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| Sean Kelly at New York Fashion Week, S/S 2015. |
It's safe to say that Sean Kelly started from the bottom now he's here — by bottom, I mean Taranaki, New Zealand, and by here, I mean international recognition thanks to his starring role on this season of
Project Runway. I first met Sean when he was volunteering as an usher at New Zealand Fashion Week back in 2010, but the 24 year old Kiwi has made some serious moves since then; halfway through his fashion design degree at Massey University in Wellington, he took off to Copenhagen to intern with Henrik Vibskov where he worked on the Paris and Copenhagen shows, before decamping to London, where he worked for Alexander McQueen drafting patterns and assisting in the lead up to the label's London Fashion Week show. "I just saw everyone leaving design school with the exact same piece of paper, and I wanted a different point of view," he says. "It ended up being the most educational year of my career so far — if you want to see the business and how fast the industry moves, you need to go to work." I sat down with Sean on Friday to talk Heidi Klum, Zac Posen, Nina Garcia and Tim Gunn, and how he feels about currently being the second most famous New Zealander in America, after Lorde.
How did you get from New Zealand to Project Runway?I graduated this summer from Massey University in Wellington — majoring in fashion designer — and then I came to New York and worked in retail at A.P.C. to get some cash in pocket, and while I was applying for full-time jobs, I found the application for
Project Runway on a website, and I didn't know if it was going to work or not because all my folio was menswear and it's a womenswear show, but I landed an interview with Tim Gunn and a guy called Dmitry Sholokhov who won a previous season, I was super nervous, they were filming it, my hands were so sweaty I was like a wet fish, it was totally unknown territory, but I got a really positive response from them, and then we had a lot of other castings and paperwork and I finally got onto the preliminary episode where we were judged by Zac Posen, Nina Garcia and Heidi Klum, and they liked what I did and I made it through.
What's Tim Gunn like?He's amazing. He's really caring and he wants you to succeed, and not just on the show, beyond the show, too. The great thing about the show is that they're trying to prove your talent as opposed to making you look like an idiot just to make good TV.
And what are Heidi and Zac and Nina like? Did you get to know them?Heidi is bubbly, she has a lively personality and she's very opinionated about what she likes and doesn't like; Zac is really sweet, he's a designer himself so if he calls you out on something he has a designer's point of view and his criticism is very constructive; and Nina has an editor's point of view which was the scariest to deal with for me, she's the toughest critic on everything.
What was the worst criticism you got?I made this dress which I hated, and I came back the next day two hours before the show and chopped it in half, and I had a little bit of mesh fabric left over so I decided to make this little mesh top which goes with the skirt, and the judges thought the mesh top made the model look like she'd just had a breast operation and she still had the bandages on... And another time I had to make a 1970s themed outfit for this little girl, and I did a denim vest but it was lacking something, so in the last 10 minutes I decided to put a peace sign on the back, but I forgot that a peace sign has three legs, so I ended up making the Mercedes Benz logo, and nobody noticed until Heidi Klum told her to turn around and was like, 'Ummm... isn't that the Benz sign?' I just owned my mistake (laughs).
So you never fought with the judges?You can get reprimanded pretty quickly. I learned pretty early on that these people are holding your fate, you don't wanna get on their bad side. I always wanted to be on everyone's good side, it's a highly intense environment, you're competing against people, it's a weird situation and you have to know who to trust, but it's better to play nice.
Where were you living?Gotham West on the Hudson River, we had a view of the river and New Jersey in all its glory.
And where did you film?Times Square. That was a beautiful experience, shooting right on Times Square for the entire summer. I kept telling the people who weren't from New York that this is not a fair representation of the city (laughs).
How isolated were you from the outside world?100% isolated. We weren't allowed to take a walk outside without a production person being present, we had no computers, no cellphones, no newspapers or magazines, no money. It was a very intense and stressful time, whenever I had any down time I spent it trying to come up with new ideas for designs. It really tests your mental and physical limits. I've always been kinda independent, though, so that helped.
What was the biggest thing that had happened in the world that you missed while you were filming?The Football World Cup. One of the previous seasons was filming when Michael Jackson died and they didn't find out until they got out, so that would have been pretty dramatic.
On a completely different tack, fashion is notoriously snobby, so are you at all worried that you might not get hired because you've been on a reality TV show?I did consider that factor, but the opportunities that present themselves are yours to make on the show. I was never really scared of what was going to happen in the future, the opportunity to design in a format which was completely free was really great, it just adds to my portfolio. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed of anything I did on the show, but of course it can work the other way if you act out on the show or make some really bad things.
Who do you want to work for?Proenza Schouler, Thom Browne, Alexander McQueen or Henrik Vibskov are my first choices.
What are your favourite places to shop, eat, drink and hang out in New York City?I like shopping in SoHo, even though I can't afford it 99% of the time. I love ACNE, but I wear Uniqlo most of the time (laughs). For food I love The Butcher's Daughter in NoLiTa and Pauly Gee's in Greenpoint, and I quite like going for a drink at this weird tiki-themed spot called Surf Bar in Williamsburg.
What are you listening to?La Roux's new album is really good. But I listen to a lot of hip hop and rap, dirty pop, I just hit shuffle and let it play.
Final question: Has it occurred to you that you are potentially the second most famous New Zealander in America right now, after Lorde?It's strange. I get recognised on a daily basis. I got stopped 11 times yesterday alone. It depends where I am. Brooklyn is a safe-zone, nobody has a TV (laughs). But If I'm anywhere in Manhattan, it's nonstop. It's mostly gays and moms. A lot of I love yous, a lot of marriage proposals via Twitter...
LOL. Do it.I LIKE YOU!
