Main Contestants and Judges Index | Judges | All-Stars Judges and Mentors | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | Season 7 | Season 8 | Season 9 | Season 10 | Season 11 | Season 12 | Season 13 | Season 14 | Season 15 | Season 16
Chloe Dao
- Color Motif: Most of her challenge pieces were blue dresses.
- Fun Size: She was the shortest of the cast. And even more noticeable when paired for the Team challenge with Emmett.
- Heroic BSoD: She broke to tears when it was revealed the final collection needed to have an additional surprise look, as she felt she couldn't design anymore.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: When she teamed up with Emmet.
- Nice Girl: Even thought she had her own opinions about people in the workroom (mostly against Santino), she still tried to be polite.
Daniel Vosovic
- Disappointed in You: His finale collection disappointed everyone and the judges, who expected better from him. It's so bad that the term "Vosovic'd"note The designer who had a strong run in the season created a disappointing finale collection derived from him.
- My Greatest Second Chance: He won the All-Star Special Episode.
- Nice Guy
- Gayngst: One of his personal stories was about how he had a hard time to come out to his family, having recently come out months prior to the show.
- Straight Gay: Most viewers didn't guess about his sexuality until he talked about it during the show.
- Straight Man: Daniel is the one who gave Nick a Pep Talk when he was distraught about the model switch.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, there was also Daniel Franco.
Santino Rice
Kara Janx
- Granola Girl: Described by Santino
- Hot-Blooded
- The Stoner: Played for laughs in the flower challenge, where she commented it was a waste having all that grass and not smoke it.
- What Could Have Been: Fashion critics said that she might have won the show with her finale collection if she was not aufed over Chloe.
Nick Verreos
- Breakout Character: He's the most featured former contestant in general media.
- He hosted ice skating shows.
- Designed Brenda Strong's red carpet dress from his Nikki Hilton challenge garment.
- Is part of many of the audition castings for the new Project Runway seasons.
- He was featured blogger for many of the show's seasons at the official site.
- Camp Gay: Has a long-time male partner, and he participates in many of the singalongs in the workroom.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He gets chosen to aid Daniel during the Finale.
- Control Freak: In Under the Gunn he tended to overtake his designer's work and give a lot of input in the final results. Part of his Character Development in that show had him learn that he had to trust more in the designers and just guide them enough, even if that meant letting them make mistakes. As a result, Oscar, one of the underdogs of the entire cast, ends up winning the whole competition.
- Cool Uncle: He mentioned he was the "Uncle Nick who would give his niece the chicest Barbie".
- Cool Teacher: He teaches at FIDM and is generally regarded as a nurturing and patient teacher.
- Years later his teaching skills get to test for the spinoff "Under the Gunn".
- Heroic BSoD: Has this when Zulema switched models with him. Nick got it hard since he adored Tara, so he spent most of the episode sad and considering quitting the competition. He got over it in the last half of the episode.
- Nice Guy: In contrast to Zulema, Nick was very gentle to his models. While he initially was upset by the model switch (venting all his anger about how Rachael's walk sucked), he eventually came to terms with the situation and started to treat Rachael better. Both Rachael and Tara had stated that Nick was the sweetest designer to work with.
- Papa Wolf: In Under the Gunn, he got enraged when the designers from the other teams (including Mondo and Anya) were berating Natalia, reassuring her that she had all the right to be in the competition, despite what the others might say.
- Real Men Wear Pink: He won a Barbie challenge and the outfit made for him by Chloe for the makeover challenge had a pink back vest and pink shirt, and he looked awesome in it.
- Shocking Elimination: Invoked during the Reunion Show. Many believed firmly that he was going to be in the Final Three.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Santino. Even though he didn't want to either work in a team with Santino or take any of his annoying jokes, Nick declared in the reunion that part of him wants Santino to win in the Finale. Outside of Santino's Jerkass moments, he and Nick are seen having fun, being good roommates, and singing along in the workroom.
- Twofer Token Minority: He is half-Venezuelan, half-Greek, and gay.
Andrae Gonzalo
- Break the Cutie: His first shop closed shortly before he started the show; he took it very hard.
