. It's all on personal level an individual should apply discretion and moral judgment while making a comment. The worse comes out when people assail others, sometimes rightly, or when someone trolls deliberately. Regardless of the intention, for all intents and purposes, we should judge the poster neutrally. The admin has all the rights to make any move in regards of safeguarding the integrity of all the people involved. Nevertheless, a lopsided decision where an unconscious prejudice is evident does more harm than any good. If there is a rule, it should apply for all or none.
Its amazing how threads start and end in Sajha. Yet, we call ourselves smart and educated. We will never learn to agree on anything. There is always at least someone looking for something to criticize.
Yes in an ideal world rules should apply evenly to everyone but unfortunately it never happens. If sajha was a big organization with numerous people working for it, then it would be possible to monitor every post and ensure same rules for everyone. Unfortunately the reality is that this is one person managed site and one person is not able to ensure that every posting is given equal monitoring. Maybe if i was able to work full time on it, I would be able to monitor more closely but unfortunately it does not pay the bills so I have to leave it as a hobby and hence I have designed few tools such as downvoting, notify admin etc to automate some of the monitoring. If I do get a chance to see some thing go against the sajha policy of tolerance then I have to do something about it.
In the case in hand, the user who has been a great contributor in sajha, posted an aggressively intolerant statement which I took the liberty to remove because using the N word for people of black origin is considered inappropriate and similarly using the F word for people of gay interests is not appropriate when you write to condemn someone with hatred. My action was more for the hatred against a group of people than for the person it was being written against.
As I have said, it's not possible to monitor every post - for lets accept it, it's a free forum, the users don't have to pay anything and you can't expect everything to be monitored 24/7 to uphold the rules equally for every posting that gets made here. The monitoring is done by the combined voting power of the sajha community, but every so often if some posts are seen to be outright demeaning or intolerant of anyones personal choices then steps will be taken as possible and as sighted.
Voipman, I appreciate your enthusiasm in participating in these sajha forums. Your presence adds a nice character to the mix of ideas in here. However please do be aware that people do expect some form of credibility and responsibility in your postings. Wish you all the best!
“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” Henry Steele Commager
The fact is that Henry Steele Commager is talking about a society in which it's common citizens pay tax to a government and which in turn slaps censorship on the people themselves.
When you say “Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”, you are talking about a government again.
Now, there is very big difference between governments and sajha if you didn't know that already. Sajha does not tax it's people. Sajha has a goal of helping out Nepalese people and to bring Nepalis together, and if any one's actions seems to be against it's goal, it has every right to say no to their posting or to deny them the priviledge of being part of this virtual community because their goals do not match the goals of sajha. So, Nas, with due respect I bring to your attention that you are comparing apples to oranges.
San, I genuinely appreciate your participation. I reiterate, I do understand your situation and the fact that you have limited resources. Even if you had unlimited resources, I believe such cases of moral dilemma would always be a tricky situation. I, as a reader and you, as and admin, have different perspectives. While my decision is inconsequential in the broader realm of the community, yours is substantial, albeit it's a minor alteration. Among the readers too, the opinions come from all 360° angles. It's really hard to find a consensus.As a result, there are always chances of perennial discontent from one user or another. I am not surprised when there is always a person who dissents when you take an action. I believe, those dissents from users are genuine and in no way personal.
The problem with all the discussion forums is the right balance between freedom of speech and the acceptability of the content through out the spectrum of users. The compromise entails the sacrifice of either one of them, or both. The sticky situation arises when a user knowingly or unknowingly breaches the informal contract. The solution is therefore the best fix of aforementioned two criteria among others. As the saying goes, 'what's goes for goose is not always good for gander.' Honestly, I do not know the solution of the problems. What I do know is that I won't amputate my arm if I have a problem with it and I am not sure how to act with it. I have witnessed your best intentions when you created the upvoting/downvoting mechanism. Unfortunately, people gamed the system and abused it. Once again, I thank you for putting up such a beautiful community. Ignore my criticism if I am not helping. I am just using my right of freedom of speech, maybe wrongly.
