Project Runway Bootee Tells Stylehive What Went Wrong!

Raise your hand if looking at images from your high school prom makes you cringe! Don€™t worry, you€™re not alone. Those feelings inspired last night€™s challenge on Project Runway. Prom night, as Heidi put it, is €œone of the most important nights in a girl's life,€� so this week€™s challenge wasn€™t just about making a garment, it was about making lasting, non-cringe worthy, memories. No pressure or anything! In a Project Runway first, the €˜models€™ (high-school seniors from St. John Vianney High School in New Jersey) got to select which designer to work with based on whose vision most matched their own. So who shined and who crashed and burned?

While collaborating with the teens was no sweat for most, Christian€™s client, a self-proclaimed €˜designer,€™ pushed his patience to the limit, and he made no attempt at concealing that from the judges. His inability to take control and reluctance to assimilate his vision with that of his client€™s earned Christian a spot in the bottom two (and heavy criticism from the judges- including guest judge Gilles Mendel of J Mendel), however, it was ... Kevin who got the boot, due to his €˜cheap looking,€™ €˜too mature€™ creation.

Stylehive just spoke to the ousted designer for the behind-the-curtains scoop.

READ ON OR SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR A "THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES" SLIDESHOW OF ALL KEVIN'S CREATIONS.

Stylehive: What did you think about last night€™s challenge?
Kevin: Well at that point, all of the designers were kind of getting used to their models for a minute, and then it€™s like all of a sudden we get thrown this €˜real woman€™ challenge, something completely off of the form, away form the form, that we can€™t really control the fit. So we were just kind of over it at that point, I was at least! I love making stuff for real people, but high school girls€™ bodies aren€™t very developed yet, and it€™s really hard to figure out where their curves are, and enhance where their most important parts, you know what I mean? Like the short torso thing is so important when it comes to designing. Models are models because they flatter clothing, they elongate. So them being so short and having short torsos, it looked like last night, everyone€™s stuff wasn€™t as good as they normally are.

Stylehive: How did you feel about the judges criticisms?
Kevin: I just felt from watching the show previous seasons, from seeing other people get bashed by the judges, anything you say and anything you defend, they€™re just gonna go on and on about it, there€™s nothing really you can say about it. So I was kind of listening and I took the points that were accurate and important to me, and just kind of took them, but I filtered out the rest of it. People have been judging my work for years, whether it€™s a buyer, whether it€™s a magazine, whatever the case may be, so I take that with a grain of salt. Being in the business for so long, you kind of get over it. A lot of designers do tend to go crazy because they take that stuff to heart. Look, fashion is about judgment.

Stylehive: What would you have done differently? Would you have taken Chris€™s advice and hemmed the bottom?
Kevin: With that particular fabric, If I would have tried to hem it, it would have been a disaster because silk just works the way it wants to work. And you just don€™t want to stretch it out because it would pucker. So I cut it on the bias, which is on the angle, and when you cut something on the bias like that, that particular fabric, it won€™t fray. And I put a stage stitch around it, which is much safer than folding it under with it being short, folding it under and having to deal with the puckering because we didn€™t have a handkerchief merrow machine, that€™s how you finish silk to make it look accurate. That€™s something I focused on but that wasn€™t my problem. My problem was number 1- the girls bodies were just hard to work with. And the styling aspect of it, she definitely looked older than 17- the shoes, the earrings, the hair, a few bad decisions on that. Michael Kors was focusing on that, and I felt like he was right about it. But by all means it definitely wasn€™t the worst piece. I think everyone kind of screwed up last night.

Stylehive: What were you thinking standing up there as part of the bottom 2?
Keving: After Ricky was excused, I looked to my right and I€™m like €˜Rami€™s got immunity€™ and Christian, there€™s no way he€™s going. And I€™m not just saying this, but me standing next to Christian, and I mean, I€™m 10 years older than him, and I have things going on, but this is his first crack at being an individual designer. So if I had a choice right there- if they said €˜who should go, you or Christian€™- I would have had Christian stay and I would have left, because he€™s great and he needs to know, and he€™s perfect for the show. I commend him for who he is. All I wanted to do was go there and show good work and not get involved in any of the bullshit or the drama.

Stylehive: How did you feel about having Gilles Mendel come in as a guest judge?
Kevin: Can I be honest with you? With my heterosexual ways, I had no idea who he was! NO IDEA. I stopped with the whole looking at other designer€™s clothing, who's hot who's not. My vision is based off of living in New York City and seeing a million people pass me everyday. I was like, €˜Who is this guy, and why is he even judging me?€™

Stylehive: Which of the remaining designers do you like the most in terms of style and technique?
Kevin: My favorite designers on the show are Jillian and Christian. I think they€™re very talented. Christian is definitely a prodigy and he€™s gonna do some damage in this business going forward. Jillian is just so good, she really is, I have to say, I tip my hat to her. I mean she really has a great eye and she portrays what is happening. The look that she has, what she wears, and how she translates it into clothing, is gonna do well in the contemporary market. I could see her stuff at Scoop, or Bendel€™s, you know.

Stylehive: So at the end of the episode, you promised us a line. How€™s that going?
Kevin: Well I€™m gonna start it like now since all this weight€™s lifted off my shoulders. Now I€™m putting out a couple things. Basically, from being so inspired by the menswear challenge, I€™m gonna do a men's dress shirt collection. And on top of that, I€™m gonna do a specific type of womens collection that€™s not gonna be chopped apart by buyers, like this is it, it€™s wearable, it€™s sellable for all age groups and it€™s affordable. I actually just sat down with my old sales rep and we€™re gonna attack the market in that way. The economy is really bad right now and you need to take that into consideration, like the whole thing about designers, they can show their vision, but you have to read up on what€™s going on in the world. So I think it€™s a sure thing with this kind of exposure to put something out there that€™s affordable for people. And to put the cherry on top - I work on the Rachel Ray show - Rachel Ray put me under her wing and she€™s helping me go forward as well, so I have all her people, she€™s got a lot of viewers, so I€™ve got a lot of good things going in the future.