Project Runway is back—and this season, New Jersey is in the workroom.
The fashion competition hosted by Heidi Klum returned Thursday, July 9, with a two-episode premiere streaming on Hulu and Disney+, while also airing on Freeform. The 22nd season features 22 designers—the largest cast in Project Runway history—competing for career-changing prizes. Klum is joined once again by judges Law Roach and Nina Garcia, with Christian Siriano returning as a mentor.
Among the contestants are Elizabeth Shevelv and Bryan Barrientos, two Garden State natives.
Shevelev credits her Princeton upbringing and education at the Hun School of Princeton with laying the foundation for her artistic career. “My high school art teacher fostered my abilities,” Shevelv tells New Jersey Monthly. “He embraced imperfection, and I still carry that philosophy with me today.”
Ahead of the premiere, she was receiving enthusiastic messages from people she attended middle school with. “It’s so sweet,” she says of the excitement.
Shevelev built her college thesis around upcycling bargain-bin fabrics into sculptural garments—and that sustainability, she says, remains central to her work. “[As a society, w]e make so much stuff. Why do we make this stuff?” Shevelev says. “It’s really important to understand the ‘why’ before you make something.”
Her sustainable designs have been worn by celebrities including Kylie Jenner, Megan Fox and Rosalía, and have even been showcased at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in America: A Lexicon of Fashion. “My practice is really about world-building, femininity and embracing emotion,” she says.
Her sustainable design process has been put to the test on Project Runway. “You definitely have to get creative,” she says. “It’s a pressure cooker.”
Bryan Barrientos, meanwhile, is a Peruvian-American designer from Paterson whose couture fashion label, Atelier Barrientos, blends personal memory, cultural ritual and sculptural craftsmanship into special-occasion wear.
“I had always worked in retail,” says Barrientos, recalling stints at Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic in Garden State Plaza in Paramus and Willowbrook Mall in Wayne. He initially envisioned climbing the corporate ladder in retail but ultimately decided to build a brand of his own.
During his research phase, he realized he first needed to teach himself the fundamentals of fashion design. “I had never sewn in my life, even though I come from a line of seamstresses, and I didn’t know how to draw,” he says. “Then I picked up this book at Barnes & Noble—I think it was called Technical Fashion Sketches for Beginners—and that’s when it clicked for me.”
His determination to launch his own label led him to New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where he earned his BFA and MFA. His designs have since appeared at New York Fashion Week and the Met Gala and have been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Women’s Wear Daily.
His work ethic was formed early on. “From a very, very young age, I was exposed to a lot of hardships,” Barrientos tells NJM. “Family entrepreneurship and hustling at such an early age were a big push to who I am today.”
For Barrientos, participating in Project Runway offered more than just intense competition. “I was there to prove myself,” he says. “But most importantly, network. At the end of the day, you want [the judges, mentors and fellow competitors] at your next show, your next exhibition. You want to start building those relationships.”
