This Week's Eliminated Project Runway Castoff to Movieline: 'It was Really Unfair, Honestly.'

We had to delay our weekly interview with the newly eliminated Project Runway contestant thanks to the show's climactic Bryant Park showing on Friday. Thankfully, we're back on track today with our newest interview, an in-depth look at a designer who ended up working with a male-form mannequin thanks to poor production planning. We also addressed fellow contestant Jesus Estrada's damning comments, and the problem with trusting a certain silver-haired mentor.

The eliminated contestant is Anna Lynett! The Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin native, who says she didn't even consider herself a fashion designer before jumping aboard Project Runway, talks about her past in printmaking, the unfair conditions that may have led to her elimination, and the problems with being drama-free on a reality competition series.

Project Runway just held its runway show in Bryant Park, and you were there. What was the atmosphere like?

Fashion Week was really exciting. I'd never really been to an event like that at all. It's just kind of really high energy, with of course lots of really beautiful, well-dressed people. It occurred to me that it was the epicenter of fashion. So it was really exciting to be there.

What was it like catching up with your fellow designers in the tents? Did the ten exhibiting designers seem different than when you last saw them?

I think when we knew each other over the summer [when Runway filmed], we were all sort of stressed out. When I saw people just before the show, they were in the zone of thinking about their work and stuff, so I think it maybe wasn't the best time to catch up with them on a personal level. I was just excited to be able to see them preparing for their work to debut.

Who did you bond with most on the show?

You know, I don't know if there was really one person I bonded with mostly on the show. There were a number of people I felt an affinity with. Due to the nature of the competition, it wasn't really the best environment to make friends. I definitely gravitated toward Janeane, Emilio, and Ping. I sort of felt like we had a lot in common in terms of our philosophies about fashion.

What do you mean by that?

I just mean that we sort of took more an intellectual approach and weren't necessarily influenced by fads, so much as kind of an underlying vision about what we were creating.

The judges remarked that your last garment was well-made, and you were also one of the few designers to make separates. Were you surprised to be eliminated when you approached the challenge in a singular way?

I was definitely surprised that I got eliminated because I didn't get any feeling from Tim that the work was really suffering in any way. Tim Gunn always says that his opinions are always his own and what the judges think can be completely different, so that's a risk we take in listening to him. It felt the look itself wasn't a total disaster in any way. It held together. I could see where the judges were coming from in their criticisms, but ultimately, I have to stand behind the work, and I feel like it was the best I could do in that situation.

Michael Kors said you misinterpreted the demographic of Marie Claire. Was that a fair estimate or do you think he was mistaken?

I was a little bit surprised by that comment because I interpret Marie Claire to be a little more of a casual magazine than, say, Vogue or Elle. And for that reason, I think it's readers have a different perspective on what they would be getting from a magazine like that. I've seen a number of magazine covers from Marie Claire that show some sort of actress or model in a look that I would say is a little bit less glamorous. It's not evening wear. So for that reason, I didn't think that I completely missed the mark.

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