by Todd Betzold

 

Last night's episode of Project Runway had me on the edge of my seat, as I quite often wanted to slap Ven because of the way he was treating his client. The designers had to create looks for real women that were coming in for makeovers with their friends. Ven distracted me for the whole episode, but during all of the Nathan Paul was having issues with his client and created a piece he was not proud of and the judges sent him home. Today he spoke to RealityWanted and other reporters in a conference call about his reason for trying out for Project Runway, what he thought of Ven's actions and much more.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Last night, your client had a lot of demands, with the midriff and the look. Do you think you'd still be there if you had a different client?
A. Nathan: I think that is always a possibility, but you never know. You deal with the cards you are dealt and you do the best to your ability. I'm not going to say my client was difficult than any other client. When you are dealing with an individual that has a point of view and as a designer you have your own point of view, there are always obstacles that you have to overcome and eventually you get to the point where you own the garment and it speaks to your aesthetic and you please the client.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What was your favorite challenge this season?
A. Nathan: I think my favorite challenge was the candy challenge. It was most challenging, but it was whimsical and fanciful. For me personally, I find it interesting to think outside the box in terms of conventional and non-conventional materials and I am always trying to find a way to repurpose things, so doing that candy challenge was down the line of doing something I like to do to stretch myself as a designer.

 

 

 

Q. What made you want to try out for Project Runway?
A. Nathan: For me, it goes back to a long history because I have always been in fashion design and I have always wanted to be a designer. I didn't always have the support of my family because it was something that was completely foreign to them. For me, actually it was my father that found Project Runway on TV. I had actually moved away and gone to college, graduated and started working in the corporate world. My father was one of the ones that lagged behind in supporting me in fashion because he wanted me to go into a traditional field, have something stable, big house, white picket fence, that American dream. He started watching Project Runway, called me up and got me starting to watch it. It changed his mind set to where he was able to accept fashion as a valid occupation. He started understanding the industry more and it changed his viewpoint and now he is one of my supporters. For me, being on Project Runway was something I wanted to do since it brought my father and I together and our views and it would complete the whole cycle for him.

 

Q. What did you learn about yourself when you were competing?
A. Nathan: I learned that I really hold my values true. When I am designing, I always have a customer and I always have to remain true to that customer and no matter what, my garments have to speak of my aesthetic. It should always convey a message. I should always stick to my guns and stand behind my designs.

 

Q. Do you have any regrets?
A. Nathan: I don't, actually. I appreciate being in the competition. I feel honored. If I had to make the decision over again, I would probably design the same.

 

Q. You spoke of always wanting to stay true to your aesthetic. Do you think you did that for last night's challenge?
A. Nathan: I felt that I had a portion of my aesthetic in there. It was different for me for last night's challenge because the challenge was, for me, to be true and to please the client. The challenge was to have enough of my personality in the garment, but stay true to the client and their desire. So, I did have a little bit of Nathan in there. Like I said last night, it is probably not a garment I would do and probably not a garment that would make my collection. There were design details and ideas of the garment that are true to my aesthetic.

 

Q. Do you think your design was weaker than Sonjia's?
A. Nathan: As I said last night, I think it would have been unfair for one of them to go home. Knowing how the judges felt about my garment, I don't think that the decision should have gone differently knowing that the three of us were in the bottom. I kind of expected it. My garment was so far off the path of anything else that happened that evening and it was for a different purpose and my client had a different purpose for her garment than the other clients. It was one that would be separated and stick out from the others, so I put myself at risk because of that.

 

Q. You are obviously client-focused. How did you feel about the way Ven treated his client?
A. Nathan: Personally, I would have never treated my client in that manner. I respect everyone, especially since I do plus-size clothing and I don't call it plus-size clothing. I call it upsize clothing, but I do clothing for those sizes that are not normally catered to. I am very sensitive to that woman or that man because they do have larger sizes in men's clothing as they do in women's clothing. I felt it was a bit disrespectful to approach the challenge from that viewpoint of not wanting to accept the person for who they are.

 

Q. What's next for you?
A. Nathan: I'm going to continue working on my own personal collection. I'm going to promote my philosophy of redefining beauty and having beauty defined by the individual in their own way. For me personally, even after last night's show and I deal with plus sizes and odd sizes, I want to start working with my local politicians about drafting legislation on size equality in stores.

 

Project Runway airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Lifetime.

 

(Image courtesy of Lifetime)

 

Follow Todd on Twitter @tbetzold