Potential women’s studies major Alyssa Aparicio ’11 spent her summer vacation modeling on the fifth season of Bravo’s Project Runway. Although she was eliminated after wearing the losing dress in the second episode, she returned in the next episode when another model withdrew from the competition. After a solid shot on eight episodes total, she was eliminated again on Sept. 3. The Miscellany News caught up with Vassar’s fashionista phoenix over the phone in mid-August while the rising sophomore reclined in her house in the Bronx, preparing to take advantage of all the doors opened by modeling on the popular series.
MN: How have your courses at Vassar helped you better figure out how to present yourself as a woman and as a woman mediated by various industries?
AA: Obviously, the fashion industry is a very superficial industry. It’s based pretty much 100 percent on how you look and how you present yourself. I guess I’ve always looked at it as an artistic form of expression. You kind of have to learn not to take it personally and not to allow it to really get to who you are.
MN: Has there been a particular women’s studies course that required you to read texts or explore theories that affected your view of modeling and how you approach that career?
AA: There are definitely some examples, but I can’t really put my finger on one that I’ve read. I guess what women’s studies has taught me that I want to utilize in the fashion industry is that being a woman is nothing to be shy about. I just want to see more powerful women figures not only in fashion but in the mainstream. Most models look the same, act the same and have the same blank stare. You know, it’s all one look. I just want to see more diversity; I want to see change. I want to see women really presenting themselves as more than just mannequins. I want to see women embracing their figures...
Actually, for example, someone came to speak on campus named Courtney Martin. She brought her book called Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. And basically what she said in that was she wanted to see girls embrace who they are and not worry about what other people have to say to them. I think what she was getting at was that we should be more of who we are and embrace who we are.
MN: Who is your favorite model?
AA: Well, I’d have to say Adriana Lima. And I’m a big fan of Doutzen Kroes. I like Coco Rocha. And I like Kate Moss just because she’s been able to last so many generations, and I just think she’s amazing at what she does.
MN: What work have those models done that has particularly affected you?
AA: I think they stand out to me because they just have more of a distinct look in comparison to the other girls that they’re walking with on the runway. I don’t know; their look just appeals to me: the way they present themselves in front of the camera. They’re very strong. They’re very bold. And in interviews they seem to have a lot of personality, and I think they have interesting things to say.
MN: As a rising model, what is it like interacting with someone as significant as Heidi Klum?
AA: That was a pretty surreal experience to actually see her in front of me…It was great to work with her, and for us as models to be able to have a chance to be on the same stage with her was really something in itself. It was pretty cool.
MN: Where do you shop?
AA: Whenever I go shopping, I never really go to any specific place...I kind of just go to wherever I happen to be passing by. I also like H&M and Forever 21, like most people do. But I think I just have to pick out things that are different, and it doesn’t really matter what store I get creative in...I recently went to Topshop, though, and I have to say that if I could shop anywhere for the rest of my life, I’d shop there because it was just amazing. I was in love with that store…It was like three floors, and the mannequins were not normal mannequins. They weren’t just standing there; they were like posing in the phone booths…And there’s a fashion stylist booth there. It was like being in a club, too, because there’s a lot of music and there’s a lot going on. And everyone shopping there just had really good style. It was just a really inspiring place. There was a lot to see in that one store.
MN: Who is your favorite designer?
AA: I love Roberto Cavalli. He’s definitely my favorite. I love John Galliano...I guess those are my two main favorites.
MN: What about their designs really appeals to you?
AA: I love the way they use their prints. Cavalli often uses exotic prints like leopard print, and that’s definitely a favorite of mine. And just flowy fabrics: often very sexy, but sophisticated. Very unique. I guess I could keep saying exotic, but I think that’s what really draws me to them. Galliano is very dramatic; it’s always over the top. His couture line is amazing to watch; it’s a new level of artistic expression. It’s like watching some sort of, I don’t even know, Cirque du Soleil show. That’s what I love about fashion: when it’s so over the top and new and exciting that you feel like you’re watching a show and it’s more a fantasy than it is a reality, but you can use different pieces of that in your everyday life.
MN: Do you think that fantasy and reality aspect applies to Project Runway and its appeal?
AA: Yeah, I mean the designers are asked to stretch their imaginations as far as they can go. They’re given tasks they wouldn’t ordinarily be given, and they have to use as much imagination as possible. And I think that’s what’s so exciting about the show, but it’s what’s so nerve-racking, so scary for them because they have probably never been given concepts like that to work with before and having to stretch their minds that much and stretch their ideas to that extent is hard, and that’s also why people watch the show.
MN: Can you describe the fateful dress—made by Wesley and referred to as “the toilet paper dress”—that got you eliminated in the second episode? On the Project Runway Web site, there’s a “Meet the Models” section in which you say that no matter what you would “work” the dress to the best of your ability. Do you think there was anything that you could have done differently to better “work” that outfit?
AA: Well, I don’t think there was really anything I could have done differently, but I did my best in the time I was given. Yeah, I tried to work the dress...I guess the material didn’t work for him, and I think that had they given him more time he could have made something amazing, I’m sure. But he did his best. And, in all honesty, I don’t want to say anything negative about the dress, but it clearly wasn’t the most flattering.
MN: What was the casting process like to get onto Project Runway? Did it coincide with academic finals drama?
AA: I actually first went on casting for Project Runway a little over a year ago after my senior year of high school. And the casting director had really wanted to use me but was unable to because I was 17 at the time, and you have to be 18. I was pretty crushed about that...So I hoped for the best in the coming year...Honestly, the entire year, I told my agent, “I really am looking forward to hearing from Project Runway. I want to go on that casting again. Please let me know when that is, and I will be there.” But she called me on the final day of classes...at about 11 a.m. and said, “Guess what, the casting just called me for Project Runway, and they’re casting today 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.” And you know, from Poughkeepsie, it’s about an hour and 45 minutes to the city. So I was just like, “Well, can they see me a little bit after? I mean I’ll leave now and see if I can get there about 2:15 p.m. or something; I can just do my best to get there.” So I got in a cab, and I went to the train station and I was waiting for her to call me back and see what her response was, and they said that they wouldn’t see me after 2 p.m. I was pretty upset about that trip. I’d been waiting the whole year to see if I could cast again, so it was upsetting. But I think after school had ended, maybe she gave me a call back and said, “Are you still interested? Because they’re still looking for girls.” And of course I said, “Yes!” And it ended up that they chose me, and I was able to go on the show.
MN: Did all the models get along with one another?
AA: We end up spending a lot of time together, the models and I. We went through a lot together, so I think from the first day we bonded really well, all of us as a group...When we watch the Project Runway series in the past, it’s like the models don’t know one another: They never interact. And it’s clearly because it’s not about the models. But in reality, we all got pretty close.
MN: Do you think you would ever pull an Anne Hathaway and drop out of Vassar so you could throw yourself into your career?
AA: I mean, I can’t say right now. I just think I’d miss Vassar too much; I just love it too much here. I think I wouldn’t be able to pull myself away for that long. You never know. I can’t say, “No, I’d never ever do that.” Who knows? We’ll see what happens, but I would have to say that I’m at Vassar for good.
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