Thank you for transcribing the podcast, Janice!
BPR: This is Laura Kluvo from Blogging Project Runway and I’m on the phone with All-Star Designer Michael Costello. Hi Michael!
MC: Hi Laura, how are you?
BPR: I’m great. Have you been watching Season 9?
MC: Yes I have. I know a lot of people that say, “I don’t get enough time to watch it”, I think Season 9 is everyone’s guilty pleasure.
BPR: Do you have any favorites?
MC: I do, I have, there’s a few favorites right now. But I think at the top of my list, I really, really like Anya and Joshua McKinley Cook. He’s, you know, everyone’s labeled him as the, uh, mean girl but, I kinda like him.
BPR: Yeah I think he is a very strong designer and he’s looking good going into the finals.
MC: Yeah, I think he is looking good going into the finals. Of course I don’t know where he’s at in the game, right now, but, um, I think he’s really cool. I think he, ya know, he speaks his mind; he knows what, he knows what he’s doing. And, he just loves to make clothes and he puts his perspective into it. But, I have to say, I’m a true die-hard Anya fan. Like, I think, I mean, she gets it. I get it. And I think she gets it and you know, and we both have similar aesthetics like that. Effortless chic; we both love to do like caftans inspired dressed. I really love what Anya’s doing right now.
BPR: Michael, how did you learn you had been cast in the All-Stars?
MC: Well, I got a phone call from one of the producers and, um, he called me, and you know, we talked a little bit about it. At first I was kind of nervous and not sure if I really wanted to do it. But, then, ya know he kept calling and persuaded me. So, um, I found out like, ooh, few months ago, before we actually started even filming, and I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes, and then ya know, he swore me to secrecy. I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t even tell my best friends. And, ya know, Mondo was cast in it, um, ya know, right after me. We were constantly talking and, we both wanted to tell each other that we were on the show but we couldn’t. Ya know it was so weird so, we would send each other, like weird text messages. Be like “Hey, what are you doing September this day”, “What are you doing October this day.”, just to see if like, one of us would spill, but none of us did.
BPR: And besides Mondo, who was your best friend from the All-Star cast?
MC: Oh, gosh, um, well, Jerell and I have been friends before both of us did Project Runway. So, um, I’ve known Jerell for a long time, and he and I are really good friends. Also, um, Mila, I really like Mila a lot; she was a friend of mine before I did Project Runway Season 8. Um, so I had a lot of good friends, but I really got to know, um Kara a lot, and I kinda fell in love with Kara; and Kenley, ya know, I really like everybody. So, I think everyone is pretty cool. Lot of great personalities on the show.
BPR: That’s great to hear. How did the All-Star experience compare with your Season 8 experience?
MC: Well, I think this time around, um, it was really, ya know, of course its always a pressure cooker cuz you never know what’s going to happen. But, I kinda love working under pressure. I think I can execute my best work when I have deadlines. The judges, ya know Georgina Chapman, Isaac Mizrahi, Angela Lindvall and Joanna Coles; they treated you with a little more respect because they know that you’ve been through the whole, you know procedure before. I don’t think they were about trying, like to make really excellent TV, or something like that. I think they were more concerned and just, ya know, more nurturing kind of. Like when the critique you, they’d tell you, Well perhaps, maybe you could have done it in a different color, or maybe you could have used a pant-leg a little shorter. Ya know, rather than Michael Kors, being like: well, she looks like she going here on a ski resort, but you don’t’ know whether to floss her ass or wipe her hair. Ya know, so, it’s just a nice experience…with the, with the show.
BPR: What is the prize for the winner of the All-Star Season?
MC: The prize for the winner of the All-Stars, um Project Runway All-Stars this season is $100,000 cash, um, $50,000 worth of sewing machines sponsored by Brother; um, a guest editor position for one year at Marie Claire Magazine,
BPR: Wow!
MC: And, um, your clothes featured inside select Nieman-Marcus boutiques, as well as Nieman-Marcus online. So, it’s a really, really, really, great, great prize. Oh, there’s also um, space; that HP will provide, ya know like space for you to do your work. Like a retail store and all that kind of stuff. So, it’s really great!
BPR: Michael, what are you working on right now?
MC: Right now I’m working on my extended resort collection. I did a whole new take on resort wear, and I did something that I think is just really, really beautiful, that all women would want to wear. And, I’m playing with a lot of prints; just recently, just, been so dedicated to prints and love prints, love chiffon fabrics, and silk fabrics. And, I’m planning on showing at Portland fashion week, October the 8th with some of the other Project Runway alum, like Seth Aaron, is going to be there; Becky Ross, Brice Black from season 9. It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be a really, really great show. And, um, I’m just working on the collection, and that’s about it.
There’s some other great things coming up. I’m also doing a new thing with Google and e-how. It’s going to be Dressing Tips and Tricks with Michael Costello, which is gonna be really fun. That’s gonna come out in about two weeks. It’s gonna be 15, “how-to” sew projects that will be featured on e-how and Google. It’s gonna be really fun. It gonna be really cool because I’m answering like the most popular questions. The president of e-how asked me to pick 15 of the most popular questions and, one of the most popular ones, which is in the first video I’m gonna do is, How to take a men’s dress shirt and transform it into a Woman’s blouse. So, um, I’m gonna do that and make the video tutorial on that. I’m also gonna do a lot of no-sew dresses and like, how-to-do-it-yourself projects.
BPR: I love that idea! Uh, Michael how many looks are in your collection for Portland Fashion Week?
MC: For Portland Fashion Week, I’m showing 28 looks. There’s gonna be a mix of, ya know, pants, shorts, dresses, jackets. This collection that I’m doing is not gonna be just dress, dress, dress for me. I wanted to play a lot with separates and play a lot with different pieces and mix-and-match kinda things that you can, ya know, play with if you want. If you have, like your own pair of jeans, you can just, ya know, get one of the really cool tops and wear it with something you own. I wanted to offer a lot of separates.
MPR: Michael, we are almost out of time. Is there anything else you would like to say to your fans?
MC: YES! Definitely check out my website, which is www.michaelcostellocouture.com and take a look at www.achoiceproductions.com . That’s my other site that’s really fun, you will find out what it is when you go to the website.
MPR: Thank you Michael!
MC: You’re welcome.