- Camp Gay: His tee shirt says it all: "I'm So LA". He would generally go through a door twirling and dancing, as seen in a lengthy compilation of all his mannerisms.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He gets chosen to aid Santino during the Finale.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Even the other designers have trouble figuring out where he's coming from.
- Drama Queen: See Prone to Tears below.
- Girly Run: A good part of his clips include him running as effeminate as possible.
- Hypocrite: In Episode 2, he sends his model with a denim qipao (a Chinese-style dress) and a straight dark brown wig, and then starts crying and venting about his personal drama. In the following episode, he gets very defensive about not putting a blonde wig on his model and keeping her natural afro and even starts debating stubbornly with the judges about the wig.
- My Greatest Second Chance: He returned for All-Stars Season 2, but subverted when he placed 10th.
- Prone to Tears: The extended cut showed that his second episode meltdown lasted ten long minutes.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He was Sensitive, next to Santino's Manly Man (or anyone for that matter).
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: The others describe him talking with a "British-French-gay-weird" accent.
Zulema Griffin
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She didn't form bonds with anyone, instantly marking her territory from Day 1.
- Brutal Honesty:
- When teamed up with Kara, she told her to "Cut the cry or Cry and cut". Even Kara herself agreed Zulema was right.
- Although all the other designers were in shock for the model switch, Zulema was still right when she said her model didn't have a good walk and Nick should try to win to take Tara back instead of whining.
- Establishing Character Moment: When they moved to the apartments, Zulema immediately claimed the closet for herself, explaining in the confessionals how territorial she was, being the oldest of seven children. She only conceded to Marla one hanger.
- Gollum Made Me Do It: Season 2's Zulema had an alter ego in Shatangi.
- Hide Your Lesbians: All the parts where she told the others about her wife were edited out.
- Hot-Blooded: Especially in Shatangi mode.
- Jerkass: She treated her models badly (Rachael hated her, while Tara complained about how she kept poking her with the needles while sewing the dress on her).
- Jerkass Has a Point: While she was treated as the villain for the model switch, Zulema wasn't in the wrong, since it was only logical to have a better model once given the opportunity.
- Never My Fault: She mostly blamed her bad strike on her model Rachael because she didn't have the right walking technique, so she switched models at the first chance she got. Even then, her dress got her eliminated and not even Tarah's modeling could save it. During the Reunion show, she gets confronted about her poor treatment of Rachael during the competition, but she brushes it off and claims that she had to give her tough love so "she could evolve". Rachael promptly rolls her eyes at this response.
- Sassy Black Woman: She is a no-nonsense tough woman raised in the ghetto. Even shifted into Scary Black Woman when in Shatangi mode.
- Statuesque Stunner: She used to work as a model.
- Straight Gay: Even without the editing, you wouldn't suspect that she has a wife.
Emmett McCarthy
- The Dandy: He always wore dress shirts and vests during the competition.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He is really tall. And even more noticeable when paired for the Team challenge with Chloe.
- Ineffectual Loner: In the first episode, Emmet aimed immediately for the room with the single bed, and was ok with having the apartment all for himself after his two roommates were eliminated. Also he isn't seen hanging out with Santino, Nick, Daniel, and Andrae after work hours, as he prefers to be far from the noise. At one point Andrae stated he thought of Emmet as a selfish person, which he later took back at the reunion.
- Only Sane Man: Compared to Santino and the other male contestants, he was really the highlight of this trope in his season.
- The Quiet One: He had few moments on camera, and the main reason why Santino chose to pin the blame on him was that he rarely gave any feedback during the lingerie challenge.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He started as a Menswear tailor before venturing into Women's clothing.
- The Stoic: Even when upset he didn't raise his voice.
- Straight Gay: Compared to the rest of the openly gay contestants, he was very low key.
- Straight Man: This explains why he didn't click with the other designers, as they were crazier and louder.
Diana Eng
- Asian and Nerdy: She describes herself as a "Fashion Nerd", telling how in high school she read more science magazines than fashion magazines.
