The newest season of Project Runway premiered last week on Lifetime. Meet the newest designers!
A.J. Thouvenot
A.J. Thouvenot, 26, is from St. Louis, Missouri. With a BFA in fashion design from Lindenwood University, A.J.’s first ever design was a tunic made of rubber exercise bands. It never survived its first fitting. He currently works as a fashion designer for fashion label TrashBiscuit and does part-time retail sales at Sole and Blues STL. A.J. is avant-garde and forward thinking and is more comfortable making event-based clothes than typical every day clothes.
Andy South
Andy South, 23, is a freelance designer from Waipahu, Hawaii. He has an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science, Fashion Design from Honolulu Community College. His design influences include culture, people and Asian lifestyles, as well as punk, Goth and club-kid aesthetics. The first garments he ever made were Halloween costumes.
April Johnston
April Johnston, 21, is from Savannah, Georgia. The first garment she ever made was her prom dress and realized she had the potential to become a fashion designer. She has a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and was one of the designers featured at the 2010 SCAD Fashion Show. Her favorite designers include Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.
Casanova
Casanova, 33, is from Astoria, New York.
Christopher Collins
Christopher Collins, 30, is from San Francisco, California. Christopher learned to sew from his mother and pattern and construction training in college. He won the Most Creative Award at a student fashion show and selected for Gen Art in San Francisco in 2008.
Gretchen Jones
Gretchen Jones, 28, lives in Portland, Oregon, and is the designer and director of her own label, MothLove. Unlike the other contestants, Gretchen got her design training solely from real world experience. She has worked as a buyer, wholesale vendor, trade show rep, production and design assistant and a model. Her design influences are rooted with minimal and conceptual art principles.
Ivy Higa
Ivy Higa, 30, is a fashion designer from New York, New York. She taught herself to sew and later studied at Parsons, The New School For Design. Ivy was also one of nine finalists for the Oscars Designers Challenge.
Jason Troisi
Jason Troisi, 33, is a landscape designer from Greenwich, Connecticut. With a fashion design degree from Parsons, he won the Gene Meyer Golden Thimble Award for menswear and 3rd place in a Birkenstock shoe design contest. For Jason, a great suit is a fashion must.
Kristin Haskins Simms
Kristin Haskins Simms, 38, is an apparel designer and freelance graphic designer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first garment she ever made was a T-shirt jacket. She has no formal training in fashion design but says she realized she had potential after she showed a collection at Philadelphia Fashion Week.
Who is your favorite designer so far?
Meet the second batch of designers next week!
