California Apparel News

Nick Verreos

The sixth season of “Project Runway” has not even aired yet (it’s scheduled to bow on its new home on Lifetime in August), and I’m already thinking about season 7.

That’s because I recently caught up with “Project Runway” alum—and recent ApparelNews.net guest blogger—Nick Verreos. Last month, Verreos sat on the panel at the Los Angeles auditions for the seventh season of “Project Runway,” sharing the dais with mentor and “Project Runway” star Tim Gunn and Marie Claire Editor Zoe Glasner. The group met on Memorial Day at the W hotel in L.A.’s Westwood neighborhood. (Incidentally, Verreos said there was a raging Memorial Day party going on poolside at the W—giving Gunn and Glasner a taste of the glam L.A. party experience. “It was a mini Vegas,” Verreos said.)

To talk all things “Runway,” we braved the uber-fashionable crowds at the new Urth Café in downtown Los Angeles, where Nick dished about the current crop of talent who turned out for a shot at “Project Runway” and what it takes to shine in the auditions.

According to Verreos, Lifetime changed the audition schedule a bit, adding Seattle to the lineup of audition cities, which also includes Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Atlanta. This time out, show producers narrowed the process, winnowing down applicants to fewer than 75 who presented their collections to the panel.

Verreos said he was happy to have the process streamlined but was a little nostalgic about not getting to see the full range of applicants.

“It’s good that we don’t sit there for 14 hours,” said Verreos, who has served on the audition panel in the past. “But I miss that mother who brings in her daughter’s cheetah-print cheerleader costume with the dingleberries and fringe.”

(I asked whether the current crop has the sewing chops to make it past the first challenge. Verreos said only few were unable to demonstrate their finesse in the sewing room and Gunn quickly—and, no doubt, politely—sent them on their way.)

Verreos said he saw a good mix of fresh-out-of-school talent—including a few he knew from teaching fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising. (In those cases, he recused himself from the judging process.) “I’m happy to see there’s still interest,” he said. “You have design talent coming out of the schools every year.”

He said several experienced designers turned out, as well, including some designers with well-established companies and well-known names. (Verreos declined to drop any names—even after I promised it was just between the two of us—and anyone within earshot at the restaurant.)

The upcoming season was shot in L.A., but season 7 will be filmed in New York, Verreos said, but he added that the show may return to Los Angeles for season 8. For anyone interested in auditioning for that season, Verreos offered the following insight:

“If there’s any advice I can give for those fresh-out-of-school designers who want to pursue ’Project Runway,’ it’s this: Wait one or two years after graduation and continue to create. And that’s [the collection] you bring in. We want to see how you’ve grown up outside of fashion school.”

“I remember when I graduated,” he continued. “I wanted to be Versace, and I was a low-rent version. After graduation, I got a pattern table and a dress form, and I continued to create and evolve. A few months later, I had grown so much.”

Verreos is next off to Florence, Italy, where he will address students at the Polimoda International Institute of Fashion Design Marketing.