By Nadine Kam
Jay McCarroll with his illustrations for “Transport,” his Spring 2007 collection, based on the work of Archigram, a group of 1960s architects who envisioned living spaces full of hot-air balloons, flying cars and moving streets and other contemporary cityscapes.
“Eleven Minutes”
Part of the HGLCF Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival
Screening 2 p.m. Saturday, May 24 at the Doris Duke Theatre at Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Admission is $12
If you get a chance to see “Eleven Minutes,” part of the Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Cultural Foundation’s Rainbow Film Festival Saturday, go.
The documentary film by Michael Selditch and Rob Tate tracks Jay McCarroll’s journey from “reality to real-life designer” as he tries to live up to the “Project Runway” premise of becoming the “next great American designer.” The tone of the piece is bittersweet as he scoffs at the title, yet it’s made so clear he has bought into the idea. Considering the amount of wit, confidence and bravado he presented on the show, he’s only human and the criticism he received after the show in failing to become an overnight sensation, takes its toll on his psyche.
Considering his desire to parlay his 15 minutes of fame into a career, they could have called it “15 Minutes,” but I believe the title, reflecting the length of a fashion show that takes six months to a year to plan, might have been inspired by “Onze Minutos, “a 2003 novel by Paulo Coelho based on a young Brazilian prostitute who seeks a better life in Switzerland, only to find that reality is harsher than expected.
For anyone in the creative arts, it is mesmerizing to watch, but in the end rather depressing to see so little payoff, in spite of McCarroll’s very real talent. It’s tragic, to me, when celebs lacking any fashion cred can suddenly call themselves “designers” by capitalizing on the work of hundreds of people like McCarroll, who don’t have the finances to break out of their sweat-shop roles.
Images of hot-air balloons cover this outfit.
My feeling is that McCarroll has been the most talented and original of the parade of designers in all four seasons of the Bravo series. But, as the first season winner, he was the one most closely scrutinized and reviled after failing to produce. He famously rejected the program’s prize of $100,000, reporting that acceptance would have meant 10 percent of his brand would be forever owned by the Weinstein Co.
He’s grateful for the opportunity that “Project Runway” presented, saying, “I can’t imagine having no notoriety and trying to do what I’m doing,” but faces the realization that talent is 10 percent of the success equation. What’s also needed is business acumen, good advice, sweat equity, luck and money. It’s the reason stars with no design skills, taste or originality whatsovever are able to produce and market their own lines, while many individuals like McCarroll, who can design, make a pattern and sew, are forced to toil behind the scenes, with no recognition of their own.
Although people assumed he had help from the show’s producers, that is not their focus. Their job is to entertain. Period. If anything, they tend to exploit talent to increase their own market share. After the show stopped airing, like McCarroll says, “The cord was cut and it was done. Ten percent of it is opportunity, 90 percent was mt hard work and that was unnoticed, until now.”
The feeling conveyed is that this runway show and documentary are his last hope of making it on his own.
He won “Project Runway” in Feb. 2004 and filming started in February 2006 in advance of preparation for a Sept. 2006 New York Fashion Week presentation for the Spring 2007 season. In his view, it was his last shot at being recognized for his talent. “I’ve been trying for … two seasons now to get this show on the road. I have a shelf life so if I don’t show this coming season, people aren’t going to care anymore … If I f*** this one up, I may have to reconsider some things.”
He didn’t mess up, but the quest continues.
More info:
www.jaymccarrolldocumentary.com
www.jaymccarroll.com
