Today I was thinking a little bit more about Project Runway Canada's Season 2 winner, Sunny Fong. I really do believe that Sunny's journey through the fashion industry has been an interesting one. Even though I was rooting for Jason - in part because I liked his design sense, and also because he is originally from Hamilton, which is where I live and go to school - I could never deny Sunny's incredible sense of what works in fashion. He had the ability to work out nearly every challenge (except for the first - his Fashion Is A Battle Field piece suffered), and put more than enough effort and expertise into his crft. t was clear that he wanted this ore than every other person there, standing alone on the fact that he decided to stay out of the drama, the bitching and complaining.
This man, has a lot to offer. Personally, I cannot wait until I have enough money to afford one of the jackets he showed in his final collection, donning full fur sleeves (and by his quote - they're faux too... perfect, for me).
What I never knew about Sunny, until delving a little deeper into his personal part (you can find anything on the internet), was that even though he originally learned how to sew in high school (by his mother - who had immaculate skills that were shown off in Sunny's final collection at Toronto Fashion Week), he chose to pursue film after high school. After four years, his artistic qualities still in check, he bailed out on following the rest of his fellow graduates into the film world, and delved into the high paced world of fashion.
And while it isn't easy to make it in this world, Sunny launched VAWK in 2004 and showed his collections at Toronto Fashion Week. But we all know it takes money to make the world go 'round, and, essentially, there wasn't enough capitol behind Sunny's brand to keep his brand going. Sunny even noted several times throughout the season that this was his last try to make it in fashion - his last collection, inspired by Alexander the Great was, as Sunny noted, "his last battle."
As we all know, Sunny clearly defeated the competition. All of the judges loved the collection - I was practically scream at home - I am sure I wanted nine out of the twelve looks. Everything was impeccable.
The following are a few excerpts I felt the necessity to include. You really don't get to know Sunny to the full extent until you read these. We all watched him on the show, but when you hear him speak... or rather when his words are written down... in a longer extent, there's this sort of vibe you get that even though Sunny had some sort of itch that he would win PRC Season 2, the entire thing is so surreal. Without this winning, his continuation in the fashion world would have been limited to select custom designs, and now, well, now he's going to go global.
First is Sunny's final blog posting to the Projust Runway Canada site through Global television, and the second is an interview that Sunny did with DOSE shortly following his win. And after all of that, there are a few photos courtesy of ChickAdvisor and Miss Sly that are some of (in my opinion) Sunny's best pieces from his winning collection for Autumn/Winter 09. And for even more Sunny, feel free to click the link at the end of the page that'll guide you to Sunny's final battle in fashion.
Sunny Fong's Blog: Episode 12 Project Runway Canada: Season 2
"Yesterday we found out about another challenge/thing to do. We had to prepare a presentation about my fashion line to the folks at Winners. This is to give us a taste of the mentorship program that they are providing. Like what we have to do isn’t enough……. Super stupid….what did I get myself into. I didn’t get started on it till after we came back from the work room. It was past twelve AM and all of us finally started on our presentations. Another arts and crafts / business thing to do. I didn’t want to do anything lame so we all spent the entire night and morning finishing our presentation boards. I only got 1.5 hours sleep, Jason 2 hours and Jessica none.
We did our presentation and I really tried to not fall asleep and present myself as serious, they gave us all some great feedback and I also got some great feedback that I’m considering….we’ll see…
As the day went on, jeff my helpful helper really went above and beyond in helping me finish my collection….sweet heart…. Oh jeff. Cheryl came by the work room and we did our fitting and she seemed like she liked my dress. I really hope she’s not just being nice…?! Later in the day, with jeff’s help I managed to finish quite early… can’t wait till tomorrow.
