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BETHLEHEM BUSINESSWOMAN MARLA DURAN is still in the running on reality TV's "Project Runway."
Thursday, December 29, 205
By KAT MAIN
The Express-Times
Allentown resident and Bethlehem shop owner Marla Duran says she hadn't even heard of Bravo's reality TV show "Project Runway," before she tried out for it in April.
"I had no expectations, I never saw the show. I didn't really know what I was going out for," the 51-year-old designer says.
She says she'd only heard about auditions for the show's second season because her cousin, who has an interest in reality TV, put her on a mailing list.
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And it wasn't until she attended auditions for the show in New York City that she fully realized what she was in for.
"When I made the first cut, that was when I really started getting into the idea of dong the show," Duran says.
Duran has struggled to find her form recently, narrowly avoiding elimination in the Dec. 21st "Barbie Challenge" episode.
Bravo's "Project Runway" is hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and gives 14 fashion designers the chance to compete for $100,000 in seed money to launch their own fashion line.
The winner also gets a 2007 Saturn Sky Roadster and the opportunity to have his or her designs featured in a spread in Elle magazine. The winner also receives a mentorship from the Banana Republic design team.
The show's selection process, running throughout April and into May, included extensive interviews, psychological testing and submitting a three-minute video and personal biography, Duran explains.
"There was a lot of examining," she remembers.
In May, Duran got a call from the show saying she'd been selected to compete in the second season. When she got the call, Duran said she was in her Third Street shop and screamed out loud.
"The landlord came down to make sure nobody was being murdered," Duran says.
During that call, Bravo also said she'd have to be in New York City in less than a week to start the show's first designing challenge at New York's Parsons New School For Design, where all 13 episodes were taped.
Over the course of the show, contestants are whittled down to the final three by judges Klum, menswear designer Michael Kors and Elle magazine fashion director Nina Garcia.
The top three will show their designs during New York's Fashion Week in February, according to a Bravo spokesman. The show first aired on Dec. 7 and runs on the channel through mid-March.
Randi Pavlick, who co-owns the Third Street Bethlehem boutique "Comfort and Joy" with her sister Inger Olsen, has been Duran's neighbor for four years, and says they're all pulling for Duran's success.
"It's been driving us all crazy because she can't tell us about how things have gone and what the outcome is," Pavlick says.
Describing her neighbor as self-deprecating, Pavlick says Duran's talent is spectacular.
"I think it's extraordinary that she was selected from the thousands that audition. Even if she were booted out after the first show it's a testament to her talent and guts as a single mom in her 50s," Pavlick adds.
Duran says she got her start in design by making clothing for her son, Raphael, who's now 26.
"I had been making clothes and saw this is what I want to do. I'm still developing I still have a long way to go before I'm as good as I'd like to be," Duran says.
Using mostly rayon because she likes the drape of it, Duran says her work is largely print-oriented, with vintage or Asian-inspired patterns and shapes.
"I would say it's a combination of sophistication and artfulness and crafts," Duran describes her style.
From her Bethlehem shop, Duran sends pieces to Palmerton, Pa., and Philadelphia for completion.
Born in the Lehigh Valley, Duran has traveled the globe. Over the years, she called Los Angeles, Georgetown and Washington, D.C., home.
She's also taken courses at Cedar Crest College in Allentown and attended classes in Washington D.C.
Until the show wraps up, all Duran's friends and fans can do is stay tuned.
Reporter Kat Main can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by e-mail at kmain@express-times.com.
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