‘Making the Cut’s’ Million Dollar Winner Reveals What’s Next

Decider: Before we get into the big finale, we have to talk about Episode 9. You also won the pop-up challenge!

Jonny Cota: In Episode 7, I missed the opening of my new store Cota, so to get the challenge for Episode 9 that we had to do a pop-up, I was like, “Yes! Sweet justice.” I still get the opportunity to do that but now I’m launching my name brand pop-up store. You cant boil down a dream more closely than that. So as soon as we left to start our collections and to build our stores for 30 days, I didn’t talk to any friends, I barely touched base with my husband about the show, I just focused on the collection, on the store. I knew it would take all of me to get it done in time and it was head down, 100 percent focus, let’s make it to the finish line.

They gave you all a month and you had to not only design a pop-up shop and your entire finale collection and come up with a business plan for the million dollar prize. That seems like a lot!

Oh yeah. All season, designing the clothes is the stressful moment until you get to the finale and then you’re like the clothes, that’s easy. Now at night I’m staying up till four in the morning designing a pop-up shop or stressing over a business plan. And these are the things that really test the skills of a creative director and a leader of a brand. It was the Olympics of fashion design.

You also incorporated more lifestyle products, like candles, into your pop-up. When did that become part of your plan for the shop?

My plea to the judges in Episode 8 when it’s between Megan and myself is, “Give me the chance to show you what I do great.” And what I do great is pop-up shops, it’s brick-and-mortars, it’s campaigns. And I’ve had a shop for over ten years and I used to think I could just put super directional, crazy pieces on a rack and people would come and buy them. But I quickly learned in order to pay your rent and your bills and your employees, you need to attract a wide variety of customers. So if they walk in and they love the clothes but they can’t access them, then give them a candle, give them a hat, give them shoes, give them jewelry, give them all the other categories that they can walk away with and be proud to buy into a brand.

What was it like watching Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell shopping in your pop-up?

What’s crazy about seeing Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell walk into my pop-up shop was that I should have been shaking in my boots but I was so thrilled to see them—and I was so confident with what I built and what I had designed, the moment they stepped into my shop I thought, “I got this! I know how to run a store. I know how to be a salesman. I know how to excite people about the brand so I’m gonna treat them like I would treat any customer that walks in my store. No special treatment. Everyone gets special treatment.” And we just had fun, you know? They were dancing around, we’re trying things on, it felt like that scene in Pretty Woman and they just felt like friends.

How long was your presentation with the head of Amazon Fashion, Christine Beauchamp?

Oh, my presentation to Christine Beauchamp felt like it took five hours but it took about five minutes. And I had prepared a presentation and I kept timing it, walking around the lobby timing it and I’m like, “This is too long. This is too long.” And in the elevator up to the presentation, I took out the middle pages and I threw them away. I was like, “Clear, concise, to the point. No one needs to hear you rattle on and on and on. Get to the meat of your argument, and speak from the heart.” Pitching myself to the President of Amazon Fashion was the most stressful and difficult part all of Making the Cut. I was sweating head to toe walking into that office but when I walked out, I think I tried to chest bump Tim Gunn. I just was like, “I did it! I did it!”

Throughout Making the Cut, you had to design accessible and runway looks for every challenge. For your finale show, you were designing a runway show but you knew it was being seen by Amazon. How did you balance the accessible and runway aesthetics for your finale collection?

In 2020, I think [clothes are] more exciting if they’re also accessible. I think that’s what the world wants. They wanna see themselves in the clothes. It’s less about the fantasy and more about the reality. The way I approached my finale collection was even if the items are over-the-top, everything is wearable. It’s still a jacket. It’s still a pair of pants. It’s just gonna have all these straps and this really cool print and it’s gonna have these details and I’m gonna style these looks so these models stomping down the runway looking like these aspirational and beautiful aliens. But when you take those outfits apart on the rack, it is a shirt with a jacket and a pair of pants and an accessory and a cool jewelry. It all can be merchandised down into really accessible pieces.

What stage are you at now with Jonny Cota and the million dollars? What’s the next big thing?

Coronavirus has definitely affected our plans and our ability to launch the collection how we originally had envisioned. However, we’re about to launch the most exciting collection of my life with the finale of Making the Cut and we will take it day by day after that. I have big plans for Jonny Cota. This will be my primary investment. My energy will be primarily going into Jonny Cota from this date forward and I am over the moon to share with the world.

Shop Jonny’s winning look from Episode 9 on Amazon

Shop Jonny Cota Studio on Amazon

Decider: First, Heidi, I have to ask you about your finale dress. It was unreal. It was like a special effect.

Heidi Klum: Thank you. I have definitely very eclectic taste in my dressing. I’m always up for a surprise. I’m definitely not someone who likes to blend in, I never have. I think that fashion shows your personality. I always love to get a response from people when I wear certain things. I fell in love with this thing. I thought that was special. I thought it was great for the cleavage. It was short, reminded me a little bit of Victoria’s Secret days.

It was so interesting to see those presentations, because we don’t normally see that part of the industry on TV. I can’t imagine what Jonny and Esther were thinking going into that, but I’m glad that had you there, Tim, for moral support.

Gunn: And I didn’t want to be there! Christine really wanted me to stay, so I said, “Well, whatever you want Christine. You’re in charge here.” But they—Jonny and Esther were wrecks, wrecks.

And it came down to Jonny versus Esther. It really could have gone either way. What tipped it in Jonny’s direction?

Klum: You heard what we all said [in the finale] and you heard who was for who. I think it was Naomi and I, we were more on team Esther. I also always loved Jonny and I think that Jonny, probably mainstream-wise, will have better success than maybe Esther would have had. I don’t know. It’s just me personally—and sometimes you have to take yourself out of the equation and what you personally like, I love unusual, I love unique pieces—to me, I feel like that’s what you find in Esther’s work more. But maybe that’s not what the majority of people are looking for. He definitely is a little bit more mainstream and that’s a positive thing.

How late did the debate stretch into the night?

Klum: We were really split and we were there till two, three o’clock in the morning. It definitely was not unanimous at the end, which to me also made everything more interesting. And at the end of the day, the designer with the most votes won. We all fought to the very bitter end for who we believed should win and it took some time. So no one took this lightly. Everyone really was fighting for they think should win this whole thing.

Tim Gunn: And Brett, speaking as a bystander since I’m not a judge, I agree with Heidi. It could have gone either way but for me, the turning point was the meeting that each designer—Esther and Jonny—had with Christine Beauchamp, the President of Amazon Fashion. That was a major turning point.

Any final words on the first-ever Making the Cut winner?

Klum: I wish him the greatest success. I will always support him. I love his designs. I think that Jonny’s win was well deserved at the end. He has a story to tell in his designs and he has a super clear brand identity, and that’s why I think he won in the end.

Stream Making the Cut on Prime Video