The ‘Making the Cut’ Week 4 Winners Are Leaving Tokyo as Champions

Decider: You were excited about this challenge because marketing is your thing. Were you just waiting for this challenge?

Jonny Cota: Yeah, the whole competition I was like, test me on a skill greater than sewing and making clothes! Because this is not what I’m great at, so I was thrilled with the challenge.

Outside of the challenge, we got to see the designers bond a bit in Tokyo. As time went on, did you get closer to your fellow designers or did it get more competitive?

As time went on, we got much closer and the competition became much more apparent. We became close friends, united in our stress and struggle and excitement to be in the top five. But when you’re in the top five and you’re that close to a million dollars, every conversation, every laughter, every meal together—one layer below that, you’re thinking about the competition.

Back in the workroom, your Tim talk seemed like the most nerve-wracking of the season. He said your dress looked like Laura Ashley for SKINGRAFT!

[Laughs] You know, I appreciate his bluntness, because I don’t need to waste my time or his—and I knew it! I knew it walking up. I knew that the dress wasn’t great, and he is very direct. He only wants the best for us. I know he’s not trying to make me feel bad. He’s trying to inspire me to do my best, so it was a panic moment. You didn’t see it in the cut, but I look up at him immediately and I’m like, “I have an idea! I’m going to cover this thing in coffee.” And that’s when I ran over and started dying in coffee.

Had you used coffee as a dye before? Where did that idea come from?

No, I don’t think I’ve dyed something with tea since I was in middle school, making pirate costumes for theatre class or something. I’ve never done it in my adult life, and I’ve never done it as a designer, but I was desperate. There was no time to go back to the fabric shop. I just had to make it work.

How many cups of coffee did you pour in that tub?

I think about 20 cups of coffee, but I think I sipped on each one before pouring it in. I was on fire!

What was it like working with a photographer in a foreign country, and in that gorgeous location?

Working with that photographer in that location should be a dream come true. However, we had eight minutes to shoot the entire campaign, in the rain, with a language barrier for the models. So it was a challenge, to say the least. We shot it so fast, I could barely look at the photographers camera to see if we got it. So it wasn’t until I pulled up the images on the computer where I was like, we nailed it.

The runway show was in the rain, which is kind of a big deal. I mean, Project Runway devoted a whole challenge specifically to a “rainway.” Y’all had to do a runway in the rain and it wasn’t even a rain challenge! Were you nervous about how your looks would hold up in the weather?

Well, I’m a sucker for drama, so I was loving that the rain was happening. But I was also under a roof backstage. I was a little nervous for my models, I wanted them to maintain composure and still walk fiercely and to not shiver and to not become small. So I was nervous for them, and it wasn’t until the model came back on the runway where I noticed the rain was making the coffee slowly run out of my dress. She was dripping coffee drops the whole way back.

Things have remained very civil between all the designers, but the judges made you and Megan really fight for the win this week! What was it like to really have to sell yourself?

You know, in Episode 5 I get pitted against Rinat, who is one of my best friends in the cast. I was really shot, I don’t want to fight against her for the win, it felt a little weird. In the end, she won, and I was thrilled she won, but I never let it go. So when they brought me up and put Megan next to me, I was like, oh no! I took out my earrings, pulled off my shoes, was like—I love Megan, but I’m here to win and I stand behind my work. I am ready to fight.

They also talked very bluntly about the name of your label, SKINGRAFT. What was it like hearing that criticism of the name?

Hey, the whole time that they think they’re being constructive in tearing down the name SKINGRAFT, I’m just counting how many times they say SKINGRAFT on camera. Like, 1, 2, 3, 4—I’m watching the episode like, boom, boom, boom, boom! My sales are going ding, ding, ding, ding on my phone! So you know, I was thrilled. I know it’s a complicated name. I’m proud of what SKINGRAFT’s accomplished, but I’ve been excited to move on to a namesake label. And my plan was already to use the show to do that. So even though it kind of hurt, it kind of stung for them to be so blunt about it, I’ve heard it before. And I was happy to engage in that conversation. I’m not going to avoid that type of conflict.

What is the future for your namesake label? Today’s like the birthday for it.

Yeah, SKINGRAFT will continue but my focus will be on Jonny Cota and launching a namesake label. That will focus on fashion, obviously, but I would love to branch out. My plan is to branch off into main categories: perfume, sunglasses, shoes. This is my future.

