944

Individuality is the only timeless style, and in an industry where style is a constantly evolving notion, one’s individuality seems to be an imperative asset. 944 caught up with three vastly different designers, whose individuality carried them to national success on Lifetime’s hit series Project Runway. Micheal Costello, Mondo Guerra and Christopher Collins sat down to talk a little shop with 944, discussing their design aesthetics, personal philosophies and plans for the future and, of course, cracking jokes along the way.

Christopher Collins

San Franciscans waited with bated breath as one of their own, designer Christopher Collins, duked it out on Project Runway’s eighth season.

The 30-year-old San Francisco State grad finished sixth, sending romantic yet practical pieces down the runway for every challenge.

Taking cues from the past, Collins’ design direction focuses in on dramatic detailing and Elizabethan elements, while he connects it all to the woman of today. His pieces are sophisticated yet functional, wearable yet laced with an unexpected element of excitement. “Most of my inspiration comes from history, Elizabethan, Victorian, Edwardian,” he says. “I love clean lines and bold details, what ever tells a story that feels chic and graceful.”

Collins has taken his notion of understated sexiness and made it an available option for any woman, at any size. “Elegant, sophisticated, and fresh — it’s for a woman’s body, exactly how she is,” he says. “I use fabrics that shape and compliment her silhouette so she’s sexy if she wants to be, but always beautiful.”

With beauty on the brain, Collins has since come back to San Francisco, and taken the city by storm.

Collins opened his own namesake boutique on Sutter Street this past October setting serious roots downtown. He is also collaborating with Neiman Marcus, who picked up his line this fall, making his success on the homefront a double-hitter.

Collins has plans to go outside San Francisco city limits as well. “We signed with a showroom in New York City, so now I’m focused on designing my next collection, something spectacular for more stores and people to see,” he says. “This season I’m inspired by a mixture of film noir and art nouveau. The look is clean and sharp, with rich layers of texture. It also has a little military sensibility to it. I’ll be showing the collection in NYC this February.”

In a world that’s unequivocally obsessed with the future, Collins finds himself traveling into the past and creating refreshingly beautiful things for the woman of right now.

Michael Costello

On a brisk December day on the hunt for the perfect cupcake around the streets of Downtown San Francisco, Project Runway’s Michael Costello lets 944 peek inside his fashionable world and dishes on his unique point of view and plans for the future.

The LA native resides in Palm Springs, Calif., where he designs his signature clothing line. “I’m all about effortless chic, things that fit comfortably and not too structured,” he says. “It’s all about the woman who wants to feel comfortable and relaxed, but still look good.”

During the walk, Costello and Mondo Guerra, his fellow Project Runway competitor and best friend, stop for a dance break along side a red convertible Mini Cooper blasting “Stereo Love” by Edward Maya, proving the pair’s fun loving disposition.

Costello’s interest in design started before he could walk. “I was very, very young when I knew I wanted to go to into fashion,” he says. “I was like 2 years old when I started ripping my sisters’ clothes apart and taking out the shoulder pads and just seeing how stuff was made.” In fact, Costello proved he had what it takes at a very young age. “I did my first fashion show when I was 14 years old. I did 11 pieces and I even got a small write up in Vogue magazine for “Los Angeles’ Hidden Talent” in November 1998.”

Costello has an inner drive, which keeps him motivated and never satisfied. In fact, that idealistic itch for greatness is the very reason he chose to compete on Project Runway. “I was already established as a fashion designer before going on to Project Runway,” he says. “I worked with great people and great celebrities, but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted something that would catapult my business to another level. I did it as a business plan to get recognition for my brand.”

Needless to say, his plan worked. A San Francisco block could not be scaled without local fans swarming the design duo while gawking with starry-eyed disbelief.

Aside from the public recognition, Project Runway has provided the platform to launch large-scale fashion productions, which Costello has used. “I just finished my 2011 resort collection which offers a woman luxury resort lifestyle in comfortable clothing and big graphic prints,” he says. “And I plan on showing a new couture collection that I’m currently working on for El Paseo Fashion Week on March 23, in Palm Springs.” With big plans for the future and one dozen perfectly pink cupcakes in hand, the designer seems to have it all in the bag.

Mondo Guerra

At 32, Mondo Guerra has already survived more public and personal drama in the span of a single television season than most people experience in a lifetime. From the inception of Project Runway’s eighth season, Guerra captivated audiences with his knee-sock-clad charm, his sense of playfulness and his incontestable talent for marrying retro-glamour with modern sophistication.

The Denver native was coined the indisputable “it girl” of the season, winning three challenges in a row and placing in the show’s top three designers on a consistent basis. However, it was not his clothing that propelled him into the spotlight as a spokesperson for a national agenda.
Guerra single-handedly changed the complexion of the season during the tenth challenge when he reluctantly disclosed that he has been HIV-positive for 10 years. A secret he referenced in his geometric, plus-sign patterned pants. With the exposure, Guerra has become an inspiring role model for HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns. “I am speaking out on the platform of HIV and AIDS awareness, just trying to break the stigma,” he says. That’s my immediate goal. From the show I have kind of fallen into this position of being an advocate of this cause. I never expected to be an advocate, or even lobby on Capitol Hill, but I have had that experience and really enjoyed it.”

Fashion continues to energize and inspire Guerra. “I plan on launching my line for holiday delivery 2011,” he says, while pondering over which whimsically decorated hat to place on his models gigantically teased hair-do. “My style aesthetic is playful, but very classic and sophisticated. I mix old with new and young with old. But it maintains a youthful quality, there’s nothin g old about it.”

Guerra, like his clothing, is youthful, playful and a little over the top. His free-willed sense of playfulness mixed with somber refinement and raw talent captivated Project Runway’s 3.3 million viewers nationwide. He shocked the world when he bravely revealed his darkest secret, and again when he came in second to Gretchen Jones at New York Fashion Week when most thought he had the competition signed, sealed and delivered.

Guerra is a quiet storm of sorts. Underneath his tiny frame, signature glasses and undoubtedly chic suspenders lies a relentlessly hardworking and talented designer, who almost compulsively refuses to let adversity bring him down.

Photography by Jeremy Montemayor
Styling by Erica Henderson
Hair by Lorenzo Diaz
Makeup by Esteban Martinez
First photography assistant Quan Pham
Photography assistants
Maria Del Rio, Heather Rudloff,
Vince Jubilo, Gordon Loi, Rosana Tsui
Styling assistant Laurel May
Crew Keira Rowland, Casey Prices, Jessica Wolfrom
Rachel, Alexis, Sterling, and Allie all from Look Model Agency
Shot on location at Twenty Five Lusk and W San Francisco

Click here to see more photos from the shoot:  www.944.com/nightsites/gallery/project-runway-season-8-photoshoot

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