- Chekhov S Gunman: She gets chosen to aid Chloe during the Finale.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Her specialty is to incorporate technology in her pieces, like cameras in the hoodies, earplug earrings, magnet hooks, etc. She even released a book about this.
- In-Series Nickname: The other nicknamed her "Dirty Diana" when partying.
- Nice Girl: She had big patience considering she was in the same room with Guadalupe and Santino.
- Only Sane Woman: Her team in the lingerie challenge was composed of Guadalupe and Marla. She was the only one holding them together.
- In the same challenge, Marla's model got pissy and didn't want to wear the outfit. Diana herself had to make her do it since it was her job.
- The Smart Girl: She is a fashion and gadget designer.
Marla Duran
- Cool Old Lady: Subverted. While many of the designers liked her and she was overall a nice lady, everybody thought her below technical and design skills were going to get her out anytime soon.
- Extreme Doormat: She quickly was intimidated by Zulema taking over the closet and conformed with having just one hanger out of it.
- Sincerest Form of Flattery: For the Nicky Hilton challenge, she started to rip off one of Nicky's dresses fom the catalogue, since she "didn't trust her own creative voice". After Tim pointed out she was being a copycat, she made slight changes to the dress, but it was still blatantly obvious the dress was a copy. What makes it worse is that she insisted all the time that it was her dress. Marla was lucky Guadalupe made a dress so horrible that it gained the elimination instead.
- Team Mom: Averted. While her attitude was gentle and she kept mentioning she had to rise her son while running her boutique, the others had to teach her in the workroom how to put her garment together, since Marla was a self-taught dressmaker and the others had professional training.
Guadalupe Vidal
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Look up for her response at the reunion show and try to understand half of it...
- Cloudcuckoolander: Too much to list, but most prominent is her answer in the reunion show about her elimination.
- In her first episode, she mentioned her haircut was inspired in Bruce Lee, so she could beat the competition.
- For the lingerie challenge, her sketches for Heidi were... Comicbook inspired underwear with Written Sound Effect bubbles.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: All her designs. To the point she was eliminated instead of Marla (who ripped off her dress from one of the references, a big No for a self-respected designer in a design competition).
- Jerkass: Where to begin...
- As Nick pointed out, Guadalupe was going to everyone's stations offering unrequested critiques. Not that her design aesthetic was a model to take, but still...
- She was seen picking on Kara's Hot-Blooded attitude while she was being incoherent.
- In the Nicky Hilton Challenge, she immediately mentioned to Nicky how Marla ripped off one of her dresses. Not that she needed that to be pointed out, as it was blatantly obvious, but not cool, Lupe...
Daniel Franco
See
Season 1 ContestantsRaymundo Baltazar
Kirsten Ehrig
John Wade
- Camp Gay
- Formerly Fat: He slimmed down during the time between his elimination and the reunion show.
Heidi Standridge
- The Ditz: She couldn't pronounce Raymundo's name correctly and then asks the cameraman where is Raymundo from.
- Genki Girl: When she got casted, she squeed non-stop.
- Motor Mouth: She talked A LOT and really fast.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, since she had the same name as Heidi Klum.
- The Pollyanna: Even when she got eliminated in the first episode, she kept saying "I'm fine. Have a nice day!"
The Models
Yes, because they competed as well.
- Genki Girl: Tarah, seeing from her interactions with Nick.
- Hidden Depths: Grace is a professional illustrator.
- Jerkass: Cara, Marla's model, refused to wear one of the team's outfits. Diana had to make her do it, citing she had no room to complain since it was her job.
- Out of Focus: Except for the Rachael-Tarah-Zulema drama, this season the models weren't shown having interaction with the designers that much.
- Statuesque Stunner: Grace was the tallest of them all. Heather was also tall since she was slightly shorter than Santino.
- Undying Loyalty: Most of the designers bonded wonderfully with their models, to the point each challenge winner skipped the chance to swap models. The only exception was Zulema, who took the chance to grab Nick's model, and the others took it very badly at the moment.
- Wardrobe Malfunction, Male Gaze: Rachael had this when wearing Zulema's sweater dress. It was so short that her butt was visible. Credit to her for keeping a straight face.
