First Time Here?

In last night’s episode of Project Runway, the designers dispersed to their own corners of the world to begin begin working on their 12-piece collections. The heat was on Chris and Rami as they duked it out to claim the coveted final spot in the top three. After months of slaving away, the designers reconvened in the Big Apple to gear up for fashion week. But first came the fashion face-off between Rami and Chris. Christian assisted his partner in fierceness, Chris, while Jillian helped Rami.

Both men received equal amounts of praise and critiques from the judges. Rami was given props for finally showing some variety in his construction, and Chris had everyone in awe on account of his incredible craftsmanship and unique use of materials. However, Chris, extolled for being an incredible designer, got the boot.

Stylehive just spoke to the auf’d funny man (this was our second interview, he fooled us the first time!) to get the scoop on his elimination and his collection. 

Stylehive: When Tim visited you, he suggested you lose the human hair extensions, you seemed like you were gonna listen but then kept the hair- why did you decide to keep it?
Chris: Well Tim and I talked a lot about the hair, a lot more than they showed. I think his initial reaction was shock, and like he said his gag reflex- which was a pretty funny line. He was like ‘it’s very Chris March, it’s very you.’ And it’s not unprecedented to use human hair, so I just thought well I’m gonna keep it to a certain extent and use it. I wanted to use something that people couldn’t really figure out. 

Stylehive: Well you did! I thought it was horse-hair when I first saw it! After hearing what the judges had to say- who did you think was gonna get sent home?
Chris: Well i was definitely thrilled with the fact that they recognized my creativity and my skill level. But Rami is obviously, much more of a ‘fashion designer,’ his whole life has been fashion, and i think they look at the criteria and think ‘well Rami is the person who probably would go on and be successful, and Chris, we don’t know.’ In the end, the show is about fashion.

Stylehive: Even though you weren’t competing for the grand prize, you still got to show at Bryant Park- what was that like? You seemed very emotional during your introduction speech.
Chris:The show was very intense and I didn’t want to give that speech in the beginning. I just kept saying I didn’t wanna do it; I was so overwhelmed and I knew I was gonna cry. I swear the producer had to PUSH me out there! So I went out there and the audiences response was overwhelming, the lights shining in my eyes and everyone applauding and all the smiling faces, it was the most incredible moment of my life.

Stylehive: Your collection was pretty dramatic, but not as over the top as I thought it would be- was this a conscious decision?
Chris: Yes, it was kind of conscious on my part to not be too over the top, because I tended to get criticism for that area of my designs . So I kind of had to find a fine line between ready to wear and super over the top fantasy couture, so i guess my decision was to try to make things that I thought were very editorial that were maybe along the lines of fantasy, but not so far over the edge that you couldn’t see any use for them in the fashion world

Stylehive:  So what’s next- last time we spoke you said you got offered to design a wig store- and were offered to do costumes for a movie, anything happening with that?
Chris: I have a lot of different offers happening at the moment. The movie thing is definitely on, even thought I can’t talk that much about it. I’m just kind of re-assembling my life post-Project Runway and seeing where it takes me. It certainly will open up a lot of doors. I mean how I call up places and say “Hi, this is Chris March from Project Runway’ and they’re thrilled to talk to me!