By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Edmond Newton could be the first Atlantan to win Lifetime's Emmy-winning reality competition show "Project Runway" Thursday night.
He is already the poster child for tenacity.
Newton, 37, has tried out for the show every season since it debuted in 2004. He finally made the cast this past year, season 14.
"You'd be amazed how many people have told me I was an inspiration," Newton said in a phone interview earlier this week. "I gave them the energy to keep going."
As for his own experience on "Project Runway," he called it a "roller coaster ride." Even as as super fan, he said it was difficult to appreciate how exhausting the journey can be until he actually took part.
Newton, a hair stylist who switched careers a few years ago to focus on fashion, started the season strong and was fairly consistent as a dozen other designers fell on the wayside. He won three challenges but stumbled near the end. In the episode that aired two weeks ago, he created a less-than-inspiring red-carpet dress that nearly kept him out of the finale with three other designers.
"My head was spinning," Newton said. "I was burnt out."
Since he tended to create black-and-white outfits, he purposely went out his comfort zone and picked a colorful fabric for the final challenge. But he struggled to turn it into something inspiring, noting that he "couldn't get past the color."
"It breaks my heart," said judge Nina Garcia on the show. "It's like the fabric got the best of him."
The disappointed judges cut him, but Lifetime didn't reveal until last week's episode that mentor Tim Gunn decided to "save" Newton and allowed him to return to the competition. (Gunn can do that once per season.) As a result, Newton was able to show his collection at Fashion Week in New York City and qualify for the win, which includes $100,000 and a 2015 Lexus, among many other prizes.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
During last week's episode, Newton previewed his collection to Gunn in Atlanta. His family was also able to meet Gunn. Newton chose the decidedly modest Rusty Nail Pub, a watering hole on Buford Highway.
"I go there a lot," Newton said. "I wanted to give him an experience. He seemed to have a good time. And seeing how proud my parents were, that's a dream come true."
In New York, in last week's episode, he also previewed three of his looks for the judges to critique before they saw all ten. Their biggest issue: while his three outfits were all thematically black and white, the judges felt they were not coherent.
Judge Garcia said his signature design aesthetic is provocative and glamorous. She wanted more of that. "Bring your sexy back!" she said.
Newton wasn't perturbed. He had 48 hours to make changes for the finale episode airing Thursday at 9 p.m.
"I have no problem restructuring what I created," he said.
His thoughts on his competitors:
Ashley Neil Timpton: "Her strong point is designing for the plus-sized women."
Candice Cuoco: . "She loves leather. She is into creating dominatrix, sexy powerful women."
Kelly Dempsey: "She goes for that girl who is unique. She's fun. She parties. She does this and that."
On Savannah's Marlene (who came in fifth) and her wacky energy: "I think a lot of people couldn't get Marlene and understand her. You meet her, okay, this girl has a lot of energy. Once she was no longer there, you miss her. There was a void in the room. She was so upbeat, running around and screaming. She kept me energized. I fed off her energy."
When some of the lady contestants ganged up on plus-sized designer Ashley Neil Tipton as if it was high school and inexplicably picked her last for a team challenge: "It wasn't played up. What happened was captured with the cameras. Nothing was re-created. There were a lot of emotions. There were feelings. There was tenseness. Nobody wants to be picked last. It's not a good feeling."(Read the EW recap of this episode. It was painful to watch.)
On Hanmao Yang as a partner: "She was very stubborn in her own way. I had won the previous challenge. Bu tit's like your music. You're only as big as your last hit. I wanted to bring a strong point of view. At this point, I was still proving myself. We couldn't work together. I even made a second swimsuit in case she didn't complete her. We didn't want to send them out naked!"
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
His favorite challenge: The Hallmark store unconventional materials challenge. He created a wedding dress. He snipped out the backs of bridal cards' Hallmark Signature logo to create a bodice with giant white paper for the skirt. He then took a bunch of envelopes to make a bouquet. He won.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
On Tim Gunn's unprecedented anger toward Swapnil Shinde: "Did you see my face? I had never seen anything like that. He had gotten frustrated with what was going on. He invests in us. He believes in us." [Swapnil was not working as hard as Tim thought he should have been, which set him off.]
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
TV PREVIEW
"Project Runway" season 14 finale, 9 p.m. Thursday, Lifetime
About the Author
