The eighth season of “Project Runway” ended with Denver designer Mondo Guerra in the top three, and the ninth run of the series begins next week with two Colorado contenders in the competition. Fallene Wells, a Denver hairstylist and fashion promoter, will be among 20 designers introduced when “Runway” returns at 7 p.m. July 28 on Lifetime. Also among the pool of fashion designers is Julie Tierney of Grand Junction.
The show will again have a 90-minute format, and during the first episode, the designers will have to make a case for being one of 16 to remain in the competition, in which the grand-prize winner gets $100,000 to start a fashion line. Returning are host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn, judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, and various celebrities and guest judges. Christina Ricci will be on the first show. About the two Colorado contenders:
Fallene Wells, 29, who is known in Denver for producing annual Forever Darling fashion shows, has also been involved in various local competitions. She was among 12 designers in the Denver Public Library’s Fresh City Life show last fall. She works at Voila Salon, Spa and Parfumerie in downtown Denver, where she specializes in color and women’s cuts.
Wells says in her videos on Lifetime that she loves ugly, funny sweaters and Anthropologie, and hates hunting. She says she was named Fallene, after Bambi’s girlfriend in the Disney movie. (Disney spells the name “Faline,” but you get the idea) And she has a cartoon-deer tattoo on her inner right forearm.
With short red hair and a big smile, she’s made for TV.
Tran Wills, who used to carry Wells’ designs when she owned the Fabric Lab on East Colfax, says she admires the way Wells updates retro styles. “We sold her adorable dresses that were styled like the 1950s. She was just starting out, and then she got more into vintage and art nouveau,” Wills says.
Wells is self-taught, which could hurt her chances when competing against designers with strong technical backgrounds.
Julie Tierney, 35, studied fashion design at Savannah College of Art and Design. She’s a late bloomer in the field, not starting her classes at SCAD until she was 32, after spending more than a decade in the food and beverage industry in various ski towns. She’s a snowboarder, skier and recently joined an equestrian team.
Tierney moved to Grand Junction to take a job as an intern at Loki outerwear. Based on work in her college portfolio, her design style melds outdoorsy sportswear with a Southwestern aesthetic.
Her apartment, shown in a video on the “Runway” website, is sparsely furnished and features a bicycle in the dining room and her sewing machine set up on a wine box in her work room.
As for her personal style, in her closet tour video, Tierney says she shops in the kid’s department at Kmart for Madonna T-shirts, and at Walmart for Miley Cyrus jeans. MorePhotos by Richard McLaren, Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC
Suzanne S. Brown: 303-954-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com
