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'Project Runway' launches local teen's design career

After competing on 'Project Runway Junior,' the design career of duPont Manual junior Zach Lindsey is ready for take-off.

Christine Fellingham
@herscene

You show some people how to sew a few stitches and they may one day hem a pair of pants. Ramona Lindsey taught her 9-year-old son two stitches on the sewing machine and, by sixth grade, he had launched his own pillow company.

duPont Manual student and 16-year-old clothing designer, Zach Lindsey, poses for a portrait in his basement studio.

Even then, Zach Lindsey showed signs of being a savvy marketer. He made pillows, not necessarily because he had a love for stuffing fabric but because he was matching his skill set with a viable product.

“I was trying to put into practice the sewing skills that I had learned,” said 16-year-old Zach. With his fledgling skills, he wasn’t ready to craft a couture gown, but he could make cool-looking pillows. So he did.

He shopped the pillows around and soon he was selling them at the DuSable Museum Arts and Crafts Festival in Chicago, where his family was then living. That would have been success enough for some tweens, but Zach had an entrepreneurial drive to do more, so he created his own website.

“My parents helped me find wix.com, where you can create your own website for free. And then I figured it out,” he said. While that kind of motivation may seem odd for someone so young, Zach didn’t think it was.

“We were living in Chicago where a lot of people did their own side hustles,” he explained. “It wasn’t that foreign to me. I wanted to get on the path to entrepreneurship and my parents encouraged me."

Behind the scenes of 'Project Runway Junior'

A move back to his mother’s hometown of Louisville turned out to be another step on his path to entrepreneurial success, where he landed in the production and design program at duPont Manual’s Youth Performing Arts School.

“I auditioned for saxophone, but they weren’t admitting any saxophone players that year,” he said of the prestigious performing arts program. “Since I couldn’t get in for band, I fell back on my sewing skills to apply for design and production. So I sewed up a few skirts and dresses and pillows for the interview process. I wrote an essay and got my recommendations and I got in.”

At YPAS, Zach began to hone his sewing skills.

“I learned to construct a garment and how to read a pattern,” he said. “From my teacher, Amy Berry, I’ve learned technical things like how to make darts and gatherings. I’ve learned good construction. They teach you the math that goes into pattern-making. I applied that and figured out how to make my own patterns.”

Last spring, he showed his first collection at the KMAC Couture show, an experience that intensified his conviction that designing is his destiny. Then he got bored.

“I did a random Google search and the first thing that popped up was an application for 'Project Runway Junior.' And I thought, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ It was four days before the application was due. So my sister and I made the video," he said. "We pulled together some friends and did a quick photo shoot in the gazebo in the backyard. We pulled all of this stuff together and I got the call that I got through the first round.”

Zach's New York City audition became a memorable family road trip.

“I had lived in Chicago, so I was kind of prepared, but it was still a big jump," he said. "I'd seen it in the movies, but it was still a surprise. We did the auditions but we roamed around Times Square and Central Park.”

And, of course, Zach used it as a learning experience.

“We were going to leave, but we found out that (former contestants) Sonjia Williams and Samantha Black were doing a pop-up shop in Brooklyn, so we detoured and saw that,” Zach said.

“I learned from them how to use the publicity from being on the show to build myself up. Even if I didn’t get on the show, the trip was still productive. It gave me tools and skills and colleges to look at.”

But he did get on the show … and lasted for seven episodes. He was eliminated before the finale that aired on Thursday. But Zach puts a positive spin even on his last ill-fated design challenge.

“That was not the best time for me, but I still had fun,” he said. “I ventured away from my design aesthetic and that’s what got me eliminated. I learned from that challenge that I was not a sportswear designer.”

KDF Spring Fashion Show tickets now on sale

His favorite design challenge was one where he designed a reversible Sunday brunch outfit for New York City Knicks dancer Julia Evans. Another favorite was his very first challenge.

“I finished at the bottom that time, but it was a fun experience. There was the adrenaline rush and it was my first time being in that environment ... I kind of knew I wasn’t going to go home," he said. "I could see that some of what happens is probably just for TV reasons to add drama.”

The fun and forward motion didn’t end with his last episode. Once home, he kicked into high gear again – making plans to show a collection in this spring’s KMAC Couture and planning his first trunk show for the official launch of his fashion house, Zach Lindsey, to be held next Saturday, Feb. 6, at Copper and Kings.

“It’s the collection that I would have shown at Fashion Week if I had made it to the end of the show,” Zach said. “It’s the spring summer collection inspired by a modern day princess and her life and the things she would wear to different events and galas.”

With the demands of Manual, he is wisely doing a limited number of 12 orders: “It could be one woman buying all 12 pieces or 12 women buying one piece,” he explained. Prices are reasonable – ranging from $75 for a cropped top to $450 for the finale dress.

“The show is not so much of a money-making event but a celebration of my journey and a celebration of all dreamers.”

Christine Fellingham can be reached at cfellingham@courier-journal.com or (502) 582-4472. 

Joel Dansby a causal, sharp dressed man

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: Zach Lindsey Opulence Spring Summer Show

WHERE: Copper And Kings at 1121 E Washington St.

WHEN: 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6 

TICKETS: $100. You can also buy tickets to donate to the Family Scholar House so residents can attend. For more information, go to www.zachlindsey.com