Vancouver designer SethAaron Henderson will figure prominently in the seventh season of “Project Runway” if the series premiere is any indication.

Thursday night’s episode began with Henderson walking down a New York City street and into the Atlas apartment building that he and the 15 other contestants will call home.

Wearing skinny jeans, a black suit jacket, white shirt and thin black tie, Henderson looked like he belonged in New York. His spiky, jet-black hair and a star tattoo on his neck, however, set him apart from the other stylish urbanites.

“I want to be a fashion icon, at the level of Dior, Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld. I want to be a household name. But if I’m not having fun, I don’t want to do it,” he said on the show.

Henderson, who grew up in San Diego, seemed to enjoy himself in the first episode, projecting confidence and a strong sense of who he is as a designer. He said in a previous interview with The Columbian that he’s nothing like fellow contestant and Northwesterner Janeane Marie Ceccanti, a Portland designer. That seems true judging from the premiere. Not only is his design aesthetically less conservative than hers, but while Ceccanti teared up and battled self-doubt on the show, Henderson never questioned his vision.

This first episode gave Henderson, 38, and other competitors with well-articulated fashion philosophies an advantage. The contestants were given the challenge of creating a look representative of themselves as designers. They went to Central Park, where myriad fabrics were draped across a series of benches, and had three minutes to grab as much as they could.

They swarmed the colorful textiles “like fat people at an open buffet in Vegas,” contestant Emilio Sosa observed. After the free-for-all, the contestants’ mentor on the show, Tim Gunn, instructed them to put all but five fabrics back.

They were then sent to Parsons The New School for Design to create a signature look using their fabrics. Henderson designed a short dress in a black, white and red plaid print. It had suspenders, a sweetheart neckline and an oversized red zipper on the back. Gunn questioned whether the zipper was cartoonish, but Henderson was confident in his choice.

Listening to his instincts paid off, because judges Nina Garcia and Michael Kors, as well as guest judge Nicole Richie and host Heidi Klum, loved the dress, worn by “Models of the Runway” contestant Kristina Sajko.

“I call this Little Tokyo,” Henderson said to the judges. “She’s going to the MTV Music Awards. She’s working it new-wave punk style.”

“I think it’s fun, and it shows a point of view,” said Garcia, fashion director for Marie Claire magazine, adding that she loved the back with the zipper.

“I actually think a lot of young girls would love to own that dress,” said designer Kors. “It’s pretty, commercial.”

During deliberations, the judges commented that Henderson did the best job using hair, makeup and accessories to create a cohesive, head-to-toe look.

In the end, Henderson was among the judges’ top three picks. Designer Christiane King got the “auf Wiedersehen” from Klum, ousted for what the judges deemed sloppy technique and poor fabric choice. Sosa and his intricately constructed cocktail dress won this round and immunity in next week’s challenge, but Henderson made an impression.

“I’m also intrigued and want to know more what he’s about,” Klum said.

Mary Ann Albright: maryann.albright@columbian.com, 360-735-4507.

Print this article