FOR 13 years, long before Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn invaded living rooms across the country, there was another real-life “Project Runway” fostering undiscovered talent and developing designers’ careers.
Gen Art, a New York nonprofit organization founded by brothers Ian and Stefan Gerard, and perennially backed by behemoth corporations like Motorola, has sponsored more than 500 visual art exhibits, 300 fashion designers, screened over 350 films, and showcased more than 200 DJs and musicians.
Its influence, an open secret among fashion insiders, is now so great that Bravo television execs turned to Gen Art to organize the castings of seasons one and three for its Emmy-nominated “Project Runway.” First-season winner Jay McCarroll, who’s set to stage his first solo show at Bryant Park on Sept. 15, showed with Gen Art in 2003. And current season contenders Uli Herzner and Jeffrey Sebelia have held shows sponsored by the organization.
Gen Art’s own roster of established alumni – handpicked by an in-house panel – is also more than impressive. Zac Posen, Rebecca Taylor and Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss are among those who’ve built solid businesses since their Gen Art debuts.
Sometimes success comes virtually overnight – Bruno Grizzo, who won $10,000 from Gen Art sponsor Motorola last year, is now stocked at Barneys New York. While alums may not always go on to open their own fashion houses, more often than not they find success elsewhere. In 2003, Alistair Carr debuted at Gen Art in New York – a couple of weeks later, he launched a label and showed at London Fashion Week. He later went on to design at Marni and, just this week, has taken up the helm as head designer at Paris fashion house Cacharel.
Gen Art’s success stories are second to none. Not only does the organization provide funding for ordinarily prohibitively costly shows during New York fashion week, but Gehlhar, author of “The Fashion Designer’s Survival Guide” (Dearborn, 2005), along with her team, works with designers to help them set up successful business models and effectively work with showrooms and buyers.
Tomorrow, eight designers will take the stage. Among them will be Leong Ong.
In the eyes of aspiring fashion designers everywhere, Ong had it all. Armed with a degree from London’s Central Saint Martins and a job as senior designer at Ralph Lauren, Ong was on the straight and narrow to fashionable success.
Until he gave it all up to go it alone.
Now his label ONG, which sells at stores like Steven Alan and Louis Boston, is set to hit the runways for the first time on Friday night thanks to Gen Art and its annual Fresh Faces show during New York Fashion Week. “I’ve never had the opportunity to show,” Ong says. Despite the fact that ONG retails at 22 boutiques, “The cost [of showing] is ridiculous. Every season we barely make enough to break even.”
Tomorrow night, Gen Art and Motorola will showcase six women’s collections, including ONG, two men’s collections, and four accessories designers in their 12th annual Spring 2007 Fresh Faces in Fashion show. Every season, top editors from all the biggest magazines – Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle – and gangs of buyers from department stores like Bloomingdale’s, Henri Bendels, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys turn up to handpick new talent – to find the next Zac, Donna, Calvin or Karl.
For the designers showing, this is a chance of a lifetime. “Showing makes a huge difference,” Ong says – and not just in the business sense. “It absolutely makes me look at my collection in a different way. When you show on a runway, you have think about the press and how you’re opening up to allow the whole world to either praise you or cut you down.”
Tickets to Gen Art’s Spring 2007 Fresh Faces in Fashion can be purchased at genart.org
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Michael Kors: The wittiest man in fashion and his clean all-American aesthetics hits the catwalk this morning.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 14
Badgley Mischka: Give me couture or give me death – Badgley Mischka’s gowns grace the red carpet at every Hollywood awards ceremony. Otherwise their runway show at Bryant Park is the closest you’ll ever get to one.
Grey Ant: Really really expensive sweats and streetwear have dominated the celebrity casual-dressing scene in recent memory. See models strut Grey Ant’s casual chic on Thursday.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 15
Project Runway: In this final presentation, you’re either in or you’re out.
Jay McCarroll: Debuting his solo collection for the first time in the Bryant Park tents, everyone’s eagerly waiting to see if McCarroll makes it or breaks it.
– Danica Lo
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Best in shows
Look for coverage of these Fashion Week presentations and more daily in The Post:
FRIDAY
Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons: Fabulosity, thy name is Kimora – this is the ticket to beg, borrow or steal for this week. Every celeb on Earth shows up to hear the best music (after all, her husband is Russell) and see the flashiest fashion. One year, someone pulled a gun at the door and demanded to be let in.
Chris Aire: Naomi Campbell is walking in jeweler Chris Aire’s show wearing the first gown made entirely out of the designer’s signature red gold – it’s valued at $50 million.
SATURDAY
Sabyasachi: Best known for his exquisite designs for Bollywood, Sabyasachi Mukherjee makes his New York debut in the UPS tent at Bryant Park.
Rock and Republic: Every celeb’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll jeans line makes its New York Fashion Week debut with a full line of streetwise ready-towear and towering stilettos.
SUNDAY
Diane von Furstenberg: DVF is the modern woman’s best friend – and this afternoon she showcases her newest prints and styles for spring.
It’s not just wrap dresses anymore!
Rosa Cha: It doesn’t get sexier than Rosa Cha, the hottest hot swimwear line designed by Brazilian Amir Slima. Warning: Sitting front row may have really bad effects on your self-esteem.
MONDAY
Carolina Herrera: The reigning queen of New York’s ladies who lunch presents her luxe and swishy collection of day and eveningwear.
Oscar de la Renta: The reigning king of New York’s ladies who lunch presents his luxe and swishy collection of day and eveningwear.
TUESDAY
Malan Breton: “Project Runway” reject with the funniest accent on Earth makes his New York debut. We want to know – who paid for this show?
Cloak: Alexandre Plokhov, CFDA/Vogue award winner and the next great hope for American menswear, presents his moody spring collection to the fashion cognoscenti.
WEDNESDAY
Ports 1961: Is “Big in China” the new “Big in Japan”? Ports 1961 is huuuuuge in China, and their laid-back cozy style has won many fans Stateside as well.
