My Project Runway Journey
Are you a lifelong Project Runway fan, like me? I remember religiously watching Project Runway as a fashion student in India. All my friends would sit together and enjoy the show first Project Runway Bravo and later Project Runway Lifetime TV. We were fans of all Project Runway designers and enjoyed the insightful feedback of Project Runway Judges. We loved loved loved everything Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Nina Garcia and Michael Kors said. Little did I know that I would get a chance to compete on the show itself and meet everyone in person.
Walk with me through my beautiful journey of being a part of Project Runway Season 13 on Lifetime TV.
For those who don't know what Project Runway is ? Project Runway is an American reality television series that focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, materials and theme. Their designs are judged by a panel, and one or more designers are typically eliminated from the show each week. During each season, contestants are progressively eliminated until only a few contestants remain. These finalists prepare complete fashion collections for New York Fashion Week. After the runway shows, the judges choose the winner.
Project Runway was created by Eli Holzman and was hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum from 2004 to 2017. It has a varied airing history, with Bravo originating the first five seasons, followed by Lifetime for eleven more. The series' return to Bravo for the seventeenth season was announced on May 14, 2018, in the wake of The Weinstein Company's bankruptcy. The show won a Peabody Award in 2008 "for using the 'television reality contest' genre to engage, inform, enlighten and entertain." Project Runway has also won several Emmy Awards and has been nominated several times. On September 7, 2018, it was confirmed that Heidi Klum and the designers' mentor Tim Gunn would not be returning for a 17th season on Bravo because they both signed a deal to helm another fashion competition show, Making the Cut , on Amazon Video. American model Karlie Kloss followed Klum as the new host, with Season 4 winner Christian Siriano replacing Gunn as mentor.
Given the extreme popularity of Project Runway in USA, many international versions were launched as well including- Project Runway Arab World, Project Runway Asia, Project Runway Australia, Project Runway Belgium, Project Runway brazil, Project Runway Canada, Project Runway Finland, Project Runway France, Project Runway Greece, Project Runway Israel, Project Runway Jamaica, Project Runway Latin America, Project Runway Malaysia, Project Runway Mongolia, Project Runway Netherlands, Project Runway New Zealand, Project Runway Norway, Project Runway Phillipines, Project Runway Poland, Project Runway Portugal, Project Runway Russia, Project Runway South Africa, Project Runway South Korea, Project Runway Sweden, Project Runway Taiwan, Project Runway Thailand, Project Runway Turkey, Project Runway Ukraine, Project Runway United Kingdom, Project Runway Vietnam.
Getting on Project Runway Sesaon 13 - My Casting Process
It's definitely not easy to get on Project Runway. The casting process is extremely competitive and of course getting on the show is very rewarding. One has to go through 7-10 various rounds to just get on the show and all them involve a lot of work and effort. With that being said, if you are truly passionate then nothing should stop you from applying and getting selected for Project Runway. I went in with a very open mind and ended up enjoying everything about the show. Project Runway has been an important milestone in my life and I have grown leaps and bounds after being on the show.
Project Runway season 13 home visit video, this was shot in the year 2014 when I lived in sweet home Alabama!
I was born and brought up in the beautiful country of India, where I grew up with the most amazing textiles, rich heritage embroideries, delicate weaves, luscious silks, age old craft, delicious & complex food full of exotic spices, and tons & tons of color!
I now live in Detroit, MI with my toddler boy and husband. In the past I have lived in Birmingham, Alabama; Boston, Massachusetts; and Dallas, Texas
My closet tour for Project Runway season 13. See some of my work. Find Project Runway clothes on sale.
Project Runway Season 13
The thirteenth season of Project Runway premiered on July 24, 2014, featured 18 new designers and 1 returning designer as voted by the public. Amanda Valentine from Season 11 won the public voting for the 19th spot to compete once again over Alexander Pope and Ken Laurence of Season 12. Heidi Klum, Zac Posen, Nina Garcia and Tim Gunn all returned for the thirteenth season. The contestants for Project Runway season 13 were Alexander Knox, Amanda Valentine, Angela Sum, Carrie Sleutskaya, Char Glover, Emily Payne, Emmanuel Tobias, Fäde zu Grau, Hernan Lander, Jefferson Musanda, Kiniokahokula Zamora, Korina Emmerich, Kristine Guico, Mitchell Perry, Nzinga Knight, Samantha Plasencia, Sandhya Garg, Sean Kelly and Tim Navarro.
