Andy South on the runway

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Andy South’s “Project Runway” finale collection Sept. 9 was admired by critics, although the New York Daily News questioned the headgear, calling his puzzling choice “a head-scratcher.”

Sorry, I have to be at the Italian Film Festival tonight, so not sure if I’ll be able to blog my weekly “Project Runway” recap tonight, so I leave you with this guest piece from one of Andy South’s Honolulu Community College instructors, Joy Nagaue, who I arranged to go in my place to view the “Project Runway” finale show Sept. 9.

What’s funny is that when I talked to her recently, she said she still insists on calling him by his full formal name, and always refers to him as Andrew. I’m kind of thinking along those lines as well. The deal with South is that it’s easy to pronounce, but as a point of identity and from a media perspective, there would be more interest in a person who’s a little more exotic than the next guy.

By Joy Nagaue

Visiting New York’s Fashion Week 2010 and being invited to “Project Runway’s” Finale Show at Lincoln Center was absolutely incredible.

Naturally, traveling from Hawaii, we were laden with lei for our student finalist, Andrew Southiphong, and “omiyage” of macadamia nuts and chocolates. However, “Project Runway’s” tight security throughout and after the show barred us from the backstage area and (teacher) Lillian Zane and I were unable to pass the goodies out to anyone.

We did enjoy the “Project Runway” show and were star struck by seeing judges Heidi Klum, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, and special guest Jessica Simpson seated across the runway from us. We were also able to see last
season’s Project Runway’s contestants and talk to Jay Sario, Honolulu Community College’s first contestant from last season.

Although this was the show’s finale, we were unable to deduce the three finalist from the other seven decoy designers. All 10 contestants showed a spring line of 10 garments. All of the contestants seemed visibly
nervous and emotional while introducing their line to approximately 1,000 guests and press people snapping the contestants’ every angle and recording every audible word.

The stage was simply the “Project Runway’s” backdrop you see on all the shows. There wasn’t any fluff, not even music between each contestant. There was a lot of silence between contestants and many contestants
took a very long time to appear, sometimes as long as 5 minutes. I could only assume that they or their models were not ready and queued up.

Being there in person was so different from watching it on TV. It is much more exciting and the applause was extra loud for favorite contestants. Everyone around us got excited to hear that we were Andrew’s teachers from Hawaii.

Gretchen’s line was earthy and almost American Indian inspired.  She used a lot of browns and neutrals. I felt that way seeing it … neutral.

Ivy used a lot of simple white outfits with yellow accents. She said that she was inspired by the Hawaii. It looked nice, but perhaps too simple for a contest based on creativity.

I liked the bright colors of Valerie’s collection, and Mondo’s was another outstanding line, definitely fresh and young. I especially liked his black-and-white plaid strapless dress with a bubble skirt. He accessorized his
garments well with hats.

Andy was last in the line-up. He appeared with his Mohawk haircut that went almost to his back waistline. He got very emotional while introducing his line with his mother, two sisters and brother sitting in the front row.  Andy spoke well and confidently, leading me to believe that he did well in the show.

His line was made mostly of gray silk with apple green accents. It was quite beautiful and well sewn. Some of the silk came from Laos and the rest was ordered from Kaimuki Dry Goods. His collection featured exciting cropped pants with side seam tucks and one shoulder tops.

The rest of the designers were a blur. Most of their spring lines were neutral colored and forgettable.

Andy on the runway during the finale of his show.

The first showing was private at 6 a.m., during which the judges whittled the final four down to just three. We attended the 9:30 a.m. show and its decoys, including Casanova and Michael D., the two
contestants who were cast “out” in the past two weeks.

Andrew called me that evening, when he finally got his cell phone back. The final results were revealed to him at 3 in the afternoon. Did he win? He couldn’t say, but I could feel his relief and his happiness to be out of the pressure cooker situation.

Throughout the season, Andrew did a great job of representing Honolulu Community College and the State of Hawaii. He remained humble throughout the show. I am so proud of him and of his work. I am confident that he did really well. Did he win? I hope he did … he really worked hard all of his young life and as a student.

We were finally able to see him early the next morning at his hotel as he got ready for an interview. That evening, he made an appearance at Piperlime” (accessories), but the line was so long we could not get into the store … unbelievable.

Andrew planned to stay on the mainland with his family for a few days, including traveling to Washington D.C., to be honored by the Laotian Embassy, since his mother is from there. He promises to return to HCC to talkto the semester’s new and returning students. Our classes are filled to capacity. More work for us,
but we love it.