Born in Queens to Chinese immigrants, Ping was six when she began designing clothes. 'I started out designing for my Barbies. Then, when I was 12, I made my very first garment - a fuchsia tent dress,' she says.

Both her mother, a self-proclaimed fashionista, and her grandmother helped her realise her dream. 'My grandma taught me how to sew and once I learnt how to do that, I knew design was what I wanted to do,' she says.

Ping didn't study fashion. She took a degree in visual arts from New York's Vassar College, where she developed an interest in art. 'It was basically about teaching myself and I designed based on my own personal taste,' she says.

After graduating in 2000, she spent a year in London shadowing British couturier Robert Cary-Williams. Ping describes this time as 'a test of endurance and figuring things out on our own. It was like straight out of a movie. We were working in a basement, and we were all there because we cared so much about fashion.'

She eventually returned to New York and took an internship with fellow Asian designer Anna Sui, before deciding to launch her own line in 2001. She says her clothes are inspired by postmodern architecture and linear shapes from nature.

'With my art background, I think a lot about design, about design purity, inventiveness, about new ideas, making it relevant but also making it timeless,' Ping says. 'They're pretty lofty goals, but that's what I try to shape my work around.'

Most of her designs are realised in a mono palette, such as shades of black, grey and white. When she does infuse colour, she favours solid blocks such as navy, brown and beige. With the exception of polka-dots and stripes, she's not a fan of prints. Her forte lies in her choice of fabrics and she designs with length and draping in mind. Her layered-knit sweater dresses might feature a pattern that coils down from the neck, long silk gowns are shredded at the bottom and reversible trench coats have pointy ends that dip below the knee in grey tweed and black velvet. Skinny pants, and clothes that are shiny, woolly or just a tad too big, were among the looks Ping offered for autumn. Metallics replaced the beading, and her draped look was feminised by lifting the hemline or cinching the waist.

'I'm not only interested in the design but also the construction of the garment,' she says. Her designs are pared down. She deconstructs a garment and rebuilds it in the simplest way possible. Her architectural background is reflected in the way her clothes fit on the body, often emphasising shoulders and hips as the body is treated as the central structure.

Although Ping was raised in a part of New York where many Chinese immigrants settled, she doesn't see any Asian influences in her work.

'Growing up in New York, I never thought I was completely Asian. I think all my influence comes from art, and from my looking at different things,' she says, adding that her frequent family vacations to Europe when she was growing up instilled a European aesthetic in her work.

Ping also embraces the idea that good design speaks louder than words. Although she prefers not to use celebrity endorsements, her fans include Bjork, Kirsten Dunst and Ashley Olsen.

Part of her success is due to her start-up location in New York City, she says. Being in London made her realise how difficult it was to get started as a designer outside the Big Apple.

'Trying to get an assistant sewer [in London] was, like, the hardest thing,' she says. 'There's no garment district, like there is here, and no fabric sources. There are one or two fabric stores in London and the prices were just ridiculous. It's easier to start here. New York is definitely a place for young designers. It's great to get things done because there's so much support for up-and-coming talent.'

Ping's career changed when she won an award from the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation last year, making her one of six designers to receive US$25,000 and a showing at New York Fashion Week. Past winners include big Asian names such as Derek Lam, Peter Som and Richard Chai. She presented her collection for the first time last September.

Although Ping has worked with several Asian designers, she says she never compares or draws inspiration from them. 'I feel like my stuff is different,' she says. 'I have a very, sort of, masculine and feminine mix. Vivienne Tam's collections have a very Asian theme, and Derek Lam caters to the very rich, tai-tai clientele. I think with each of my collections, there's definitely a vein of Mary Ping that I'm fostering based on my own personal tastes, thoughts and ideas.'

More recently, Ping visited Shanghai with her family. It's where her parents (her father's a retired business executive and her mother's a housewife) were raised, and Ping says it's the new hot-spot for Asian fashion. During the trip she met buyers and spoke to fashion journalists. In Hong Kong, her clothes were snapped up at hip boutique Trace.