However, after Sarah emailed an image of the dress that Allie had just made for Easter, the talent scout wanted to know more and called the next day. Allie quickly rounded up more pics of her designs and sent an audition video.
“I literally applied at the last minute. The next week I got a call to audition live in New York City,” said Allie, 14. “After a long audition process, I got a phone call telling me that I was selected for the show. I just jumped up and down and screamed!”
The second season of “Project Runway Jr.” debuted Dec. 22. Three episodes have aired as of this writing. Co-hosted by Hannah Jeter and Tim Gunn, the judges are Kelly Osbourne, Christian Siriano and Aya Kanai.
“Tim Gunn is as nice as he seems. He is the most sincere and caring mentor anyone could hope for,” said Allie. “I loved watching him on ‘Project Runway’ when I was growing up, and so meeting him was something I’ll never forget.”
The very first time they met Jeter and Gunn, the 12 contestants were told to make a First Impression, using New York as an inspiration. Allie designed a form-fitting dress, with an hourglass floral inset on black material with long flared sleeves. That put her in the safe group for the next round.
“The first challenge was a lot of fun because we got to be our own inspiration. I liked the freedom that came with that,” said Allie.
The second challenge was more difficult. The 11 remaining contestants were shown pool toys and accessories to grab for the Unconventional Materials challenge.
“I’ve never worked with non-fabric materials like that before,” said Allie, who burned her hands using a hot-glue gun. “Tim Gunn even called the medic over to take a look because the burns were so bad.”
Even so, her fun belted dress with a large pink flamingo on the skirt was good enough to propel her to the next round. Allie was paired with Chelsea for their first team challenge, “En Garde Avant Garde,” inspired by fencing uniforms and metal.
“I really want to be critiqued by the judges and make it into the top [group],” said Allie on the show.
They imagined a two-piece, all-black look with a very high round collar and fitted pants. They added spikes to the sleeves and pants to give it more of a warrior feel.
That look made it into the top-scoring group.
Allie has been interested in fashion since she was designing little dresses for her Barbie dolls. She had a “Project Runway”-themed birthday party at 11, and was Coco Chanel for her school’s Wax Museum. She made a fit-n-flare dress in the seventh grade that she wore at a talent show. She is a ninth-grade student at The Academy at Minds in Motion, which is now known as Cin-Day Academy.
So now “Project Runway” fans will watch the rest of the show, and find out if Allie’s the one who wins it all: Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising scholarship, a Brother sewing/crafting studio, Visionworks shopping spree, Seventeen Magazine feature and $25,000 to help launch a clothing line.
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