Shop Jonny’s winning look on Amazon

Decider: After some bad luck with the overnight seamstress in week one, you finally got to really work side by side with seamstresses on this challenge. I have to imagine that was a relief for you.

Esther Perbandt: Oh god, yeah! Because this is the way I work, then I can do really good or brilliant things when I have a team. It’s a process. It’s so frustrating if you have to hand in an idea in the evening and then you get it back the next morning, because sometimes ideas or visions are not 100% there the moment you create them. And so that’s why it worked out so perfectly with me, and it’s also the way you work with the team. If you give them responsibility, and they have the feeling they are part of it and they are also part of the success, then you can really pull out so great work out of people. That was why I was ready earlier than in all the other episodes.

It was really cool seeing how you worked with them, including them in the model fittings. How did that differ from how the other designers worked with their seamstresses?

If I remember right, then yeah, it seemed to be different. The very first day, when we got to know them—you don’t see it in the cut, but I made a team meeting. I said, “Okay, this is me. This is how I work. I first give you easy things, so I can estimate how much time you need. I can judge the base or the quality level.” Because I found it important, and I didn’t see this with the other designers. And then I really integrate them in the work and do step-by-step and evolve the things. I don’t know who it was, but I remember that some of the designers, they didn’t use them as much. Because they felt like, “Oh, it’s easier if I do it all myself, because then I don’t need to explain.” Designers are working so differently, but in the end, you can do everything. You can do patterns and sewing and everything. But if you want to grow as a brand, you can’t do everything. And then it’s so important to know how to delegate work.

Did your three designs change at all, from conception to runway, because of your work with the seamstresses?

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I’m a bit disappointed, because I have a slogan since, I don’t know, 10 years. And I call it, “Design by default.” I learned that you have a vision and then you hand it over to the pattern maker or an intern, and they try some things, and you have the first fitting. And then, it happens so often to me, that I say, “Well this is not at all how I wanted it!” And then they are disappointed, I’m disappointed. And then I say, “Let’s look at it.” And then I realize, hey, you know what? It’s actually so much cooler than I imagined it before. So this is a very creative process, and this happened in Episode 8 also. I didn’t envision the pants with the skirt on top of it like it came out in the end. It happened during the fitting. I liked that they were with me and they saw it. I said like, “Hey, no. Let’s keep it like this. This is beautiful.”

I also really loved the top three t-shirt, so I have to ask: when did you decide to go for that? And also, when can we buy it?

I was so afraid, really, to do it. I mean, I had this idea but I was not sure. What if I did not get into the final three? Then it would be so embarrassing!

And then I said okay, maybe let’s check how Tim would react in the Tim talk. And that was actually the game changer. When he started to laugh so badly, he said, “Well, this is so hilarious!” I was like, okay, I can do it. I decided I can do it. Yeah, it was supposed to show that I really want to be one of the final three. And it worked out. Yeah, you can buy it from basically today. Of course, I produced it.

The eye makeup that you used for the models was so captivating. We don’t really see you working with the makeup artists to develop the looks. What was that collaboration like?

Usually for fashion shows, I don’t do a lot with hair and makeup because I really want to dress people and not puppets. I really want to have customers get the idea of, “Okay, this could be me. I could really wear that.” And not make the distance so big, between the model and them.

But for this [runway], I said let’s go one step further. The makeup, it reminds you a little bit of the movie A Clockwork Orange. And these are actually stickers that, in the past, I used them for myself. I was singing in some events, or I have even [put on] a fashion show where I was performing on stage, singing the song while the models came out and presented my collection. And I had other moments where I was singing in front of people, and I had this makeup. So it’s something which belongs to me also. It’s nothing completely new, but I edited.

What was that moment like, when they said, “Your wish is come true! You are in the top three, just like your t-shirt says!”?

That was crazy. I was really nervous because there were only four left, and you never know how [the judges] decide. It’s also personal taste. I mean, they were really struggling with my black all the time. It could also have been that they decided, maybe, “We don’t want someone only black in the final three.” That was a possibility. But then even winning this, I was crazy. I was so happy. When I saw it just 10 minutes ago, I really liked what I did. I’m hoping that in some weeks, when I start creating again, I can do those looks and make them available for people.

Shop Esther’s winning look on Amazon

Stream Making the Cut on Prime Video