As the Mayo Concert Hall flooded with fans and supporters, the audience grew anxious to hear from the women that found her true calling after many years of experimentation. Anya Ayoung Chee, Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe 2008, contestant in the Miss Universe 2008 pageant and most recent winner of Project Runway, enlightened the crowd with her slideshow timeline of the events that transformed her into the successful, unique individual she embodies. Although her interest in clothing design emerged alongside her passion for graphic design, Anya was able to somehow merge the two to create breathtaking pieces that distinguished her from the competition. In her words, she encouraged us to “Risk being yourself fully.”
After revealing her journey and own personal inspirations, Anya’s presentation was followed by a Q&A session and an opportunity to meet and greet her in the lobby for picture signings and photos. Anya was thrilled to meet her TCNJ audience, and presented here is a culmination of some of the questions intrigued audience members had for her about life on reality television, fashion, and individuality:
Q: What is your best cure for runway nerves?
A: Well, we filmed everyday on the show, and eventually it became more and more natural to watch your clothes come down the runway. Everything kind of stops and you focus on “What did I do? Do I love it? Do I hate it?” I found that easier than being on the runway myself. I never really liked that feeling of everyone staring at you, and I think it’s amazing that people can do that. But I think in any situation, there are some nerves in the beginning, and that’s just natural. If you’re nervous, nerves are good. They push you, they make you feel alive. If you’re happy, you need to embrace it, and that nervous feeling will disappear.
Q: Do you have any form of communication with the Project Runway judges?
A: I get to speak to Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, and they’ve both been really helpful with strategizing my business. Nina is super sweet, really motherly and nurturing which is not how she comes across on the show, but she’s really been supportive and encouraging me to keep at it. Michael has been more of a guide from the business side of things, and because of him, I’ve decided to do a resort collection as opposed to doing winter coats and woolen pants and things that I don’t even know how to wear myself. He’s the one who really pushed me into the direction to do what I want, and to do it well, and keep it simple. Heidi’s been very very busy, but she also has four children, and she has fifteen different jobs and so she’s a little harder to talk to.
Q: What was Tim Gunn like?
A: That’s everyone’s favorite question! He is amazing. He is even nicer than he seems on TV. He was like a favorite uncle, a favorite grandfather, a favorite anybody. Super sweet, and really, really loving. He really cared about us and really cared about how well we did. They would hide us in this den when the judging happened, and we weren’t allowed to talk to each other. It was painful, and he would never like to watch the runway with the judges because he couldn’t stand the critique, and if he did hear something, he would be like “I just don’t understand these judges!” In the mix of all the craziness, we could always rely on him for two things: 1. To be honest and 2. To be genuinely caring, and I think sometimes you just need that no matter what.
Q: What have you learned or gained from your experience on Project Runway?
A: The biggest lesson I learned was that even when you think you can’t do something, it’s worth trying to do it anyway. And I know it sounds a little cliché, but let’s say the moment that they called me after the first casting and said “You’re going to New York, you’re in!” I told them “I’ll have to call you back.” I just didn’t know what to do! I didn’t know how to say yes when I really didn’t have a clue what I was doing, and I luckily had good people around me who really saw through my fear and said “Anya, this is your time. If you don’t do it now, you don’t know when you will have the chance again’” and I made up all sorts of excuses like “what if I’m not prepared or I embarrass myself or everyone I know? What if I get kicked off on the first round?’”And I was really on the verge on just declining, but imagine if I had?
Q: When you’re designing, do you prefer bright or neutral colors?
A: I love using bright colors. I think that it’s just by nature where I grew up that I was surrounded by vibrancy in every way, and I tend to wear a lot of black, but I really love designing in color.
Q: Other than Nicki Minaj, what celebrities have you styled?
A: And Heidi Klum! And I’m working on a few that I can’t say as of yet, but I’m also trying to dress Rihanna because I love her. I love her music, and I love her style. I don’t know if I love her, but I really do like everything about her and what she’s putting out there. So that’s my biggest push.
Q: Do you have any advice about keeping your own personality while acting professionally?
A: To be honest, one of the reasons I decided to become a fashion designer because I didn’t have to do the uniform, I didn’t have to go to a desk job and work 9-5 and things like that. I just really didn’t want to conform. If you want things to go your way, there are rules in everything, but I have not encountered seriously anything that I had to overly compromise myself for. Owning my own brand, everything I say, everything I wear is a reflection of that, so I’m very conscious about what that means. I find that sometimes, even if it doesn’t make sense, or I don’t think it’s going to make sense to anyone else, I still do it because that’s the only way I can maintain the integrity of where it’s going to go. Compromising will make it much harder to defend myself in the future. It’s easier said than done, but it’s worth it. You know it in your heart, and that’s the voice you listen to, and you still stick to who you are.
Q: Were there any people who weren’t supportive of your decision to become a fashion designer?
A: My father particularly always expected me to become a doctor and not a designer and was not so sure how I was going to support myself or if it was just a hobby I was going to rely on financially. When I first decided to go to design school, it didn’t fly very well, but I’m happy that I’ve proved him wrong, and I’m happy that it’s turned out the way it has. He had to put a lot of faith in me, and a lot of people’s parents are that way. I had a support system that told me to follow my dreams, but it’s not always a common thing to have.
Q: Do you have a favorite place to shop in New York?
A: ONE?! I love vintage shopping, and I also shop at H&M because it’s inexpensive and trendy. Once you get a good sense of your style, you can mix and match it with a bunch of different things. I love that it’s affordable so I don’t feel bad to buy something that I know I’m only going to wear once. That’s why I’m starting an online closet where I sell things I only wear a few times. That’s another project I’m working on right now.
Q: What advice would give to empower women to overcome any challenge they may face?
A: This takes some time to learn, but what I learned was that people are going to talk, and people are going to say things, and people are going to have opinions, and no matter what, you have to live with that your whole life. The one thing that saved me throughout my whole experience was that I knew who I was, and I knew what my choices were, and I knew that I loved me. That really made a huge difference to how I moved forward. It comes into everyday life. It’s something that we all deal with, men and women, but I do think that women get to be even more aware of that.