Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

A FILIPINO-American designer has made it to the new season of the highly successful reality show Project Runway, which returned to the show’s roots in New York City and premiered on Lifetime Network last month.

Jay Nicolas Sario, the current visual merchandiser and lead stylist of Gap Inc.’s kids division is the first Filipino designer to ever make it to the show, which is now on its seventh season.

In a phone interview with the Asian Journal, the 31-year-old Sario said that he followed all the six previous seasons of Project Runway. He finally mustered enough courage to try out for the show when a friend auditioned last season and did well. He is ecstatic to be the first Philippine-born designer to participate in the show.

"I’m proud to be able to represent and be part of history," exclaimed Sario, who was born and raised in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. He and his family moved to Hawaii when he was 17. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area five years later and has lived there since.

"I tried out because I have a friend who tried out for Season 6 and made it really far. When I saw how far he was able to go, I said, ‘If he can do it, then I should be able to do it as well’. I created a portfolio knowing that Season 7 was casting," he added.

A month later, he got a call from the casting director asking him to go to Los Angeles to meet with Tim Gunn and the rest of the crew. He drove down to LA with another friend who also tried for both seasons 6 and 7.

"I think we were neck-to-neck, and it was between the two of us because we were both Asians, we were both tiny and really talented and funny. I ended up being chosen," he shared.

It was on his birthday last June when Project Runway executives called him up to tell him that he has been cast for the new season. "I was ecstatic and when I first heard about it, I screamed," he said.

Sario said that the episodes aired on television make it appear easy and since he was able to follow the previous seasons, he thought he knew what to expect. He admitted he was wrong.

"I have been designing my entire life but I wasn’t doing it as a full-time job because of my work as the lead stylist at Gap Kids. Going to the show, where we had to design garments 24/7, that was something I wasn’t really prepared for. It was too intense living and working with 15 other great designers," he said.