Season 4 auditions - A View From the Back of the Line!
At the last day of Project Runway's 3 day season 4 auditions in New York City, no one seemed to make it, but no one really seemed to care!
I arrived at the Westin Hotel Monday afternoon and went to the end of the line (which wasn't really as long as I expected it to be - maybe because it was the last day?) There were several anxious designers though and I thought I'd introduce myself. I said, "Hey everyone, I am from Blogging Project Runway, so if anyone is interested in the site, I'd love to chat!" Almost immediately I made some new friends!
I first chatted with Graal. Graal is from LA - she is a flight attendant and due to work she missed the LA auditions so here she was in New York! She attended FIDM in LA but after spending years in the airline business she has been inspired to get back into fashion recently. A friend suggested that she audition for the show. I then met the other people standing near her in line - Stacey from Kansas City, Andre who is originally from Tennessee and Meg and her assistant who live in New York. Meg has been in the business for many years and a friend also encouraged her to auditon for what she called "the most insane thing she's ever done"! I also chatted briefly with Ana from Staten Island, but she ducked into Starbucks to finish filling out her application and missed the "photo ops" LOL.
About a half-hour later I decided to wander inside the hotel. The Gen Art folks told me that I could not go upstairs because I was not "official press" so the best I could do was talk to the people coming in - and then try to talk to the people coming out of the auditions. I looked inside the Starbucks that was connected to the hotel and I saw a designer with three models who were wearing really stunning garments and really led me to believe that this was someone who deserved to be on the show. I decided to go find out what the story was.
The designer's name was Jason Vincent. Jason is originally from Minnesota and is living in New York now. He also auditioned for Season 3. Jason has an interesting approach to the audition. He decided to show 3 outfits (but several pieces) that he made in 5 days. He wanted to show the judges what he could do in a short amount of time. However even though they liked him and really appreciated the fact that he had a point of view they wanted to see better finishing.
This is where the story gets good!
One of Jason's models was on her way outside and she asked one of the Gen Art people if they ever call anyone back in for a second look. She was asked what their number was and when she told them they said "oh yeah, definitely go back up". She rushed back into Starbucks to tell Jason and everyone went crazy putting garments back on, re-adjusting, etc. But one of the three models had already left! After several phone calls, Jason's friend Adam decided to play Jay McCarroll and walk up to random people to ask them if they wanted to model! We found a Barista from Starbucks who was getting off duty and jumped at the chance (the girl that Adam found at Chevy's next door wasn't 18 unfortunately). The girl worked out great and she looked amazing in the outfit! They all headed back upstairs and I stayed at Starbucks to wait and chat with Adam.
Starbucks quickly turned into Project Runway Central. As Adam and I chatted, another designer came over and sat with us. Her name was Annicka and she was from Tucson, Arizona. I told her that our very own Laura K. is from Arizona! Annicka lost the leather strap from one of her garments and was using some ribbon she found in her bag as a replacement. Talk about "making it work!"
Shortly after, Graal returned from her audition. She seemed happy so we hoped that she had good news for us! Unfortunately she did not, but she said that the audition process was such a good experience that she was revitalized and ready to get back into fashion full-swing! She plans on expanding on her portfolio and bringing models next time! Her website www.houseofgraal.com is soon to come - so stay tuned!
We waited and waited for Jason and crew to come back down. We thought for sure that since it was taking so long he was signing contracts and moving his things into the Atlas! Eventually they came down - Jason was happy as can be but NOT a cast member of Season 4. He said that the judges still stuck to their original diagnosis of needing better finishing and more experience. Jason has much to look forward to - he will be showing in May at the comedy club where he works and hopefully BPR (well - me) will be in the house!
I tried to wait for Annicka. I really wanted to find out how she did (after all SOMEONE I met had to make it!) but she did not come out. I did see her before she went in and she had magically found a model too (a girl that was on her way into the movie theater!). Annicka - if you read this please let me know what happened!
All in all I had a great time! Even though I didn't get in to talk to the judges I met some great people - all of whom really captured the true spirit of Project Runway. To see my pictures, click here!