San Don't you think it's about time for you to get a moderator? a "trustworthy" (LOL) Nepali volunteer maybe? Wait, we Nepali do not understand volunteering, we want money for everything. And you have no money.We'll spread virus known as "corruption" on to your site that is in our blood.Well, I take that back then.
हजुर्......recalling back Sexy In Sari`s intelligent repreminded remnants states that , in most cases, the third gender people has deemed राम्रो छ value dollar roams as a promising bright - colorful comodity tantric symbols that confidence will helps the economy boom drasticly, has enacted present gov to commissioned a target 10% of behaved "precious"gay world community being graciously wellcome to Nepal..
Traditionaly when it about to say a man involved in fashion profesionalism, its imbued without prejudice with completely transcendental like the third gender creative superbility itself...in fashion lines women themself prefered a third gender becomes their fashion advisor cause only in the eyes of a third gender( being a man themself ) once can see how women can be more preety advisely look alikes...women wont comprehend if a women suggest for their beautyness too.....paradoxly.
When a man becomes identical profesionaly with fashion lines himself, therefore by taking designing women and man wardrobes, accessories,nick nacks and so on he is purified in third gender portfolios in what ever ways of liberation upheals...
yet the सुनिस्येको भने raise in chaos at sudden is not a serious subject to be taken into this कुरकने...
Melissa Whitworth has lived and worked in the Big Apple since 2001. She is one of the Daily Telegraph's New York feature writers. She has interviewed many leading personalities and written about all aspects of New York life and culture. Her photo-blog, New York Seen, includes unique pictures of and commentary on the city's people and places.
A fashion star is born: the rise and rise of Prabal Gurung
Gurung with models at his last show Photo by Patrick McMullan Company
The one to watch on NYC’s fashion scene right now is a young designer called Prabal Gurung. Originally from Nepal, Gurung has in quick succession – just in the last few days - achieved a fashion hat trick that has other up-and-coming designers weeping with envy. This month he’s the subject of a feature in Anna Wintour’s Vogue; on March 9th First Lady and fashion plate Michelle Obama wore one of his dresses for an official engagement in DC; and last night he was nominated for a CFDA Award (the fashion Oscars) in the emerging talent category. His stock is so high right now he’s finding all the attention hard to take in.
Gurung makes “clothes for a thinking-man’s sex symbol,” which is how he described his inspiration for his first solo collection in 2009. He studied at National Institute of Fashion Technology Delhi, before taking positions at Donna Karan and Bill Blass. Now he has his own label and the fashion industry has welcomed him instantly with open arms.
“Prabal embodies the American dream,” says Amina Akhtar the Fashion Editor at NYMag.com. “His story is so amazing—his background in Nepal and his rise in the industry. But it’s his clothes that really make him a success story. He really is the new American designer. The dresses are elegant, extremely well-made, and just beautiful. Who doesn’t want to wear them? And he’s not an overnight success story—he’s had training at Bill Blass and Donna Karan and it shows. It’s wonderful to see talent and hard work recognized. Also, he’s just the loveliest person on the planet.”
Says Maggie Betts, his close friend and sometime muse: “Watching it all from the vantage point I have, I certainly wouldn’t describe him as an overnight sensation. He’s very much the opposite, someone who has worked incredibly hard, really pushed himself and his talent and persevered to get to where he is. He committed himself to a dream, went through hell and back to get it, and that’s what makes him different from so many others. He sees the larger picture in fashion and is in it for the long haul. Nothing puts a bigger smile on my face then to see him finally arrive, it couldn’t have happened to a more sincere person.”
For any Brits reading this, Gurung is stocked at Harrods in London. His fans here in the States include Demi Moore (she calls herself his number-one fan), Rachel Weisz, Oprah Winfrey, Thandie Newton, Leighton Meester and Zoe Saldana. One can only wonder what dizzy heights Gurung will reach next. The CFDA Awards are announced here in NYC on June 7th.
Gurung with Anna Wintour Photo by Patrick McMullan Company
MAGA and all how do you feel about Trumps cabinet pick?
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