What Happened To These Project Runway Winners After The Show?
Mar 02 2021
You cheered (or booed) when they won, and maybe you've shelled out for their designs! But with so many post-Runway careers to follow, you might have lost track. Here's where some of our favorite winners of Project Runway are today.

Though he didn't win a single challenge before the finale, Jay McCarroll took it all home on the very first season of Project Runway. Well, sort of. Even though he won, McCarroll turned down both the prize money and associated mentorship, though as the Washington Post noted, "he did appear in Elle ." Regarding turning down the cash, McCarroll told The Washington Post in 2005:

"Use your imagination there, for I am not allowed to talk about it."

But a 2007 New York Magazine feature revealed that McCarroll walked away from the prize money when he learned that the Weinstein Company, which produced Project Runway at the time, quote, "would forever own a 10 percent stake in his brand."

“I was working on, like, 3 hours of sleep a night, because we just… They worked us like it was a job. It wasn’t fun.”

The clause has since been dropped from the winners' contracts, but too late for McCarroll. In 2010, he appeared on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, losing 40 pounds for the win. Though he's since designed an eco-friendly dress for Gabby Wild and did wardrobe and costumes for a couple of short films, McCarroll doesn't recommend the fashion designer life for others. He told The Delco Times in 2009, quote, "Go be an accountant...don't be in fashion."

Keep watching to see What Happened To These Project Runway Winners After The Show!

#Celebs #ProjectRunway #Fashion

Jay McCarroll won Celebrity Fit Club | 0:00

Leanne Marshall dresses celebrities | 1:26

Chloe Dao is a fashion philanthropist | 2:16

Sebastian Grey made big moves | 3:25

Jeffrey Sebelia built four global brands | 4:26

Christian Siriano is a huge name in fashion | 5:32

Dom Streater does "slow fashion" and art | 6:50

Anya Ayoung-Chee 'aims to empower' | 7:57

Dmitry Sholokhov wins Fashion Designer of the Year | 8:51

Michelle Lesniak returned to win All Stars | 10:01

Ashley Nell Tipton no longer designs | 10:56

Erin Robertson partnered with MIT fashionistas | 12:11

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