With the ubiquity of “street style” photography and personal-style bloggers these days, it seemed almost too easy for Prabal Gurung to cite “girls in New York” as the inspiration for his debut collection for ICB, which celebrated its U.S. relaunch with a party last night at Barneys Co-Op. But he’s not interested in the women who fanny about for the cameras outside of fashion shows: “What I find intriguing is the girls who have day jobs — real girls with real jobs who are just fashionable, you know?” he explained. How does he tell the difference? “I’m not focusing on the girls who are trying too hard. I’m focusing on the girls who have inherent style. You can always pick them out.”
He finds most of these girls around his East Village neighborhood, or in the Lower East Side or Brooklyn, where he hangs out when he’s not working. Does he take pictures of them? “Yes. Tons.” Does he ask first? “No, I don’t,” he said bashfully, admitting that he had perfected the art of the sneaky iPhone photo. “I don’t like to bother people.”
