Were you surprised that you weren’t asked to complete a 13th look?
Jillian, I don’t know if you saw it, but God, all she talked about was like, “There’s going to be a surprise challenge! There’s going to be a surprise challenge!” I was like, “Ooh! Let’s make three outfits!” The thing is, that’s my game. I can make an outfit in a day. Jillian can’t, so that would have eliminated her. But I knew they wouldn’t do anything like that because there had already been a huge trick with Chris and Rami.
Have you ever done a model casting before? You said that you were specifically looking for darker-skinned girls. The lack of color on runways has been criticized – what’s your take on it?
I have done small casting before but I was looking for edgy girls with dark features for the first half then dark ethnic girls for the second half. I needed the dark complexion to make the cream pop! I love ethnic women – they have such a wonderful look. I wish designers felt the same.
Rami said that Jillian was getting annoying over her model choices, how tense was it in the workroom then?Rami was the one who said Jillian was being annoying with her model casting and I was like, “Yes! Finally! Somebody else but me is being bitchy!” For me, I knew exactly what type of girl I wanted and what type of girl I like. For her, she picked the girls who looked like the girls who would wear her clothes, which is fine if you’re picking the clothes out for certain people, but she just didn’t know how to book a show and to look for cohesion. It was annoying, and I felt bad, but then again this is the game. Everyone’s like, oh, I’m so immature and I’m so young, but she’s young too. There are things she doesn’t know as well. So, don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m doing.
What was going through your mind when you approached Bryant Park and when you had to introduce your collection?
I was just all too much for one person to do! I was sooooo tired, I almost had no feelings! Never does a designer have a show with no help from a team of people! But I did it so I guess it can be done!
How did you choose the music for your collection? How important is the music to a runway show?
The music for me was sooo important – it’s the entire package that the judges were looking for. I wanted to win so I knew good hard music would put them in the wow mood.
What was your inspiration for your collection?I was originally inspired by 18th Century Spanish paintings similar to the Met challenge. Then it evolved organically into a world of hard versus soft and dark versus romance.
OK – let’s address the critics. What do you say to someone who thinks you ripped off Alexander McQueen?
Luckily I haven’t heard a lot of negative responses to my collection so far. I haven’t really heard that it looks like Alexander McQueen. I, of course, have my references, but nobody is re-inventing themselves every time. With every designer you could reference like, “Oh wow, that looks very Dior,” but it’s McQueen. You could say McQueen looks very Dior or Dior looks very McQueen this season, you know? Trust me, I’ve worked there. McQueen would pick up Vivienne Westwood dresses and be like, “This pocket is really cool, let’s do it.” Designers reference other designers all the time, you just might not see that. And you know what? If somebody wants to compare me to Alexander Mcqueen, I’m not worried. That’s fine with me, people!
How do you balance between “costume” and “wearable?”
I hate the terminology of “costume” because my clothes are not costumes at all. I think they’re high fashion, avant-garde, and more couture, definitely, and yes, some of my pieces are not particularly wearable, but I wouldn’t say they’re costumes, I’d say they’re more couture. I feel the best way to design is to be as creative as possible in every piece. It’s so much easier to make 20 different variations of a really crazy, outlandish piece and to tone it down. It’s really hard to take like a T-shirt and vamp it up a million different ways to make it really interesting. Like, it’s harder that way, because you’re starting with nothing. It’s easier to start with something so outlandish and go down. That’s my interpretation. That’s why I enjoyed the avant-garde challenge. To be honest, I don’t think any other designer from any other season could have made what we made. It was kind of like, that was what we were trying to prove, like, “What up, people! This is our game!”
Did you just know that Victoria Beckham would like your collection?
In the back of my head, I’m not going lie, I was like, “Victoria’s the judge. This is me.” She’s who I design for! She’s English, she’s from Europe, she’s very very into high fashion, and some of her favorite designers are McQueen and Chanel and Lagerfeld, you know? I knew there was no way she was not going to like what I did. It was amazing because she’s someone I would actually want to try to dress. I actually think I said when we first started and Bravo asked us all who we’d want to dress, I’m pretty sure I said Victoria Beckham. Well, and I said Britney, but actually I said I wanted to save Britney! My new goal in life is to come up with my new reality show called Project Britney where I transform her and I save her life and make her the most fabulous person ever! She needs a gay! She has no gays! Have you ever noticed that? She has no gay boys helping her! She only has straight people and, no offense, but straighties don’t know how to fix the divas! It’s so weird! I’ve never seen any gay stylists working her.
What are you going to spend the money on?
I’m going to spend the money on taking over my apartment, first of all. My roommate, when she moves out, I’m going to just keep her room for myself. I’m also going to get a studio space. I’m going to finally get a bed! I’m going to spend a lot of money on a fabulous bed. All the rest will probably just go to next season.
I’ve showed to a couple stores, so I’ve had a couple buyers, but I’m going to show next season. I’ll probably show in the tent again, I’m going to do a big show. Next season will be more me. It’s hard because I’ve been working so hard on this collection and I can’t really sell it. Next season, my designs will be fair game, don’t worry!
