‘Project Runway’: A chat with Season 7’s winner, Seth Aaron Henderson
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Where can we buy your stuff and when?
I have a couple things left online at Ann Bocci boutique in
What was your favorite design from the runway show?
Each one was perfect or else I wouldn’t have sent it down. Some were individual pieces that could be retail, some were pushing costume, but dude, it was New York Fashion Week! I wanted to make a bold, graphic statement. My competitors went the other way: They did very beautifully made lines, but they could have gone right off the runway and onto the shelf. After the show, we sat down and agreed that any one of us could win. None of us agreed that he or she was a better designer or had better-made clothes than the others. I saw the other two’s clothes up close and they were just beautifully made, but they had a different approach to a show. It’s Bryant Park: You gotta go big and make an exciting show! From looks No. 1 to No. 10, you have to keep everyone’s attention and keep the volume up. I even had my music created from scratch for my show. Nina [Garcia] told me, ‘You’re the only one who made a runway show collection.’ I’m not sure all my pieces would be sold in the same store or even the same department. They’re supposed to be different. Someday I’d love to do a show where it’s all costume and don’t even have to be wearable.
How much did you alter your approach after Tim Gunn’s critique at your halfway point?
I started with an expected retail line, a pretty, predictable collection. I always intended on bringing at least 20 looks to
Did you put him on the trampoline to punish him?
He’d never been on one! Growing up in
Are you staying in
We’re going to stay where we are because the kids are in their teens and they have friends and their school’s amazing, but if the factory goes as planned, we’ll get an apartment in
What would be your dream line to work for?
Well, he’s dead now ... McQueen. Or Dior, something along those lines. Roland Mouret, who was one of the judges this season -- if he offered me a job I’d be there in a second.
What was your favorite challenge?
I loved the kids challenge, I loved the
Speaking of the kids challenge, do you have any plans to do kids clothing?
I’ve made kids stuff before for independent clients who wanted a great costume dress for their daughter or whatever. I’m not opposed to it. After I get a manufacturer established and they’re producing the women’s and men’s, I figure, why not the kids too.
Why was your family so emotional at the finale?
They’re been through this journey with me, and they know how much it means for me and how much I’ve worked for it. I’ve worked for his for the last four years, and they just know that’s what I love to do. They’re just really happy for me that I went there to win, to accomplish a goal and I made it. My family’s around me every day and being gone during the summer, I missed our camping trip, shopping, all these things where I wasn’t there: That’s what I meant when I said I sacrificed for my dream. They said, ‘That’s OK, go do this.’ I’m going to make it up for them and take them for a vacation.
-- Claire Zulkey