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If you ask a random person on the street if they are familiar with the name “Jay McCarroll”, they will likely give you a blank stare.
I sure as hell know who he is.
McCarroll is the inaugural winner of Project Runway, which premiered in 2004. The Kelly Clarkson of the premiere fashion design reality competition. Showing a haute Crayola-hued collection of rich knits and outerwear that read like heritage futurism, he was a pioneer along with the late Wendy Pepper, who would later become an icon in her own right. The first season would also introduce us to Kara Saun, who has become a successful costume designer — and she came back to season 17 of Project Runway as an all-stars contestant 19 years later.
Project Runway was on Bravo during the dawn of the cable network’s golden age, when Queer Eye for the Straight Guy had paved the way for shows like Million Dollar Listing and Top Chef. And it was during this time that The Real Housewives of Orange County was setting the stage for a franchise dynasty that would take over the world.
Sure, Project Runway gave us people like Santino Rice, who went on to judge RuPaul’s Drag Race and introduced us to the best mentor ever: Tim Gunn, but the reality competition lost a little luster with each season — but they were fun to watch nonetheless.
And don’t think I’m not going to mention that the series had Harvey Weinstein as an executive producer for a huge chunk of time. His then-wife and co-founder of fashion label Marchesa, Georgina Chapman, was a judge on Project Runway All Stars (which feels so forced, and isn’t as fun as the original franchise). God only knows what went on behind the scenes, especially since Alyssa Milano was the host of All Stars and Mira Sorvino was a guest judge at one point.
It also seemed that Bravo and Lifetime were playing a game of hot potato with Project Runway. It went from Bravo and then to Lifetime and then back to Bravo. Now, Freeform has entered the conversation as Project Runway debuts Season 21 with a two-episode drop on July 31.
Despite the Weinstein and channel hopping of it all, there are some notable moments that happened on Project Runway that were both groundbreaking and hella funny/dramatic. For instance, in season 3 of All Stars, Ari South came back to compete on the show after transitioning, becoming one of the first openly trans people to compete on a reality competition. That was a huge deal back in 2013. There are moments when we get to see younger versions of huge stars today (i.e., Sabrina Carpenter). In later seasons, we get to see them evolve by using more diverse models when it comes to skin color, body size, and gender identity. And in one of the most recent seasons, filmed shortly after the pandemic, we see one contestant exit the show after a heated racial confrontation.
Then there is my favorite moment.
Tyler is an icon for that.
I recently binged nearly all seasons of Project Runway on Peacock — including All Stars. And by “binged”, I mean “played in the background while I worked or did chores”.
The flagship series can be divided into three eras:
- The Bravo era with Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia as judges and Tim Gunn as a mentor.
- The Lifetime era with Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, and Nina Garcia as judges and Tim Gunn as a mentor.
- The Back to Bravo era with Karli Kloss, Brandon Maxwell, and Elaine Welteroth as judges. In the later seasons, Nina Garcia comes back and replaces Kloss. Christian Siriano is the mentor.
We are now in the Freeform era where Heidi Klum is back, along with Nina Garcia, Christian Siriano as a mentor, and Law Roach — the perfect person to round out the judges’ panel and the smartest way to bring in a new, fresh audience. Because the judges for the last couple of seasons were so bland.
The premiere of Project Runway timed perfectly with my tenure as a fashion columnist at the Oakland Tribune. During season 4, my column, “Dressed”, was in full swing, and I was prepping for my second New York Fashion Week.
In ye olden days, we had to request invitations to fashion shows. Meaning, we had to fax or call in requests to each fashion house or PR rep individually. At this time, publicists were starting to accept email requests. I wrote about who “snubbed me”, including Project Runway.
This was the first time I realized the relationship dynamics between press and publicist. Shortly after my column was published, I received a call from the folks at Bravo and they apologized for not inviting me to the Project Runway show. They said they would send me an invite… if I retracted my comment about Project Runway in my next column.
Well…
Would I do that today? Probably not. I was a baby journalist back then. And just in case you’re wondering, this was a column about skinny jeans.
I am glad I sold out because little did I know, I was part of history in the big tent at Bryant Park. I was sitting in the audience when Christian Siriano showed his romantically lush and extravagant black and white collection while guest judge Victoria Beckham looked on.
This was before I had an iPhone and when I had a digital camera:
We all know that Siriano ends up winning and goes on to have an amazing career. Showing alongside him in 2008 were the late Chris March, Jillian Lewis, Kathleen “Sweet P” Vaughn (who showed in the tent but not on TV), and Rami Kashou (who will later have a very emotional reunion with Siriano in season 20).
After finding all my pictures from this day, I started going down a rabbit hole of my Project Runway and fashion journalism days. Chris March was a San Francisco Bay Area native (Alameda to be exact), so I interviewed him for the Oakland Tribune and found the clipping:
I also found an array of photos of me with past contestants from Project Runway:
Me and Kara Saun (Season 1)
Me and Daniel Vosovic (Season 2)
Me and Nick Verreos (Season 2)
Me and Ricky Lizalde (Season 4)
I have a really good feeling about this new season of Project Runway. I mean, Utica from Drag Race is on the show! So much has changed since Jay McCarroll won. Hell, so much has changed since season 20 of the franchise. With Heidi coming back as the diplomatic voice, Christian as the voice of reason, Nina as the neutralizer, and Law as no-holds-bar tough love, Project Runway may have found the perfect recipe to, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work.