So it’s runway day and I’m super excited!!!! And I really can’t wait to get the show started. We went to Nathan Phillips Square to see the runway, and I totally miss seeing my stuff on the runway and being there made me a little bit sad…but happy at the same time!!!! Well we walked on to the runway and there was Evan Biddell, winner of last years PRC and he told us that he was going to be our guest judge… really cool since he knows what it’s like to do what we do and gone through. It was definitely a stressfull day. We had to get the models hair and make-up done and then dressed and then the show. But no…. not so easy.. the models took forever to get done… Jason and Jessica had their models dressed and ready and I only had 3 models done and it was literally 20 minutes before the show. I was ready to get stressed but I suppressed it. It was show time and my girls looked hot!!!! They couldn’t look sexier!!! and my s**t looked awesome in them!!! Super duper cool! I just couldn’t wait to see them on the runway. Nope I didn’t see them on the runway… really what I saw was tori walk on to the runway with the first garment and the last garment. When tori got off the runway, I had to quickly get her into her finale piece and really I missed the show, but I knew it was going well, cause I could hear the audience applause for every piece and that was wicked!!! I think that was a rare thing. In the end the model came back and said they loved it and felt good about it. NICE!
That wasn’t it, then we had to get judged and I felt really good. But I didn’t hold my breath…. Though I felt great anything can happen. I was nervous on runway!!! My heart was beating a mile a minute and I didn’t know what to think.. I played the scenario in my head but I had my line for losing which was “oh that sucks!....congrats…!” but I really didn’t prepare for a winning reaction…. The judges really reacted positively to the collection, I told them that it was based on Alexander the Great and I really want to do something that was totally me!!! And they really saw that. They love it and Iman said she already saw some pieces she wanted which was all of it… Nice! A part of me felt bad winning…. Because Jessica’s a wonderful person… my home-y!!! and a great talent… that girl is going somewhere!! She’s young and thirty for fashion and she’ll drink that big jug of fashion really soon…actually right now with a straw. Love that bi-o-tch!. Jason…..has a golden heart and the drive to sell his creations… he can sell anything with all his passion behind it.
The piece de résistance, was my mother and Kenny coming onto the show and the runway. They’ve been my support and every way. Mom and her traditional way of supporting me by keeping me modest and making me achieve more….plus her amazing beading she does for me. And Kenny.. my baby… there since the beginning and now… helping me get my collection on the runway… my rock. Really the best thing was to actually have Kenny and my mom interact… makes me really happy…tear. That’s another story… But I love them both!!! Sniff sniff. Now, what do I do…? get something to eat and some sleep….. and maybe tomorrow VAWK will wake up….. to a new name...
*sun"
Interview: Sunny Fong Wins Project Runway CanadaBy Kat Angus - April 16, 2009
Tuesday night, Toronto designer Sunny Fong officially became the second winner of Project Runway Canada. To any regular viewer, Fong's victory hardly came as a surprise; over the season, he won the most challenges and was consistently praised for his creative, well-made designs. Still, his final collection, an ambitious interpretation of Alexander the Great, shocked even the judges with its innovation, using fur, intricate beading and even a leather-sculpted mask. The 32-year-old described how he felt during his Fashion Week show, which part of Project Runway Canada he hated the most and what he plans to do next.
Congratulations on your victory!
Thank you!
What was going through your mind as your collection was going down the runway?
"Get Tori dressed!" When my model came backstage, I was like, "Oh, I have to get her dressed!" But other than that, it was really cool. I was trying to get her dressed in her garment, and the only way I knew my collection was doing well was that I could hear the applause. I was like, "Yes! It's not going down the crapper!" It was super cool.
It was fairly obvious to anyone who watched the show that you were going to win. Was it as obvious to you?
Um, I had a hunch. I mean, I had a feeling about it. I loved my collection and I spent so much time on it and it was my favourite collection yet, for me. I had a hunch but I really didn't think about it too much because having been through all the challenges, there's always a surprise. I was more thinking, "Please, no more surprises. Please, no!"
Your collection was inspired by Alexander the Great. What made you focus on him?
