Wayne Wins Project Catwalk II
The 32-year-old nightclub promoter from Walsall beat 11 other contestants to win the £20,000 cash prize, an exclusive deal to produce a range of clothes for Designers at Debenhams and a full fashion feature in Grazia Magazine.
To secure the title Wayne and fellow finalists Monika Rene, 26, and Luke Youngblood, 19, spent 10 weeks preparing a 12-piece fashion collection to showcase at the final.
Wayne’s monochromatic collection of 12 outfits, including two pieces carved from aluminum, earned him the respect and admiration of the show’s judges and marked him out as the rightful winner of the title ‘Fashion’s Next Big Thing’.
Wayne’s win was attributed to his amazing eye for detail and exceptional sewing skills, both of which were clearly on display in the dresses he sent down the catwalk. A genuinely exhausted Wayne was delighted by his win, especially as he had been up all night hand-finishing the collection; a number of outfits were completed only minutes before they were sent down the catwalk itself.
Of his win Wayne said: "I have always had this dream that I’m going to get there and winning Project Catwalk is going to make it happen, I’m so excited."
The three contestants and their designs were judged by Kelly Osbourne, Julien Macdonald, Paula Reed and Ben de Lisi.
Project Catwalk host Kelly Osbourne said: "From the first day I met Wayne I knew he was going to be in the final. He is not a run of the mill designer and he can do rock chic or monotone classic and still make it look amazing. I think that out of the designers he is the most talented tailor. His seam lines and the way he tailors clothes is just perfect."
"I think Wayne won because people expected him to do something really crazy and he somehow managed to tone it down enough and still at the same time stay true to himself, he made a collection that for the first time throughout the whole series made all the 3 judges come to the same decision – that he should be the winner of Project Catwalk 2007."
Project Catwalk judge Julien Macdonald said: "Wayne’s clothes are as extravagant and as fun as his personality. He is definitely someone to watch out for in the fashion industry!"
Julien’s praise was echoed by Grazia Magazine’s style editor and fellow Project Catwalk judge Paula Reed, who said: "I am thrilled that Wayne has done Project Catwalk. He has a huge talent, but, after college was finding it tough to break into the industry. He is easily the most technically accomplished of all of the contestants and he has a clear vision of what he wants to achieve creatively. I expected him to have a grand fashion student attitude about some of the challenges but he threw himself to them all. I am excited to see his own collection and fully expect to see him at London Fashion Week presenting his own label sometime soon."
Womenswear designer Ben de Lisi who acted as the designer’s mentor during the series said: "Wayne was a strong contender from the beginning of the series, his tailoring is fantastic and he never fails to surprise me."