Project Runway Winners: Where Are They Now?

As the 5th season of Project Runway draws nearer (next week! Yessss!), I can’t contain my excitement. I have spent the past week watching all the season marathons (one of the perks of workin’ at home!) and I have even been doin’ a little runway walking everywhere I go. Yes, that is a true story.

By Lauren

In honor of the big event (it will be the last good season of the show before it moves to Lifetime…ew), I decided to take a trip down PR Memory Lane. Where are the big winners now and, more importantly, where can I buy their sh*t?

Jay McCarroll:

We haven’t seen much of Jay since his big win on the first season of Project Runway. Well, I saw him once doing some weird thing where he sat in a window front in some store in NY and talked about all the people walking by. But in terms of designing – the reason he won the freaking show – there has been, well, nothing. It has been years since Jay walked that delicious line down the runway and…nothing. Not a peep. Not a single stitch.

Well, he is finally in business. Online business, to be exact. But is he selling gorgeous knits? Is he making people “see fashion in a new and different way”? No. He’s making f-ing t-shirts…and ugly bags.

Ugh. Bring us the knits, man. The knits!

Chloe Dao: This little lady has definitely taken her Project Runway win the furthest. Dao not only returned to Houston to work on her line (and store), Lot 8, but she has also used her PR success to launch a line exclusively for QVC, Simply Chloe Dao. The line (for the most part…even though my MOM bought some of this stuff)is cute, totally wearable (unlike those giant 80’s prom dresses she marched down the runway at Fashion Week) and affordable! Chloe hopes to open more stores in NY and LA. I hope so too; I heart her.

Jeffrey Sebelia: Since winning the show, this PR badboy has returned to his old life (minus the drugs) running his line, Cosa Nostra. While his name isn’t being dropped like the Pradas and Marc Jacobs of the world, Sebelia has seen some major success with his designs, selling them in boutiques around the world. This designer is definitely workin’ his Project Runway success…I just hope he pulls an Isaac Mizrahi/Vera Wang and stars designing for the poor college students of the world.

Christian Siriano: Even though this fierce (sorry, couldn’t resist) designer is only a few months out of his big win, Siriano is already making a huge splash in the fashion pool. He has already designed clothes for Posh and Heidi Klum, did a little acting on Ugly Betty, is hard at work designing another collection for Fashion Week in NYC and, of course, has created his own dictionary of terms being used by hot tranny messes around the globe.

I can’t wait to see what talented (and hilarious) designers this season brings. Maybe another Santino? A girl can dream….