Kathryn Ardys' Virtual Runway

As the hit design contest Project Runway recently ended its ninth TV season, one trend seemed glaringly apparent. “There was more dyeing of fabric on this season of the show than in the history of Project Runway,” said host and mentor Tim Gunn in the season’s wrap-up show. Episode after episode featured time-pressured designers reaching for bottles of Rit in moments of inspiration – and, sometimes, desperation.

“This season,” says designer and fashion blogger, Kathryn Ardys, “the Rit-to-the-rescue moment that stands out for me is the dress that [eventual winner] Anya Ayoung Chee designed for the Nina Garcia challenge. There was Anya, with one of the show’s judges as her very opinionated client. Anya had chosen a mustard yellow print, and Nina was not a fan of the print or the color in her first critique. So -- to save herself -- Anya grabbed some dye and turned it into an earthy taupe color, and Nina ended up loving the outfit. It was so cool that Anya took something that Nina was ready to throw her out the door for, then ended up in the top three in that challenge.”

Off the Couch & Into the Workroom

Kathryn’s memory of such Project Runway moments is acute. She’s been “a huge fan of the show” since the beginning, and an aspiring or working designer for even longer. This past year, she blended both those passions in a blog called “Project Runway DIY: The Challenge of a Lifetime” The premise of the blog is simple and clever: “Each Thursday night I will tune in for the first few minutes of Project Runway, but just enough to hear what the challenge is. Then, I will shut it off and do the challenge myself, using the same parameters set forth by Heidi [Klum] and Tim [Gunn]. When time is up I’ll post my design and you will be the judge!”

“Even before I went into clothing design as a career,” Kathryn remembers, “I’d always be imagining what I’d design if I was tackling a Project Runway challenge. And often, at the end of an episode, I’d think ‘I could do that.’” Her blog was a way of putting that presumption to the test.

What Makes the Challenges Challenging

Once her idea became reality, “I was surprised by how difficult the challenges could be,” she laughs. “When you’re designing your own line, you have complete freedom over what you decide to create. But the specific parameters of the Runway challenges bring a new level of creative pressure to the design process. And the contestants’ experience of being judged on top of that – I can’t imagine the stress! But the fun of doing them on my own is that it pushed me to think outside of the box, and to try things that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.”

In this season’s very first challenge, “Come As You Are,” Kathryn – like many of the show’s contestants -- discovered the usefulness of Rit Dye rather quickly. To quote her blog: “The designers were wakened by Tim telling them to get up and come as they are with one sheet from their bed. They then had to use their PJs and the sheet to create a look.For this challenge, I used the t-shirt I slept in last night and picked up a white twin size sheet and black Rit Dye at Wal Mart.” Fifteen hours later, she’d cut, draped, and sewn the t-shirt into a sleeveless blouse, and transformed the white sheet into a sleek pleated shorts-suit. “Project Runway DIY” was off and running, and Kathryn was eagerly looking forward to the next challenge.

Opening Doors with Dye

As the weeks flew by, Kathryn says, she “found it so inspiring how the contestants used dye, either from the start or to change course in mid-stream. Designers are often limited by the fabrics, patterns, and colors available in a particular season. But being able to dye the fabric -- there’s no limit. The doors that the dye opens up -- it really gives you complete freedom over the design process, to create whatever your vision is. And that’s translated to my own design process, as well.”

These days, Kathryn finds herself using Rit “to create colors that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to carry out exactly as I’d envisioned them. For example, I had this idea for a vibrant jade green trench coat, but I couldn’t find a jade green fabric that matched my mind’s eye. So I went to the color recipe guide on the Rit site, and I was able to create the most beautiful jade green by mixing Aquamarine and Kelly Green. It’s really a great tool for realizing things in your imagination.”

Get Ready, New York

That unique imagination – like so many Project Runway designers over the years – may soon bring Kathryn to the bright lights of New York City. Her plans for achieving that dream? “Right now,” she says, “I’m based in Orlando, Florida. I plan to create and launch my spring line down here. I’m working with a few other local designers to do a big runway show in the spring of 2012. After that, I’d like to take my business to New York, because I’d like to get involved in manufacturing. I just went out to the L.A. International Textile Show, and it really opened my eyes to how I can take my business further and get it more widespread across the country.”

Hopefully, for Kathryn, her virtual Runway experience can – and will – be replicated in the real world very soon.