Mary Ping

Who is Mary Ping?

Mary Ping is an American fashion designer based in New York. She is best known for her conceptual label Slow and Steady Wins the Race, although has also designed under her own label.

She studied fine art at Vassar College, graduating in 2000. The following year, aged 23, she launched her label. Apart from having attended design courses at the London College of Fashion, and working as an intern with Robert Cary-Williams, she had had little formal training.

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, and Tokyo. Her bi-annual collections focused upon sportswear 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 and natural forms, with asymmetrical elements.

In 2007, Ping's work was selected along with designs by Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam, and Behnaz Sarafpour to represent contemporary sportswear in the Victoria and Albert Museum's New York Fashion Now exhibition.