Wooooohooo It's Getting Hot!!!

Oh my oh my the Project Runway house is on fire! Last night was probably the cattiest episode in the season so far and tensions were high. The fifth episode of the season saw the designers working with ladies in need of rejuvenation.
Each designer was teamed with a new model/divorcee and were challenged to create a new reconstructed outfit from each divorcees wedding dress.

If you didn't see the show you must watch it as words cannot described the drama that went down. Kim seems to be the fire starter amongst the designers, pouring all her frustrations on Jeff who's design was actually more solid than the out spoken Vancouver native. Did you know Kim is divorced? Married for 3 years...Hmmm I wonder what happened with that!

Yes, yes Jeff may have only done a stitch here and a stitch there but Kim's rebuttal once in front of the judges was in poor taste.

Sunny won immunity once again and the predicted winner is feeling the pressure of being such a solid designer. Adejoke's design was very solid and it was clear her model loved her new dress. Jessica is still on point but could have made her dress a little longer while Jason Meyers hit the heart with sentiment creating a jacket for his lady with her son's name stitched on the inside. It looked like Meyers would win immunity but Sunny took the gold this week.

Anywhoo! When it all came down to the judges, it was quiet dedicated Baylor Orlando to leave the show this week. His dress was a reconstruction of a Sari that unfortunately just didn't measure up to the judges standards as opposed to the Kim Cathers rag balloon dress that really had nothing flattering about it.

So you know we just had to get the scoop from Baylor and here is our interview with the more than inspiring multi-talented designer.


CF: Hi Baylor, Sorry to see you go so soon, were you sad to leave the show and how have things been?
BO: It’s been amazing it’s been a great journey, I’m really happy I took part in the show. It was good I wanted to make it on the other side it was a great feeling to leave with a job well done, there were no regrets. With everything I did I was convinced I was doing the best job. I always put the best energy in every challenge not only for the last one but from the very beginning. When I decided to start the challenge I assumed I was taking on a job, it’s like in real life every day is a challenge, of course I am little bit sad but it’s not that bad when you know you did the best you could.

CF: Tell us a little bit about yourself, what is your fashion history?
BO: I studied fashion design in Caracas after I graduated I opened my own bridal studio, Baylor&Toledo. I worked on wedding dresses and evening gowns; I also did a lot of gowns for beauty pageants. In Venezuela if you become a part of the pageant scene, you are known as a talented designer. I closed the company when I decided to move to Canada in 2006. I started working for a designer from Montreal who closed his company and I started working as the head designer for Ugo Sac and I do all the designs that make up the lines of the collections, I develop all of them and follow the process from the first idea, to the samples, to the final product. It’s something different because it was a brand new field for me, because there were a lot of new things for me to do. I’m not afraid of taking risks and I love reinventing myself. This is something that gave me the opportunity to develop myself in a different field and I love it. I’m really happy now.

CF: You were very confident in your audition tape, what do you think sets you apart from all the other contestants then and now?
BO: One of the things that I realized is that designers can be very different from each other. For me the show confirmed that being a designer is not about making patterns or sewing you have to have a background to support your work, you need a lot of knowledge, the more background you have the more confident and of course I am totally confident. I know Baylor Orlando is a designer. I was very calm, I never thought of taking part in making drama or gossiping, it was very serious for me and I hope that people got that from me.

CF: So in the last episode it boiled down to you and Kim Cathers and you were more panicked than usual during the challenge, do you feel like the judges made an unfair decision based on Kim’s teary-eyed act?
BO: I think the fact that Kim staying is going to spice up things with the remaining contestants. It’s part of the game and from the very first moment I decided to be part of it I knew the rules, that’s why I don’t feel bad about leaving because I played the game as it was and the judges made the decision and I respect that. It’s good for me, good for them, life goes on and I just want to take it as a good thing out of the whole experience.

CF: Who do you think will win the competition?
BO: I don’t know who will win, but I do know deserves to win and that is Sunny. Sunny has the talent and the discipline to do it and he is just an amazing designer, he really deserves to win he has everything it takes to win.

CF: What has life been like for you since the show?
BO: Life has been amazing; this is a great chapter of my career as a designer. The show doesn’t define who I am as a designer but it definitely is something very important, sharing this time with 13 other designers gave me the opportunity to learn good things from each one of them and you grow up as a person. The experience has given me the opportunity to live and be part of a TV show, which I never did before. Even though I didn’t make it to the end coming back to real life you always have a new point of view because every experience that I have in life is like food, it makes you grow and you learn from it! I think now I am back from the show, some things may have changed in me as a person but I’m more than motivated to keep challenging myself everyday, real life everyday is a challenge the only difference is that I don’t have Iman here to tell me what to do.

CF: What are your thoughts on Danio, who recently passed away?
BO: We spent the first day together, when we arrived in Ottawa and in the mansion. Danio was one of the people I considered from the beginning the one to beat. He had such a background and so many experiences as well as worked with designers and major fashion houses. I know he really wanted to make the show but it was really something that he shared the time with us. Wherever he is I’m pretty sure he is enjoying the show and sharing the whole experience with us because he really wanted to be there, even when he was sick he really wanted to be there.

CF: What are some words of advice to designers hoping to make it in the Canadian fashion scene?
BO: I would say that fashion is an industry, it’s a business. Fashion can be glamorous, fashion can be pretty, it can be lots of parties and cocktails but fashion has to be taken seriously and you have to know to become a fashion designer you have to have a background to support what you do. You need to know who you are in order to express to other people what you want to show as a designer, you have to be open to critics because they make you grow. You have to keep yourself open to changes and keep your mind open because the fashion designer has to be updated and you have to be open to what’s going on in the world, as well as history. You have to be very active; you have to know a little bit of everything because that is what makes you a good designer and what gives you the support to make a collection. You don’t just make a collection from watching magazines; you have to look for inspiration in everything. That is something students need to know because sometimes they think it’s all about the fame but it’s much more than the superfluous parts of fashion.

It is a beautiful career but you have to know how to handle that!

CF: So what have you been up to?
BO: I am working and I have a lot of plans in mind I would like to go back to my own company. I really enjoy what I’m doing now, routine is something that kills me, I always need to be doing things, I never stop I think life is too short not to live it of challenges. Of course you guys will hear me.

Links
Project Runway Episode 5
Baylor Orlando Website