One day you’re in and the next you’re out.
Well… maybe these Project Runway winners didn’t expect to be kicked-off-the-set-of-Bratz
out.
Stay tuned to learn all about the disappointing career turns of Project Runway’s brightest
stars.
Season 6 winner Irina Shabayeva presented a final collection that resonated deeply with
the judges.
Her mega-dramatic monochrome collection was inspired by:
“It’s about comforting and shielding yourself, and just… going at it.”
Though she was criticized for relying heavily on the use of black fabrics for her garments,
she produced an impressive collection.
Shabayeva experienced further success dressing A-list clients after the show.
“I’ve designed for Carrie Underwood, Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga.
It’s been really rewarding.”
Several years after winning, however, the designer suffered a major public relations
blow when she allegedly got into a spat with her fashion show's sponsor and walked out
of her own event.
She was accused of leaving the venue with all of her designs, as well as a pricey make-up
kit that didn't belong to her.
Both parties blamed each other for the debacle.
These days, Shabayeva is designing women's apparel for a Parisian fashion company called
Maison MJZ.
The Season 8 finale pitted Gretchen Jones against two other designers, including fan
favorite and projected winner Mondo Guerra.
Jones was a controversial pick, following a lengthy debate between the judges.
“Completely crazy outcome.
I’m happy for Gretchen.
But…”
Her win angered a large swathe of the audience, which affected Jones personally.
After the show, she created several collections, but ultimately decided to change careers.
After pivoting away from fashion, Jones went back to school and is now in a totally different
line of work.
Her website, Weird Specialty, is where she can be found working in her current capacity
as a strategic business advisor.
She helps clients address issues related to sustainability.
Jones' foray into consulting surprised many fans, who had wondered about her disappearance
from the world of fashion.
She took to Instagram in 2018 to address her experience on the show eight years prior.
When asked if she regretted doing Project Runway, she responded that she did not, but
said:
"I have major PTSD from the experience & have done a LOT of therapy to manage the trauma.
I hated the experience & if I could go back I would tell myself not to do it."
Prior to competing on the first season of Project Runway in 2004, Jay McCarroll was
running a vintage clothing store in Pennsylvania.
McCarroll's snarky sense of humor was one of the more entertaining aspects of Season
1, eclipsed only by the quirky designs he presented in his final collection.
After he secured the victory, however, his career didn't continue on the exciting trajectory
he had anticipated.
Upon learning that accepting the show’s prizes would forever bind him in a financial
deal with the Weinstein production company, McCarroll declined his earnings and struck
out on his own, as noted by New York Magazine.
Over the next couple of years, he presented his follow-up collection at New York Fashion
Week, and he was the focus of a documentary film called Eleven Minutes, which chronicled
the creation and presentation of that collection.
Seemingly off to a good start, despite refusing the show's prizes, things took a turn when
he told New York Magazine that he was homeless, save for his sewing studio, which lacked a
kitchen and shower.
The article quoted him as saying:
"I haven't been living anywhere for two years.
I sleep at other people's houses.
I sleep here if I'm drunk."
Shortly after the article appeared, McCarroll claimed that he was kidding about being homeless.
He later went on to win Celebrity Fit Club in 2010 after losing 40 pounds.
Season 11 winner and self-taught designer Michelle Lesniak told USA Today:
"I just kind of find my goal and I stomp towards it."
That said, the longtime Portland resident's confidence ebbed and flowed during the competition.
On one hand, she admitted to having been intimidated by her formally trained competitors — but
on the other, as she asserted to USA Today:
"I'm incredibly tenacious and I work really hard and nothing slays me."
Choosing to remain in Portland rather than relocate to a fashion capital, the designer
had some success selling her clothing locally.
After her win, boutiques were reportedly unable to keep up with the demand for her wares.
However, since winning, Lesniak has faced some challenges.
Shortly after returning to the Pacific Northwest, she and her husband of 10 years divorced.
In 2019, she participated in FashioNXT, which showcases the talent of local designers.
But, her presence in the business has seriously quieted since then.
The key to that mystery may lay in her 2022 Instagram post, in which she addressed the
online hate she’s continuously received since her time on the show.
During the pandemic, she used her creativity to make uplifting cards, which she mailed
to anyone who sent her a request.
Jeffrey Sebelia ran a moderately successful clothing business called Cosa Nostra prior
to participating in Project Runway.
Sebelia originally embarked for Season 3 with the intention of filling a ‘villain’ role,
in the tradition of his friend Santino Rice.
The plan almost backfired when he was out-villained by fellow contestant Laura Bennett, who falsely
accused him of cheating.
However, Sebelia managed to lock in the win with a collection seemingly inspired by Minnie
Mouse and Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls.
