#543 Gia Kuan | Gia Kuan Consulting
The publicist rewriting New York fashion
Thank you to Gia Kuan for welcoming us into her Chinatown bureau in New York!
Gia is the founder of Gia Kuan Consulting (GKC), one of the most influential PR agencies on the New York fashion scene. Behind the shows of Telfar, Kiko Kostadinov, Ottolinger and Priscavera, she's often the one orchestrating everything: the strategy, the guest list, and even the art of seating.
Born in Taipei, raised between the Dominican Republic, New Zealand and Melbourne, she landed in New York in 2010 with no network and no experience, stacked up internships, landed her first job at Comme des Garçons and helped open Dover Street Market. In 2019, she launched her own agency — no business plan, and without ever pitching a single client.
Six years later, GKC has become the reference for independent brands. Over the course of a walk through Chinatown, between her showroom, a 90s-era mall and WHIM, the gallery she co-founded with her husband, Gia takes us behind the scenes of Fashion Week, shares the art of putting a young brand on the map, and explains why, in her words, you should never get too comfortable.
Timeline
01:27 : Episode introduction: presenting Gia Kuan, setting the scene in her Chinatown bureau on a Sunday afternoon
03:35 : The origins: born in Taipei, childhood in the Dominican Republic, teenage years in New Zealand, media communications studies in Melbourne
05:51 : The New York dream: arriving in 2010, the short program at Parsons, the formative internships (PR Consulting, Tom Ford, The Sartorialist)
08:00 : First job at Comme des Garçons as a PR assistant, then opening Dover Street Market New York with a two-person team
10:06 : The road to GKC: three years at Nadine Johnson in the art world, the decisive encounters (Telfar, Kim Shui, Raul Lopez), the green card that changed everything
14:39 : Showroom tour: the roster of brands represented — Telfar, Priscavera, Ottolinger, Luu Dan, Kiko Kostadinov, Sander Lak
16:42 : What is PR today? The multiplication of touchpoints, how the job has evolved over 15 years, reading habits by generation and geography
19:44 : The Telfar story: the genesis of the collaboration, the CFDA Award, from the White Castle parties to the Irving Plaza shows
22:25 : Agency philosophy: 11 people, no empire-building, staying hands-on — and a vision guided by instinct rather than a business plan
26:09 : What drives her: New York as a daily engine, the city of "weirdos", non-linear paths
28:32 : The love of print: the magazines in the bureau, The Whitney Review, New York Magazine, how she stays informed beyond fashion
37:21 : How GKC picks its clients: selectivity, rejecting the "big box agency" approach, the common thread of brands that can't be boxed in
41:10 : Walking through Chinatown: the mall under the bridge, the historic businesses, the energy of the neighborhood
44:47 : The storytelling method: breaking a brand's narrative into "chapters", talking points, the art of not telling everything at once
49:45 : The evolution of media consumption: attention spans, AI, the pendulum swing back to long form, the power of Substacks (Lauren Sherman, Emily Sundberg's Feed Me)
58:39 : Is New York still attractive? Cost of living, real estate, the young independent design scene and the challenge of funding a brand
01:03:34 : New York Fashion Week versus Paris: designers pulling back, once-a-year shows, how PR regions work
01:06:57 : What makes a good show? Product first, guest list curation, the art of seating and the guest experience
01:11:00 : The WHIM gallery: meeting her husband Anatoly (a garment bag story), the genesis of the gallery, the book talks, the Justin Hager show
01:19:37 : The secret of success: six years without ever pitching, the power of relationships, building a team "cast" like a show
01:24:16 : Turning 40, staying on the pulse without partying until 5 a.m., the three-new-places-a-year rule, travels across Asia
01:27:49 : The final message — "stay curious, don't be too comfortable" — and passing the baton: Mel Ottenberg and Blake Abbey