Mary Ping
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Mary Ping (born 1978) is an American fashion designer based in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. She is best known for her conceptual label "Slow and Steady Wins the Race" (founded in New York in 2001-2), although she has also designed under her own label.


Biography

Ping studied fine art at
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
, graduating in 2000. The following year, aged 23, she launched her label. Apart from having attended design courses at the
London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate study, short courses, study-abroad courses and business t ...
, and working as an intern with
Robert Cary-Williams Robert Cary-Williams is an avant-garde British fashion designer. Robert Cary-Williams studied fashion design at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, and set up his own-name label in 1998. In 1999, he won the British Fashion Counci ...
, she had had little formal training.Mary Ping
in the ''New York Fashion Now'' exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum
In 2004, Mary Ping was one of five winners of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award. As of 2007 her designs were sold in New York,
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, and
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. Her bi-annual collections focused upon
sportswear Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical spor ...
designs featuring simple, multi-functional shapes, mix-and-match separates for daywear, and deceptively simple evening wear. In 2008, her work was described as based on
postmodern architecture Postmodern architecture is a style or movement which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the International Style (architecture), international style adv ...
and natural forms, with asymmetrical elements. In 2007, Ping's work was selected along with designs by
Zac Posen Zachary E. Posen (; born October 24, 1980) is an American fashion designer. Early life Zachary E. Posen was born and raised in a American Jews, Jewish family in New York City, residing in the SoHo neighborhood of lower Manhattan. He is the son ...
,
Proenza Schouler Proenza Schouler is a womenswear and accessories brand founded in New York City in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. In October 2024 Proenza Schouler appointed Shira Suveyke Snyder as chief executive officer, succeeding Kay ...
,
Derek Lam Derek Lam (born 1967) is an American fashion designer. In addition to designing his own line, Lam was Tod's creative director for ready-to-wear and accessories from 2005 until 2010. Early life and education Lam was born in San Francisco, Californ ...
, and Behnaz Sarafpour to represent contemporary sportswear in the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
's ''New York Fashion Now'' exhibition. Her alternative label, ''Slow and Steady'', was also featured in the Avant-Garde section of the V&A exhibition. Ping was inducted into the
Council of Fashion Designers of America The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessor ...
in 2007. As of 2013, Mary Ping has ceased designing under her own name. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum at F.I.T., the R.I.S.D. Museum, Deste Foundation, and the Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette. She is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.


Slow and Steady Wins the Race

At the time of the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibition in 2007, Slow and Steady Wins the Race was presented as having been founded on the
Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...
in 2001 by an anonymous 23-year-old creator born in New York. However, Ping was openly linked with the label as early as 2005, and by 2008, was increasingly known as the label's founder. The concept of the label in 2005 was to offer inexpensive, affordable designs in limited numbers (originally 100, but increased to 3500), retailing for less than $100 apiece. Described as anti-consumerist, it was intended to offer designs that challenged the
obsolescence Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when comp ...
of the output of the traditional fashion industry. One of Slow and Steady Wins the Race's best-known lines was their re-interpretations of
It Bag An it bag is a high-priced designer handbag that has become a popular best-seller. The phenomenon arose in the fashion industry and was named in the 1990s and 2000s. Examples of handbag brands that have been considered "it bags" are Chanel, Hermè ...
s based on designer bags by
Balenciaga Balenciaga SA ( , , ) is a Spanish Basque luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmeti ...
,
Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...
, and
Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior, is a French Multinational corporation, multinational luxury goods company that is controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH. , Dior controlled around 42% of ...
among others. Made in calico and reduced to the bare essentials, custom-made designer fittings were replaced by equivalent metalwork from
hardware store Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing ...
s. In 2017, Slow and Steady Wins the Race received Cooper Hewitt's National Design Award for achievements in Fashion Design. In 2017, Slow and Steady Wins the Race was featured in MoMA's fashion exhibit ''Items: Is Fashion Modern?'', the museum's first fashion exhibit in 70 years.


See also

*
Chinese Americans in New York City The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Overseas Chinese, Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing List of regions of China, all 34 provincial-level administrative units ...


References


External links



Theme magazine profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Ping, Mary 1978 births American fashion designers of Chinese descent American fashion designers Vassar College alumni Living people Fashion designers from New York City American women fashion designers