When Jay McCarroll, a slovenly, chain-smoking, 29-year-old fashion designer, won Bravo’s reality series “Project Runway” last year, it was as stunning to him as it was unlikely to those watching.
For impressing a panel of judges that included designer Michael Kors and Elle fashion director Nina Garcia, McCarroll had his winning designs featured in Elle. Heidi Klum, “Project Runway’s” ubermodel host, ordered a dress from him. And he was able to summon the nerve to move to New York and start his own clothing line.
“Project Jay,” an entertaining one-hour special airing at 11 ET Wednesday on Bravo, documents these first few months after McCarroll’s triumph on TV. It’s part of an effort by Bravo to further extend the second season of “Project Runway,” its hottest show. (A “reunion” special, which sounds like a clip show in disguise, precedes it at 10 p.m. “Runway” returns next week for a two-part finale.)
When Jay McCarroll, a slovenly, chain-smoking, 29-year-old fashion designer, won Bravo’s reality series “Project Runway” last year, it was as stunning to him as it was unlikely to those watching.
For impressing a panel of judges that included designer Michael Kors and Elle fashion director Nina Garcia, McCarroll had his winning designs featured in Elle. Heidi Klum, “Project Runway’s” ubermodel host, ordered a dress from him. And he was able to summon the nerve to move to New York and start his own clothing line.
“Project Jay,” an entertaining one-hour special airing at 11 ET tonight on Bravo, documents these first few months after McCarroll’s triumph on TV. It’s part of an effort by Bravo to further extend the second season of “Project Runway,” its hottest show. (A “reunion” special, which sounds like a clip show in disguise, precedes it at 10. “Runway” returns next week for a two-part finale.)
“Project Jay” also marks an intriguing freeze frame in the life of a reality-show star undergoing what might be a painful transition to life away from the camera. Shortly after winning “Runway” last year, McCarroll, who’s from rural Pennsylvania, told the Boston Herald, “I’m not taken seriously yet because people don’t really know what I am — a fashion designer or a TV personality.”
And they’re not likely to have any better idea after this special, which proves once again that, whatever his design skills, McCarroll has a personality custom-tailored for TV. Fussy, funny and profane, he thrived during “Project Runway,” his every snide comment and juicy putdown aired and re-aired as Bravo, at times, seemed to put the show in a continuous loop. (In perhaps my favorite commentary on a rival’s clothing design, McCarroll simply let out a long, sustained belch.)
He wore enormous, Harry Caray-sized sunglasses and a variety of colorful hats and bandannas, which often influenced the outfits his models sported on the runway. As McCarroll marched through the competition, “Runway” relegated “Queer Eye,” Bravo’s original “it” series, to the markdown shelf.
As a reward for being telegenic, Bravo sent a crew to follow McCarroll back to Pennsylvania for still more priceless moments. Sitting with his dad, William, a retired septic-tank designer we met briefly last season, Jay points out that the old coot “still chews tobacco with dialysis.” We also get some clues into Jay’s freewheeling ways from the women in his life. His sister notes that he and her daughter “have a unique relationship — they’re both 7-year-olds.”
McCarroll fears moving to New York but knows he must. Besides, it’s the only place where he can enjoy the perks of being a Bravo star. He gets a cut from Jason Low, a high-priced hairstylist seen on “Blow Out,” another Bravo reality hit. “Runway” fans stop and fawn over him. “What are you up to these days?” a tourist in Manhattan asks. “I’m trying to get down the street,” he replies.
But most fashion designers work off-stage, away from the cameras, and “Project Jay” offers some evidence why. Under pressure from a real client, McCarroll’s id becomes even more out of control than it was on “Runway.” After learning that he’s been asked by Klum to design her dress to wear at the Emmy Awards, he responds poorly, appearing to balk at this no-brainer of an assignment. Later he’s agitated when he learns that Klum wants a fire-engine red dress. (He thinks it will clash with the carpet.)
As with all reality shows, this drama may have been pulled out of thin air by a clever editor. But it’s not going to help McCarroll scare up new clothing business. Too bad for him. The agenda of TV tends to become all-consuming, even to the point of suffocating the ambitions of the people it elevates to stardom. At some point reality stars have to earn their bones the same way everybody else does.
That’s the lesson Kelly Clarkson, who won “American Idol” in 2002, had to learn. After earlier recordings proved unsatisfying, she finally severed all ties with the program that made her famous and hired new producers and songwriters. That resulted in a critically acclaimed CD that earlier this month won a Grammy Award, which Clarkson accepted without once thanking “Idol.”
Perhaps McCarroll is coming to realize this as well. He decided against showing his debut clothing line at New York’s Fashion Week earlier this month, alongside this season's "Runway" contestants’ lines. He will instead aim for a September release. He told fashion writer Lisa Marsh that the line will be “more modern and clean, reflecting my current attitude. I got my hair cut ... I quit smoking, I’m cleaning up my life.”
That sounds like a less interesting but potentially more lucrative Jay McCarroll than the one on TV tonight.
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