It was sort of a random thing. I went to the video store and I bought Alexander because it was on sale, and I was watching it and I was joking around, saying, "Maybe I'll do Alexander the Great for my collection!" And then I realized it sort of worked, because the first challenge was "fashion is a battlefield." So I figured it was a good way to end it off. It would be my final battle, because I'd lost the first one.
In the finale, you said that if you didn't win, you would quit fashion forever. But for someone who has so much talent and clearly loves fashion, could you really have left it behind?
I would have probably dabbled in it, but at the time, I was really battling with deciding whether or not to continue with Vawk [Fong's fashion line] or not. I'd put it on hold for, like, three years and I knew it was going to be another year that I would put it on hold, so I was trying to figure out if I was going to continue at all. Project Runway came around and I was like, "This show will help me decide if I want to continue the line or not." So it was my deciding factor. I guess I have to do it now!
What would you have done if you had lost?
I don't know. At the time, that was how I was feeling, like, "Ugh!" When I put my line on hold, I was depressed for a while, too. I think if I didn't win, I would probably still give it another go, just because after every episode, seeing the show and getting the kind of feedback I've been getting, you have to continue. It was sort of a good sign, but I was also like, "I need money." [Laughs]
Not including your Fashion Week collection, which was your favourite challenge from Project Runway Canada?
As much as I hated it, I also loved the camping challenge, where we had to do the avant-garde outfit from the camping supplies. I hated the challenge because of the circumstances, but I loved it because I really had to pull everything that I had into this garment and try to win it. It was kind of a win/lose situation.
You seemed very annoyed that Jason and Genevieve were given the chance to return to the competition during the camping challenge.
Yeah, I was. It was more because of the whole unfair feeling. If I didn't win the challenge, I would have been kicked out and that was it for me. And seeing people who didn't deserve to go before - they didn't get to come back, you know? It was an unfair feeling, and it really bothers me a lot. I've seen that happen to me when I started my line, when, as much as I pushed it, I wasn't getting anything and I felt like it sucked. The "this sucks" feeling came back and I was kind of angry.
Excluding the fairness aspects of that, which was your least favourite challenge from the season?
I think, maybe the divorcee challenge. We had to recycle old clothes and I was like, "I'm done with recycling old clothes! We did that for the previous challenge!" I wanted to use real fabrics and not have to deconstruct something or take it apart to make something new. It takes so much time just to take it apart. That was the most stressful. With the divorcee, you had to fit her real body and you were limited to the fabric you were given from her wedding dress, and taking that apart took a lot of time and it was like, "Gah!"
Out of all the other eliminated designers, who do you think should have made it further in the competition?
Baylor. His track record - he's done really consistently well. For his first time being in the bottom two, to be eliminated? He's really talented and really skilled at what he does. To be eliminated for one moment where he, I guess, "didn't measure up," it's a little unsettling. I wanted to see more from him because I felt that he was one of my biggest rivals. It would have been cool to battle it out with him.
Conversely, is there anyone who you think should have been eliminated earlier?
[Long pause] Um...
It is! Um... I think that each time we had a challenge, I felt certain people didn't deserve to stay. Baylor's situation, I really didn't think he should have gone. I think maybe Kim, at the time, for that challenge, should have gone. She really didn't make anything that was design-worthy in terms of making her divorcee look good. At least Baylor produced something that was thoughtful and exactly what the client wanted, and Kim, at the time, she made a potato sack. We all agreed that it looked like that - even Kim thought so! Kim knows that, too. But she fought for her life on the runway, so... you know. It's a competition.
Now that you've won Project Runway Canada, what's the next step?
Definitely, I really want to do my line. Right now, I think I really want to go on vacation. For instance, with Alexander the Great, the inspiration was Greece and India, so I was like, "Let's go on vacation!" But I couldn't afford it and had to use Google to get my inspiration. I'm hoping that this time, I can actually go somewhere and be inspired and get the authentic feeling.
From Sunny's auumn/winter 09 collection for the ELLE Show and PRC2 (respectively)
http://runway.globaltv.com/video/
It's good to be back.
Much love,
s.
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