“I was scared, you know? I don’t wanna fuck up in front of the world.”

~ Jay McCarroll

By Catzie Vilayphonh  |  Send to Friend

Jay McCarroll needs no introduction, his charcter speaks for himself. But if for some reason you've been living under a rock he's the first winner from Bravo's TV show Project Runway. "Eleven Minutes", a documentary following his life after PR just came out so he was in town to give us some of the lowdowns of being followed by cameras all the time as well as what it's like getting started in the fashion industry.

 

CATZ: It’d be a stupid question to ask how "Project Runway" has changed your life ‘cause it’s pretty obvious but I was just wondering do you still actively watch it yourself?

Jim McCarroll: Yeah, absolutely. I just went to the finale show on Friday. It’s a very entertaining show. I love how it’s a plateau for young designers. It’s the aftermath, when all the greed comes in, that gets tricky.

CATZ: You won in 2005, but your first collection came out in 2007.  Was that mostly because you decided not to take the money and you had to find financial backers?

JM: No, it was setting up a business structure. It just takes a long time to do, ya know? For any business, for even if you wanna set up a pizza shop, [there's] a lot of planning involved.

CATZ: Did you worry people were going to forget you because so much time had lapsed?

JM: My line is still not set up yet, it’s a work in progress, always. It's really silly because I’ve been doing fashion 12-15 years before "Project Runway," so I know how much work went into it, and now I’m trying to do business on an international scale in front of the world watching me, so it made it even harder. I was scared, you know? I don’t wanna fuck up in front of the world. It affected my work, too. New York was a tough experience for me, it’s a tough place.

CATZ: You didn’t take the money the first time because of that 10% ownership clause in the contract. How do you feel now they’ve taken that clause out?

JM: I’m not allowed to talk about it legally, you can think whatever you want about it though, isn’t it unfortunate?

CATZ: Well, do you feel like the sacrificial lamb, that you had to be the one who had to say “No” and then everybody else got to keep theirs?

JM: And they got a car! Which I’m more annoyed about since I love to drive. It was what it was, I had no choice in the matter: If I wanted the exposure, it came at a price. I don’t know what the price was, I’m not allowed to talk about it, remember?

Catz: So, how did you assemble your team?

JM: Well, from "Project Runway," I got free PR for six months and I worked with Nancy Kane -- from People’s Revolution Showroom. So that was kinda set up for me and then I had all those assistants I recruited from Philadelphia University. They had all moved to NY to become designers and work for people but now they’re all waitresses. It’s hard. It’s a tough world. They were all talented but it just goes to show, luck of the draw. They helped me and then people would pop in and out. Trust me, I went through so many people, there were so many people who wanted to use me it was ridiculous.

Catz: What have you learned in terms of creating your own line from the first seven dresses versus establishing a real complete collection/company where you have to deal with buyers and consultants?

JM: Awful. For 15 years, I only made one-of-a-kind pieces and sold them in stores. It was a hobby. It was creating things. But you need people to figure out all that stuff, there aren’t enough hours in a day to do all that other stuff. It’s a very high fashion thing -- the whole showroom thing -- I guess you have to do that as a label. I don’t wanna do it so I’m trying to carve my own way out of it.

CATZ: How does it feel for you to create this piece and then somebody tells you “Nobody’s gonna buy it, we need you to do this casual basic line for a store”?

JM: To show a line down the runway, you show whatever you want but then the sales part, I was trying to predict what people wanted to buy. If you saw the film, the consultant and the buyers were telling me to make crazier stuff but that was a production issue for me. I had crazier stuff in my collection that I wouldn’t know how to reproduce and it would take too much time and money and at that price point you couldn’t make it for Urban Outfitters. The things they wanted, I couldn’t make affordable for them.

CATZ: There’s a lot of work that goes into putting in a show that lasts only--

JM: Eleven minutes? Isn’t that a really smart title?

CATZ: Is this something you could do every six months?

JM: You can do it in six months. I don’t wanna do it, it’s too much. I was stressed out of my mind. I’ll do a show again in the future but not every six months. I’m still making clothes but this was so much money and so many people and having to do that all over again. It’s like getting married every six months, it’s a once in a lifetime thing.

CATZ: What part of PA are you from?

JM: Upstate Lehman/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. It’s awesome. [Laughs] There’s nothing, farms. We don’t even have a stoplight in our town.

CATZ: How do you think living up in Lehmen affected your career?

JM: Probably tons. I made my "Project Runway" collection living there. So I think that was the best work of my life. That’s why I had such a hard time in New York cause I was inundated with visions. It was way too much for me every time I left my apartment, by the time I came back I just wanted to go to bed. [In Lehmen] there’s nothing, so your mind is able to be free. Here [in Philly] it’s a good balance cause it’s a city but you’re not gonna see a man walking down the street in a royal blue suit straight off the plane from Paris.

CATZ: So you’re selling on your website, are you selling anywhere else at any stores?

JM: I sold some stuff on Mew gallery. We’re re-launching the website in April with new products made in Philly, which is nice.  And I just launched a new line of fabric which is available all over the world but locally at Spool, at 19th and South. I hope to get back to teaching and be on [Philadelphia University’s] advising board. It’s really good, it’s an honor, actually.

CATZ: You’re critiquing at Philadelphia University. So what's that like?  You didn’t graduate right?

JM: You’re just digging up the most dated shit, you didn’t even talk about the movie yet!

CATZ: Do you regret not graduating?

JM: No, ‘cause they see I’m successful, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s great to get an education but, I mean, I ran three credits short. So, its not like I didn’t fucking go to my awful four years. It was awful, trust me. But it shows that you don’t really need it. I cannot imagine writing another 20-page paper. It happened to me my senior year, I went through three years of it and then someone said “So the thing will be 20 pages” and I just thought 'Wait a minute, I’m paying you to tell me to write? FUCK YOU! You write the fucking paper I’m paying you!' And then I didn’t write it and failed [Laughs]. Glad it took me three years to figure that out. Got stoned the rest of the time.

 
For more info on 11 Minutes go to www.elevenminutes-jaymccarroll.com. To check out Jay's blog go to jaymccarroll.wordpress.com.