Fashion designer Prabal Gurung has always been a storyteller. First, it was through the colourful, Nepal-inspired designs that helped him find early success in the cutthroat fashion world. Now, he is sharing his life story in words with his bold new memoir, Walk Like a Girl.

The book traces his South Asian roots – born in Singapore, he grew up in Nepal and spent time in India – and difficult childhood.

He eventually moved to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design, interning for Donna Karan and later working for Cynthia Rowley and Bill Blass.

He started his own label in 2009 and has dressed celebrities including Michelle Obama, Kate Middleton, Zoe Saldana and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Gurung, 46, says that processing his childhood experiences with an abusive father at home, and bullies and predators at school, to write and record the book was the hardest thing he has ever done.

“I really hadn’t told too many people, not even my close friends. To relive that part and to write it down … it was harrowing, I won’t lie,” he says.