The Models for Project runway season 13 were Alexandria Serafini, winner of Germany's Next Top Model and my model Alisar Ailabouni ( love her), Angelica Guillen-Jimenez, Brianna Mellon, Christabel Campbell, Jasmine Rivers, Jasmine Agnew, Lea Mihevc, Nea McLin, Nikola Anderson, Bella Davis, DJ Smith, Ashley Rossi, Rachel McCray, Ploy Supawetvehon and, Camille Annise-Lewis.
Some of the celebrity judges for this season were Julie Bowen of Modern Family, Fashion Blogger Garance Dore of Atelier Dore and WeAreDore, Marie Claire's Creative director Anne Fulenwider and Amanda De Cadenet, fashion blogger Bethany Mota, Olympian Lindsey Vonn, Famous fashion blogger of The Blonde Salad Chiara Ferragni, Caroline Scheufele, Caitlin FitzGerald, Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss, Heather Northrop, burlesque queen Dita Von Teese and former Project Runway winner Christian Siriano.
I often get asked - How did I do on the show?
Well, I did great! I won two challenges including the very first challenge of Season 13. I wasn't afraid of being true to my design aesthetics. I let my creativity flow, I had the greatest time of my life. I was proud to show my work influenced by couture techniques and vintage craftsmanship that had become part of me growing up in one of the most textile rich country in the world, India. I showed a decoy collection at New York Fashion Week and got rave reviews by many accomplished fashion critiques, bloggers, and editors. In short, I lived the dream!
In the Episode 1 challenge, we were given a trunk of six random fabrics and tasked with creating a look that would represent our spring collection if we made it to New York Fashion Week. Each designer was allowed to barter and exchange fabric with the other designers. The winner received immunity. For me Spring meant a ton of colors and in India Spring is signified by the festival of Holi (if you remember any color exploded photos of the color run races, well all that is inspired from Indian Festival of Holi also called Festival of colors). I took a floral fabric and enhanced it by dying it with bright orange using degrade dying techniques. Holi has a very raw feel to it so I played around with color, textures, small details and in a fitted dress shape to signify the Spring festival and created my vision of a fantastic spring collection. I won the challenge against all odds and even today few years later I am super proud of what I created. I represented India in true sense with all its colors and workmanship.
So happy to share my winning video of the first challenge. Each of my competitor was extremely talented and special in his or her own way.
Episode 3 Marie Claire Challenge
Project Runway AllStars
Project Runway All Stars is a spin-off of Project Runway, featuring designers from previous seasons of Project Runway. The show has run for six seasons, with the seventh and final season airing currently. Angela Lindvall and Carolyn Murphy have each hosted one season, and the last five seasons have been hosted by Alyssa Milano. As on the regular Project Runway, the designers are judged by the host, two permanent judges and 1-2 guest judges. The permanent All Stars judges has been the designers Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman. Joanna Coles mentored the designers in the first two seasons, Zanna Roberts Rassi mentored in season three to season five and Anne Fulenwider mentored last two seasons.
Winning the second challenge was very important for me. A lot of you might not know but during Project Runway filming I was brand new to US. I had just moved here from India and there was a big culture difference between how I spoke (and how it was interpreted!).
I really appreciated how judges understood my point of view.
On that note I have to say I love Heidi Klum, Zac Posen, Nina Garcia, and Anne Fulenwider. They are all amazingly wonderful people, very genuine and so fun to work with!
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Sandhya Garg is a Project Runway designer. She studied and specialized in women's fashion at London College of Fashion, UK and has worked at Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Liberty London, Alice Temperley to name a few.
She has her own successful resort dresses, special occasion dresses, wedding guest looks, swim coverups label. While on Project Runway Season 13, she won 2 challenges and was fortunate to show her collection at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. The brand has been featured in Marie Claire US, Ftv.com, Elle Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Vogue online to name a few.
She designs limited edition high end printed spring dresses, Wearable art clothing and swim coverups. Beautiful prints are inspired from around the world to be worn during travel, resort stay or cruise holidays.
Im interested in fashion & im working design. Blaues & fancy dress 👗 one pic