I arrived at the Westin Hotel Monday afternoon and went to the end of the line (which wasn't really as long as I expected it to be - maybe because it was the last day?) There were several anxious designers though and I thought I'd introduce myself. I said, "Hey everyone, I am from Blogging Project Runway, so if anyone is interested in the site, I'd love to chat!" Almost immediately I made some new friends!
I first chatted with Graal. Graal is from LA - she is a flight attendant and due to work she missed the LA auditions so here she was in New York! She attended FIDM in LA but after spending years in the airline business she has been inspired to get back into fashion recently. A friend suggested that she audition for the show. I then met the other people standing near her in line - Stacey from Kansas City, Andre who is originally from Tennessee and Meg and her assistant who live in New York. Meg has been in the business for many years and a friend also encouraged her to auditon for what she called "the most insane thing she's ever done"! I also chatted briefly with Ana from Staten Island, but she ducked into Starbucks to finish filling out her application and missed the "photo ops" LOL.
About a half-hour later I decided to wander inside the hotel. The Gen Art folks told me that I could not go upstairs because I was not "official press" so the best I could do was talk to the people coming in - and then try to talk to the people coming out of the auditions. I looked inside the Starbucks that was connected to the hotel and I saw a designer with three models who were wearing really stunning garments and really led me to believe that this was someone who deserved to be on the show. I decided to go find out what the story was.
The designer's name was Jason Vincent. Jason is originally from Minnesota and is living in New York now. He also auditioned for Season 3. Jason has an interesting approach to the audition. He decided to show 3 outfits (but several pieces) that he made in 5 days. He wanted to show the judges what he could do in a short amount of time. However even though they liked him and really appreciated the fact that he had a point of view they wanted to see better finishing.
This is where the story gets good!
One of Jason's models was on her way outside and she asked one of the Gen Art people if they ever call anyone back in for a second look. She was asked what their number was and when she told them they said "oh yeah, definitely go back up". She rushed back into Starbucks to tell Jason and everyone went crazy putting garments back on, re-adjusting, etc. But one of the three models had already left! After several phone calls, Jason's friend Adam decided to play Jay McCarroll and walk up to random people to ask them if they wanted to model! We found a Barista from Starbucks who was getting off duty and jumped at the chance (the girl that Adam found at Chevy's next door wasn't 18 unfortunately). The girl worked out great and she looked amazing in the outfit! They all headed back upstairs and I stayed at Starbucks to wait and chat with Adam.
Starbucks quickly turned into Project Runway Central. As Adam and I chatted, another designer came over and sat with us. Her name was Annicka and she was from Tucson, Arizona. I told her that our very own Laura K. is from Arizona! Annicka lost the leather strap from one of her garments and was using some ribbon she found in her bag as a replacement. Talk about "making it work!"
Shortly after, Graal returned from her audition. She seemed happy so we hoped that she had good news for us! Unfortunately she did not, but she said that the audition process was such a good experience that she was revitalized and ready to get back into fashion full-swing! She plans on expanding on her portfolio and bringing models next time! Her website www.houseofgraal.com is soon to come - so stay tuned!
We waited and waited for Jason and crew to come back down. We thought for sure that since it was taking so long he was signing contracts and moving his things into the Atlas! Eventually they came down - Jason was happy as can be but NOT a cast member of Season 4. He said that the judges still stuck to their original diagnosis of needing better finishing and more experience. Jason has much to look forward to - he will be showing in May at the comedy club where he works and hopefully BPR (well - me) will be in the house!
I tried to wait for Annicka. I really wanted to find out how she did (after all SOMEONE I met had to make it!) but she did not come out. I did see her before she went in and she had magically found a model too (a girl that was on her way into the movie theater!). Annicka - if you read this please let me know what happened!
All in all I had a great time! Even though I didn't get in to talk to the judges I met some great people - all of whom really captured the true spirit of Project Runway. To see my pictures, click here!
posted by Trish @ 6:11 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:40 AM,
Paula D. said…
Great post!
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