Hive Q&A: Latest Project Runway Bootee Says Mama Doesn't Always Know Best - Stylehive

Tensions ran high during last night's "Project Runway" challenge as the designers were faced with creating an outfit for a recent college grad, with one caveat- the young grads' mothers would be present throughout the design process. Juggling the requests of the grads with the opinions of their moms all while staying within the lines of the challenge proved difficult for some, and with no immunity for the remaining six designers, there was no choice but to impress. Extra pressure came in the form of TRESemme stylist Jeanie Syfu's announcement that the winning look would be featured in Elle magazine, along with the appearance of guest judge Cynthia Rowley. With two days to work, $100 to spend, and plenty of opinions to uphold, the designers had their work cut out for them, but inspiration was not quite so plentiful. In the end, it was pretty clear that one of two would be auf'd. Read on for my exclusive interview and find out who it was!

Stylehive: Your client, Laura, was a graphic designer. How did you incorporate that into your design?
Joe: Well I kind of really didn't. I took the challenge a little more literal and the sense that she was interviewing for a position and the challenge was you know to make an outfit that's appropriate for entering business world, and so, you know I think I took the challenge too literal, obviously, you saw what the outcome was.

Stylehive: Right, it's hard to balance the rules of the challenge with what the client wants.
Joe: Yeah, and I had two strikes against me going into that challenge- one, I don't typically work with clients, I work for companies, and I don't do makeovers, like I don't look at people and say, oh I would change your hair, so that was kind of working against me on that challenge.

Stylehive: Do you think the mom's opinions really influenced you? I mean if they hadn't been a factor, do you think you would have gone with a different design?
Joe: Definitely, your point's 100% right. In my case, I had no choice but to listen to the mother, because I wasn't getting a lot of feedback from Laura, and I was really trying to pull something out of her, but I ended up having to listen to the mom, while I really wanted to try to make it more about Laura, so I think that was another strike against me.

Stylehive: Right, and it's not like the mom is the one going on the interview.
Joe: Yeah, and it was the mom who came up with the whole idea of the suit, so I kind of had to run with that, and by the time we got to fabric, it was way too late to change.

Stylehive: At one point, Nina actually said your design was a cliche...what was your reaction to that?
Joe: Yeah, I mean I tended to agree with it, you know, and the other thing is too I'm a jeans and leather jacket guy, so I was kind of out of my element there, kind of fell into every cliche like they said.

Stylehive: There's always one dramatic comment.
Joe: Yeah, and it was kind of "eenie meenie miney mo" between Suede and I at that point, and I don't think any of us were too inspired by the challenge.

Stylehive: Speaking of Suede actually, it seemed that his look was really getting the most criticism. Were you surprised that they kept him in the running?
Joe: Yeah, to a degree. At one point I was looking at mine, and actually laughing at it with Jerell about the plastic squares, and then I looked over my shoulder at Suede's and was like, no, I'm good (laughs), back to work! I felt like mine was a little better than that. But we saw the outcome, and so be it.

Stylehive: If you could go back, would you change anything about your design?
Joe: Yeah, you know, I'd pay a little more attention to the jacket, I'd put the lining in by machine. I had some puckering issues, maybe would have spent a little more time doing it by hand, and would have tried to incorporate maybe some denim, and I think I would have forced some of my direction towards Laura instead of taking so much from her mother.

Stylehive: What did you think of Jerell's design?
Joe: Again, I was just kind of uninspired by everybody, and I think Jerell, he managed to do a decent makeover, and he dyed her hair, and his client really liked the outfit and it showed, she enjoyed wearing it, so I'm rather content that he won, but it could have been anybody's game last night, like there wasn't any one really great outfit.

Stylehive: What was your favorite challenge up to this point?
Joe: My favorite challenge was definitely the drag queen challenge. Obviously I won, but the other thing was to win for that challenge having no idea what to expect, I was just amazed at how much fun I had, it was just a great great challenge, we had fun the minute it started to the end.

Stylehive: What are you going to miss most about being on Project Runway?
Joe: Um... Kenley (laughs). No, um, really, just kind of being with everybody, it was a great vibe it was a great experience. Everyone's really fun, it was amazing, and I got to show at Bryant Park, I got through 10 challenges, I mean could not have asked for a better outcome, it was just an amazing, amazing experience.

Stylehive: So what's next for you?
Joe: Well I'm a senior designer for a company called Schott NYC, and I'm working on a collection for January as well as a Joe Faris collection, to be ready for January as well.

Stylehive: So the publicity from this must have been great.
Joe: Yeah, it was great, it's really worked out really well.

Stylehive: Anything else you'd like to add?
Joe: I just want to thank all of my supporters, I always said I was rallying the straight vote (laughs), so I really appreciate everything.