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If you don't know the name Prabal Gurung already, commit it to memory now.

This season marks the launch of Prabal's first collection under his own name and it's already won over the likes of Demi Moore, Drew Barrymore, Thandie Newton, Rachel Weisz, Carey Mulligan and Leighton Meester - with a new A-list celebrity near-daily discovering, and promptly hopping on to, the most fashion-forward bandwagon in town.

Not that Prabal is new to the fashion game. The 30-year-old designer, who grew up in Katmandu, Nepal, honed his craft for five years at Bill Blass, where he absorbed the techniques of the traditionally-trained tailors. Prabal confessed in a recent interview with the New York Times that his industry friends, on learning that he wanted to branch out on his own, encouraged him to make clothes like Christophe Decarnin at Balmain. He declined with a firm "that's not my voice", and subsequently translated his technical know-how into an eminently wearable collection full of clean lines, old-time chic and modern statement details that look - and feel - wholly 'now'.

Such a bold move seems to have already paid off handsomely. Everyone from the Hollywood glitterati to the fiercest of fashion critics seems to like what Prabal has to say - recession or no recession. One of his dresses has already been featured on the cover of industry bible WWD and, with his spring/summer 2010 collection having been as acclaimed as his debut, the buzz surrounding the young maverick is growing louder by the day.

He's not yet stocked in the UK but mark our words: it's only a matter of time before it happens. Here's why...

Picture: Thandie Newton, in Prabal Gurung, at the 2012 premiere in Los Angeles earlier this week.

prabalgurung.com

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