On January 14, fashion’s favorite reality design show, Project Runway graced our TV screens once more. After a shaky Season Six, the show, which was picked up last year by Lifetime, is back with an incredible cast of contestants. Birmingham, Alabama native and current Atlanta resident Anthony L. Williams is one of these standout hopefuls, chock full of talent and bursting with charisma. Buzz Entertainment Magazine sat down with Williams to hear all about his PR experiences and learn a little more about this bubbly and fabulous, yet extraordinarily humble character.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: When did you know you wanted to be a designer?
Anthony Williams: At a very young age when I couldn’t afford what I wanted and I realized I would have to make what I wanted to wear. Out of necessity came my creativity.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: Why now with Season Seven? Did you audition in the past?
AW: I have never auditioned for Project Runway before. One of my fan club friends sent me an email and I said, “If this person thinks enough of me that I can audition, then why not.”
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: How did you prepare for Project Runway?
AW: My situation was a little different. My mother, who was having some health issues came to Atlanta from Birmingham to live with me, so I had to take the last of my paychecks (because I had to quit my job) and layout all the bills and teach her to pay the bills over the Internet and things of that nature. I had to make sure that my home in Atlanta was in order, because the last thing that I wanted to do was be away and worry about my mother.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: What’s the worst fad you ever got caught up in?
AW: I thought for a long time that those boot-fit jeans that are extremely flared at the bottom that that was the right denim for my body. I will never wear boot-fit and flared jeans again.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: Did you find it was easy to show your design voice in the competition?
AW: I actually think that I found my voice during the competition. My life before PR wasn’t sewing and sitting behind a machine all day. My life was being a sales associate on the sales floor and if I had a little energy [after work], that’s when I came home and had the opportunity to sew. Going into the show brought something out of me that I didn’t even know was there. I am so grateful for PR because I love Anthony as a designer these days.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: So many people lose themselves in the competition but you actually had the opposite experience.
AW: Well, when you think about it, I had sacrificed my job, so I knew that coming back; it was going to be very tight financially. I couldn’t allow the reality of the TV show to burn me out from my reality waiting at home.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: So, is that what kept you inspired throughout your time with the show?
AW: I don’t think that’s what kept me inspired, but PR was the first time that I had ever had a vacation. Honestly, it wasn’t a vacation at all, but it was the first time that I was actually able to step away and not think about what this will do for my family or anyone else. This was something I could do for myself. I had an opportunity to celebrate Anthony, to grow to what I needed to be as a designer. So, I would love to say that my bills or my mother were my inspiration, but it was that for the first time in my life I was able to do something that would benefit me. For the first time it was about me.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: There’s a lot of stress that goes along with Project Runway. How did you deal with all that pressure?
AW: I think the one thing that I learned to do no matter what happens in life is to smile and to laugh. When you work with everyday people, you learn to see people as people and learn the difference between a tragedy and a disappointment. Everyone wants to be in the top three, but if you end up in the bottom three, then that’s disappointment. It’s not like you lost your leg on the side of the runway, it’s not a tragedy.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: How did the experience on PR compare with what you anticipated?
AW: They have this thing where they tell you that you’re “on ice” meaning that you don’t talk [about the show]. While that may be the every day for some people, I am not used to being told I cannot talk. That was a first for me.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: What can the show’s fans expect for Season Seven of Project Runway?
AW: You will definitely get people with personality and triumphant talent. I think that this is the best season that PR has had because it’s such an inclusive season. There are so many people that would just naturally look at and identify with, even you don’t like my design, and you’ll understand my story. It speaks to possibility and in an economy like this; I think that Season Seven will give a lot of people hope.