A fashion collection as an autobiography. This was the crux of Prabal Gurung's fall 2025 collection. In the hallowed halls of Manhattan's Surrogate Court with its grand double straircase, frescoes and arcaded passageways, Gurung made a case of telling his early experience as an immigrant from Nepal and later as a fashion designer through clothes. That is until the release of his memoir Walk Like A Girl in March gives us more personal and anecdotal stories. But for now, the runway collection did all the story telling.

"While working on my memoir, I found myself retracing my earliest days in New York. Leaving behind an uncertain reality in Nepal and stepping in the unknown. Fashion became my refuge, my armor, my way of making sense of the world. Now in a time of global uncertainty - dystopian in its own way - fashion remains that sanctuary, a reminder of beauty in chaos," wrote Gurung in his show notes.

This manifested in the clothes through re-workings of classics filtered with a contemporary eye. Think men's shirting in oversized proportions that gives women that kind of done-undone chic-ness. Trousers in leather and pinstripes with elongated shapes. Structured vests that flared into knife pleated skirts. Sheath dress with sheer panels. Coats that cocoon the wearer either in double-faced wool or in shearling. Easy separates like tunics and pants with floral embroidery and crystal embellishments that had a painterly effect. And various chic polkadot numbers. The collection had a color palette that captured the current mood for grays and beiges with jolts of striking jewel tones.

"This collection is about breaking the rules. About the beauty in dishevelment, the intimacy of a fleeting connection, the comfort found in transience. It's about walking like a girl - not as the world define us, but as we choose to be. Loud, messy, vulnerable, strong. In uncertainty, we find freedom... We are seekers, storytellers, architects of our own destinies..." closed Gurung.