Project Runway Roundup: Kelli Auf’ed, Compares Nina Garcia To Kelly Bundy, Says She Had Anticipated A Bunch of “A**holes”

By Julie Zied
Fancast.com

Wednesday’s Project Runway marked the first team challenge of the season, and you know what that means: cat fights! The duos were tasked with creating a “day-to-night” outfit for Brooke Shields’ polished (but don’t forget bohemian!) character Wendy Healy on Lipstick Jungle, with the winning design being worn by Shields on the show. Fierce, right? Not so much when it came to team Kelli/Daniel. The threads of that collaboration began to unravel from the moment the two stepped into Mood. Ultimately the challenge of working together outweighed the challenge itself, and resulted in a auf wiedersehen for Kelli Martin. Below, the most recent gal to take off from Runway airs her grievances.

What was the difference between living the experience and watching it on TV?
Living the experience was much worse. I had anticipated the worst watching it, to be honest. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It could have been much worse. They could have shown all the mean stuff I said. It was such a while ago that I was so over it. As long as I wasn’t portrayed like a lunatic, I’m straight.

What mean stuff did they cut out?
I can’t talk about what’s been edited out of the show.

Well did you feel like your portrayal was accurate?
I definitely feel like, for the most part I was accurately portrayed. I felt like I wasn’t always myself sometimes just because I’m a little camera-shy, and I’m normally not a shy person by any means, but I get annoyed easily and there were a lot of annoying people surrounding me at times, so I just sort of shut off. I went in my corner and I focused on the task at hand. Considering that, yes I was portrayed well because I was myself.

So people were annoying you and getting on your nerves. I spoke to Jennifer last week and she said that she thought everyone got along well for the most part and that everyone liked each other. But from watching, it seems like tensions are extremely high this season amongst everyone.
Jennifer’s too nice, that’s why she said that. Granted, when I went into this I was anticipating a bunch of a**holes, and there were good people. Don’t get me wrong. I made a lot of friends. I felt like there was also a big immaturity level happening. I’m only 28-years-old, or I was 27 on the show. There were a lot of 27-year-olds, but I feel I’m mature for my age. I grew up a little hard and I grew up quick and I just felt that there were some people who were incredibly rude and obnoxious and they didn’t quite know how to manage being on television. Unless that was their point, or their game, I don’t know. It was a little annoying. I wish I had earplugs.

Can you be a little more specific about who you’re talking about it?
I can’t talk specifics.

OK. So the Daniel collaboration on this challenge, you guys obviously clashed.
We’re obviously polar opposites. I’m very confident, he’s very insecure. He wants to have a point of view, but I’m not quite sure if it’s there. If I’d used my better judgment I probably would have chosen Stella just because we would have worked together a lot more smoothly. But, I was also trying to think about the challenge at hand. And if he has such ‘high-end taste,’ then he should have been able to bring that to the table and counteract my slightly edgy, raw taste. That’s what I was hoping for. It didn’t quite turn out that way. He didn’t want to be with me at all, it was obvious. He was a little bitter because he was chosen close to last. I tried to buck up his spirits by saying ‘Come on man, you can do it! We’re gonna do it together, it’ll be fun!’ And I really tried to just go with it, but once I saw that first skirt I was like ‘You’re kidding me, right? You’re absolutely kidding me! We cannot put that out on the runway! Are you trying to sabotage me or is this how you work?’ I was very questionable about his taste, to be honest.

What was his reaction to that when you spoke your mind about it? From what we saw he appeared apathetic about the challenge.
Totally. I wanted to bring him into it, give him options like ‘Would you like to do a skirt? Would you like to do this. What fabric should we use?’ His initial fabric choices for the skirt were horrible and that’s why he had to remake it. He obviously didn’t know what fabrics to use. I really don’t know what the deal was. I was trying to be as nice as possible and he was trying to adjust the skirt and make it work, but he wasn’t making it work. I just had to break down and say ‘Sorry man, you gotta make another skirt.’ So I was trying, I had to make the entire outfit, because I had to be on the line, not him.

So do you think in the end he should have gone? Should it have been Blayne? Do you stand by the final outfit?
I stand by the outfit. There are minor changes I would have made had I had more time and a better partner. It was true to the design that was pitched and I didn’t want to stray from that. I knew they would ream me for that. It was hard going home. I felt as if Blayne took a few jabs at me, saying he would never send his partner home because he has more integrity, which is bullsh*t. It’s called having no balls, and realizing that you belong there and you have the skills to be there, then you should say that and not try to be passive aggressive and weird about it. I felt I was the person that should have been there. I deserved to be there. I definitely didn’t think I should have gone home, but I guess I also didn’t play up the camera enough, so it is what it is.

What other changes would you have made?
Aside from the partner choice – which Stella and I probably would have made a leather suit, had we made it together - which I would have been fine with. I would have maybe changed not using as much black. It was a pencil skirt and a suit jacket with a corset top underneath. I know it was supposedly “Slutty, slutty, slutty,” but her ass wasn’t showing and her boobs weren’t popping out. It transitioned from day to night, regardless of whether or not they liked it. So, there wasn’t much I could actually change without remaining true to the initial pitch.

What do you say to the argument that this might not have been an age-appropriate look for a 43-year-old?
I mean I guess I could have made the corset top a little longer, but I don’t think it was too much. Look at the way 40-year-olds dress these days. I mean Nina Garcia wears tube dresses that look like Kelly Bundy. If anything, the color was a little harsh. I maybe would have cut a tweed, or something along those lines. It probably would have changed the entire look. I don’t think that the slightly side-showing top was a big deal. The transition was from the office, which was the suit, to a nightclub, which is a little more risqué. Sexy was the word that was used multiple times. I think it was sexy, not slutty. If that was slutty, then I’m a slut. I mean, come on.

You’ve said that Betsy Johnson was an influence, which you can see in this outfit…
She doesn’t take herself too seriously. This isn’t brain surgery. This is creative fun. I know 1,000 people who would wear that outfit. Maybe not to The Oscars. Maybe Nina Garcia won’t wear it, but there is a market out there for that. Our generation gap is so huge. Whether you’ve been in the industry for years or not, you still don’t know what’s going on behind-the-scenes, underground, you know? You might know what Paris Hilton is wearing this week, but that doesn’t mean anything, that’s just a small portion of the world. I would think they would know and appreciate that, but I think they might be living in another world.

Who are the strongest designers this season in your opinion?
I obviously can’t tell you who I think is going to be in the top three. I can tell you some of my favorite people were Wesley and Jennifer and obviously Stella is my buddy. At this point I wish Stella the best because she’s the only one left.

Alright, last question. You had to design this episode’s look for Brooke Shield’s character on Lipstick Jungle. But if you had any dream character on any show who you could create a look for, who would it be?
Hmmm. Hard choice. I don’t really watch TV, I only watch stuff like Law & Order and I don’t think they’d be wearing my clothes! Hmm. Well if Charlize Theron was in more television shows, she’d be my girl. If Amy Winehouse doesn’t kill herself, I’d love to dress her. If Cindy Lauper came around, I’d love to dress her. There’s only a handful of people, I think. I don’t watch too much TV and I’m not in the celebrity world. I know what I like.