He returned home brimming with promise, but still failed to manifest significant sales.
Shortly after the win, he experienced some hardships.
Sebelia and his son's mom split up, and as a result he had to use most of his prize money
to pay off debt he had accumulated prior to the competition.
His circumstances deteriorated further after an overly candid interview with New York Magazine.
When asked what his latest project was, the self-styled bad boy responded:
"I'm almost afraid to admit what I'm doing, but it's costumes for a movie.
It's a live-action movie for the Bratz."
When asked to clarify, he confirmed that he was indeed referring to, in his words, "those
slutty dolls.”
And, yeah, that blunder cost him the job.
Sebelia's LinkedIn profile indicates that he is currently a designer and consultant
for Japanese luxury t-shirt company DTE in California.
Dom Streater, winner of both Project Runway Season 12 and Project Runway All-Stars Season
5, was perhaps in the best position of all Project Runway champions to make the most
of her post-television fashion career.
However, the prizes from the show only enabled Streater to quit one of her two jobs upon
returning home to Philadelphia.
Fashion's newest star was still moonlighting as a restaurant hostess.
Able to devote most of her time to designing at that point, she produced four collections
that were shown at New York Fashion Week, before deciding to focus her efforts in other
directions.
Each of the shows cost her several thousand dollars, which ultimately led her to the conclusion
that it wasn’t worth it.
She told The Philadelphia Inquirer:
"It's better to invest in social media, my line, and advertising to my customers."
Since departing the New York fashion scene, she has had a child, done a collaboration
with OtterBox, and designed a red carpet look for actor Aunjanue Ellis.
She currently makes and sells pieces of clothing and original art in Philadelphia.
As the first exclusively plus-size designer in the competition, Ashley Nell Tipton had
an unprecedented appeal to plus-size fashion lovers, who often felt ignored by the industry.
After winning, however, things didn't pan out the way she had envisioned.
“It’s like — there’s a lot of pressure on me because everybody wants to know what’s…
been going on with me after the show."
Show mentor Tim Gunn, who has long championed the need for size inclusivity in fashion,
admitted that he hated Tipton’s final collection.
In an article for The Washington Post, he wrote regarding her win:
"Even this achievement managed to come off as condescending.
I've never seen such hideous clothes in my life: bare midriffs; [...] see-through skirts
that reveal panties; pastels, which tend to make the wearer look juvenile; and large-scale
floral embellishments that shout 'prom.'
Her victory reeked of tokenism."
Sadly, Tipton was confronting her own issues regarding body image.
Desperate to be healthier, she changed her lifestyle — but the change was not accompanied
by weight loss.
After ending up in the hospital for an infection in her skin, she decided to have gastric bypass
surgery.
It was then that she pivoted from design to, as she shares in the description of a YouTube
video:
"Teaching concepts of self-love, self-care and self-acceptance.”
Since losing a significant amount of weight, Tipton is back to designing for curvy women
while serving as an advocate for body positivity.
Part of the Project Runway Season 15 prize package included a collaboration with department
store JCPenney's.
But winner Erin Robertson was sorely disappointed when it came to cashing in on the partnership.
Robertson said she met with the company several times.
They discussed designs that were supposed to inspire the items that would eventually
be sold in stores.
Ultimately, however, Robertson was surprised at how little the final products resembled
what had been planned.
The designer said she attended meetings during which the company's reps responded enthusiastically
to her ideas, before they went on to produce something completely different.
Robertson has a decent following on Instagram, and a website where she sells her products.
Like many other designers have done during the pandemic, she has been producing and selling
a variety of masks, but those are about all she's currently offering.
In her years since Project Runway, she's also worked on some interesting collaborations,
including one for Starburst candies, and another where she worked on garments made from 3-D
printed fur.
Season 16 winner Kentaro Kameyama wowed the judges with an exquisite final collection.
“Really excellent, excellent collection.
Like nothing we’ve ever seen on this show.”
In the years since his Project Runway victory, he has shown several collections, including
one at New York Fashion Week.
Items offered on Kameyama's website, however, are dramatically pared down from the looks
he creates for the catwalk, consisting of a mix of basic shorts and tees, simple silk
shift dresses, and accessories.
Kameyama, like many designers, must create pieces that are accessible to a wider audience
in order to support a business.
But — they risk losing their design perspective.
Though he continues to participate in some of fashion's top-tier events, Kameyama is
not a household name.
He shares his knowledge and rounds out his career as an instructor at FCI Fashion School,
located in Los Angeles, where he teaches fashion design.
The school offers its students help with finding work in the industry, marketing itself as
a leader in short term fashion training.
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