Chicagoan has design for fashion success
from suntimes.com by Paige Wiser TV Critic
‘PROJECT RUNWAY’ | Makes impression in first episode
"Project Runway" returns to New York with Chicago-based designer Ping Wu (left) and model Elizaveta Melnitchenko appearing in an upcoming episode. (Lifetime)
Ping Wu is not the type of person who keeps up on celebrity gossip. So the honor of having Nicole Richie judge her designs on the first episode of “Project Runway’s” new season (9 tonight on Lifetime) was lost on her.
“I really had no idea who she was until the show was finished,” Wu confesses. “But I do love her father’s songs!”
In fact, Wu isn’t much of a “type” at all. She left her native home in the Sichuan Province, China, at 17, to become a physical therapist and create the kinds of clothes she wanted to wear. The chilling temperatures of adopted hometown Chicago inspired her to knit a facemask/hat that impressed the judges at her audition. Her creations are sometimes voluminous, sometimes minimal, always inventive and comfortable. In short: original.
“My goal on ‘Project Runway’ was very simple,” Wu says. “I just wanted to test my limit, to see what I can do under such crazy circumstances. Like an experiment I was curious to play on myself.”
She makes a strong impression in the first episode, trying on her clothes herself, instead of using a dressmaker’s dummy. (She’s never used a dummy.)
“I only need to make garments for myself in my life so far,” she says. “It’s easier and cheaper to borrow my body directly, especially as I do have the exact measurements of a model anyway.”
The results?
“Ping’s outfit is . . . very Ping,” observes another contestant on the premiere.
That might have something to do with her eclectic background. She maintains her Chinese roots because the country is so strong in manufacturing. She is inspired by her time in France, and her new ties to America — “a home which preserved my natural personality and really gave me the wings to fly,” she says.
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Ping Wu's promotional photo for the new season of "Project Runway." (Lifetime)
She studied design in Milan, Italy, but only for eight months. All part of the plan. “I didn’t believe you can learn a talent,” Wu says. “From school, I only expected to learn basic rules and standards in the profession. In order to break the rules, I have to first know the rules.”
Her Web site, pingwude signstudio.com, showcases her knit accessories, but if she wins “Project Runway” she’ll have $50,000 in technology and $100,000 in cash to start a more elaborate line.
Of course, Nicole Richie would have to give her approval first. But Wu seems immune to criticism. “I am the toughest judge of my own work at all time,” she says. “Critics from outside are only for reference.”
And if she grows bored with the fashion industry, she just might become an actress. “My biggest wish in childhood was to be involved in making movies,” Wu says. “But in China, people only wanted pretty girls to be actresses, with big eyes, and small nose. And I have big nose and small eyes.”
She is open to whatever comes next. “Life is full of surprise,” she says.
The seventh season of “Project Runway” looks to be unpredictable, to say the least. “I hope you would enjoy the show with your friends and family, and bring that love and laugh to your own work and your own life,” Wu says. “Watch us bring you the joy. … And the best thing is that you don’t even have to thank me!”
Where are Chicago’s ‘Project’ designers?
Checking in with Chicago’s previous “Project Runway” contestants:
Ra’mon-Lawrence Coleman (season 6), a South Side native now in Minneapolis, just left “Project Runway” in the middle of last fall’s season, but he’s already launched his own eponymous label. He and fellow ex-“Runway” fella Christopher Straub appear at events in Minneapolis frequently.
Terri Stevens (season 5) just showed her spring collection at last fall’s Fashion Week in New York. In this interview, she talks about it, as well as how the death of Michael Jackson seriously interrupted her sewing.
Steven Rosengard (season four) still pops up at events around town. In December, he told Time Out Chicago he’d be opening his own storefront in Lincoln Park or the Gold Coast before the end of 2010.