I would be remiss if I didn't post something about Anya Ayoung Chee, the talented designer from Trinidad and Tobago who was crowned the season 9 winner of the fashion reality competition Project Runway: 'Project Runway' season finale recap: No sleeves, no bra, no problem!
I didn't really follow the season very carefully, but I caught a couple of episodes here there. I was impressed with Anya's style and taste -- not to mention her kickass hairstyle and rad Caribbean accent. She will perhaps be remembered as the contestant with extremely novice sewing skills.
Here's an EW interview with Anya: 'Project Runway' season 9 winner: 'I did not anticipate creating such great friendships out of a competition.'
I know there was so much talk about your ability to make a sleeve or a pant. Once and for all, can you make a sleeve or do you just choose not to?People made a huge deal out of the fact that she couldn't sew, though at this point it doesn't really seem to matter. Anya, who happens to be a former Miss Trinidad and Tobago, is now a bonafide designer with a $100,000 prize. More here: Project Runway Winner Is Already Getting Calls from Celebrities
I can, but particularly with something like a sleeve, you can really see when it's not done well, and it didn't make sense for me to do things that I wasn't 100 percent confident about. Not that I was really 100 percent confident at any point, but I avoided making things I felt I wouldn't be able to do as well as the other designers. So I guess it was my strategy to avoid them.
You were queen of the make-it-work moments all season. Did the editing make it look like you'd been doing things last minute, or was that really how you worked?
No, I'm really like that. [Laughs] I'm slow, cause I really did just learn, so I'm much slower than most of the other designers. My time management wasn't great, so I would kind of pull it together as best I could at the end. I was always running out of the workroom last, so I was very grateful it worked out in the end.