Dominique Streater has had a thrilling experience with outfit changes. Models on reality TV competition, Project Runway wore her clothing designs each week, and she recently did an outfit change on the stage of the Temple University Performing Arts Center while sharing her expertise on the value of fashion during the annual Ted Talks Philly event in late March. Streater, a Philadelphia native, is the winner of Season 12 of Project Runway. We caught up with Streater and she shares some tidbits about her PR run amongst other things.
What was the thought process behind your decision to compete on Project Runway?
I originally did not want to do Project Runway because I’m just a really private person and I didn’t want my whole life on TV. My best friend coming out of college kept telling me to apply; he thought I’d be really good on the show. And he was relentless about it, so a year after I applied. They didn’t cast me the first time so I applied again the next year. The benefits of being on the show far outweighed any uncomfortableness that I would have. So I just decided to go for it. Luckily, it was worth it.
What was it like being on reality TV as a private person?
Really strange. You don’t realize how weird it is just to have that camera on you all the time. After a while you get used to it. But it’s really strange being there at first because you realize you can’t just say, “I don’t want you to document this.” You don’t have a choice. It’s kind of like losing your right to do something. It really makes you appreciative of your private time and not having people around (laughs)… But there were moments that we would play and goof around that would lighten the mood of what was happening.
Do you still stay in contact with the other competitors?
Oh yeah, I talk to Helen [Castillo] almost every day. I talk to Justin [LeBlanc] all the time. There are a couple of other people that I still talk to just because we bonded so much on the show. We’re all like brothers and sisters now.
What was your biggest obstacle?
It was definitely when I was on the bottom. There was one particular challenge when I was in the bottom three. The crazy thing about the challenge is that we had to go back and make a dress in one hour. Luckily, that dress that I made in 60 minutes saved me. I was able to overcome that pressure of having to do something that would keep me in or out of the competition and do it only in 60 minutes.
What was it like being face to face with Tim Gunn each week?
Oh, it was amazing! It was nice to talk to Tim, he was very intuitive and insightful, especially when it comes to fashion and problem solving. You would be standing there looking at a design trying to figure out what’s wrong with it for an hour and Tim would walk in the room and tell you what’s wrong with it. So he would give you these “aha” moments that would help you throughout the competition. He’s just a genuinely nice person. It was nice to have him around.
Describe your feelings and thoughts moments before and after you were announced as Season 12’s Project Runway winner.
It’s such a surreal feeling standing up there. You’re up there with this other person and don’t really know what’s about to happen. I just remember thinking whatever happens is what happens, I have no control over it at this point. So I just kind of calmed and centered myself. When she announced it was me, I kind of had this moment where I was like what? I didn’t initially react and I think they knew because they were like, “Dom you won!” I literally was shocked and speechless when she said I won – for me, the fact that it was Project Runway – it was something that was a million miles away from me when I was a child, so to be able to experience winning was something that was crazy for me.
Have your expectations of yourself changed since winning?
I’ve always wanted to be a fashion designer before Project Runway. But now it’s kind of like the reach of my design and the clothing that I make… Before I just wanted to do design and it didn’t matter who it was for. Now I want to have my own collection and be able to call the shots for myself.
What projects are you working on now?
I am about to release a pastel collection for this spring. It’ll have some raincoats in it, some really cool dresses. [There are] really graphic prints, black and white prints…I just finished showing my fall/winter collection for this year, that’ll be out in September…I’ve been keeping busy. Now I’m working on my spring/summer collection.
Your sense of humor was referenced in articles about you being honored by Mayor Nutter and at TED Talks. Where do you get your sense of humor?
I personally just love to find humor in everything. I just feel like laughing is so therapeutic. If you talk to anyone that knows me personally, they’ll probably describe me as giggly and goofy. I like to laugh, I like to play pranks, I like to look at funny things…No matter what is happening, [humor] is something that relaxes me a lot. I get it from my parents. It’s something that’s very much a part of my everyday life.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully I’ll have a very successful clothing line that millions of people want to buy (laughs)… be available all around the world. It’s just been my dream to have a collection for a particular person that wants well-made clothing that people want. [Also] help the transition to manufacturing in the U.S. for the rest of American designers because that’d be nice to see that happen in the next 10 years.