Daniel Vosovic’s career went from zero to 60 in 2006, the year he became a finalist on Project Runway’s second season.
Since then, the 28-year-old Michigan native and FIT grad has styled clothing for the online edition of Bonfire, the fictitious magazine edited by Lipstick Jungle character Nico Reilly, designed a capsule clothing and accessories line for NYLO hotel (including the staff uniforms), and penned Fashion Inside Out, a thoughtful overview of the fashion design process from start to finish, with interviews by folks such as Todd Oldham, Diane von Furstenberg, Tim Gunn, Nina Garcia and (full disclosure) yours truly.
Pretty impressive, considering Vosovic has not yet launched a collection of his own. But that will change in February 2010, when the designer plans to unveil his first collection.
“Currently, my
days are filled with all of the prep
work that happens when starting a company: solidifying my business plan,
costing production and samples accurately, deciding who my core team is and
beginning the interview phases, looking at new, larger studio space and getting
it up and running,” Vosovic told The Fashion Informer just after the holidays.
“I'm
elated that this is all happening when it is,” he added. “If this offer had
been proposed to me immediately after Project
Runway I may have been tempted to take it, but now, having taken three years
to step back, prepare myself, gain more experience and build a solid team, I
feel like I'm ready to begin on my own terms.”
The
Fashion Informer caught up with the always-charming Daniel V (as he is known to the Project Runway faithful) during some very rare downtime to get the skinny on his family’s recent visit,
his after-work routine and his favorite Project
Runway memory, among other things.
So, Daniel…
How did you celebrate the holidays?
For the first time, my parents flew in from Michigan to spend Christmas with me here in NYC! The five or six days went relatively smooth, especially considering how much time was spent in enclosed spaces due to the frigid weather (though ultimately we were able to survive with cabs and cashmere).
The highlight would have to be a "lost boys" Christmas dinner hosted by my boyfriend and I, prepared almost entirely by my amazing parents, complete with a menu that rivaled even grandma's best try! I can't think of a better way to end the year then with 20 of your closest misfit friends all boozed up and with bulging bellies.
What's your favorite winter food?
Chili or anything Italian - pasta is like crack to me. Oh, and since you asked, the grilled polenta with melted Gorgonzola at Supper in the East Village is to die for.
What was your childhood nickname, and what's your nickname now?
Thankfully, "Dan the man"
was the worst they could do in elementary school. I don't have a nickname now
that I'm an old man.
What
was the first movie you remember seeing as a child?
Two popped into my head
simultaneously for two very different reasons, the first was because it was so
horrific and gave me nightmares for years later. Stephen King's Silver Bullet was about this
wheelchair-bound kid who hunts down a bloodthirsty werewolf after it committed
numerous murders in a small New England town. All I can say is that my mother
must have been gone for the evening, and in an attempt to stop our pleas my dad
must have let my sister and I watch it with him. Seriously, I'm still a little
freaked out by it.
The second movie is The Goonies, which is still one of my favorites. Any movie that includes kids defying authority, hunting treasure, and a Cyndi Lauper song is fine by me.
What's
your favorite store in the world?
When I was living in Italy, a
tremendous advantage was being able to travel so easily from one great city to
the next. Siena in itself is a truly stunning part of the world but a
delightful sweets shop by the name of Pasticceria Bini won my heart at first
whiff! It's located on Via dei Fusari and I can't even begin to tell you how
many times I have visions of their delicious concoctions come drifting through
my day dreams.
What's
your favorite Project Runway memory?
Walking into the main tent at Fashion
Week before anyone else had come in yet... completely empty, completely
exhausting, and full of possibilities.
What
was the most rewarding - and challenging - thing about writing Fashion Inside Out?
They're actually one and the same:
aiming to bring all of these huge ideas into one cohesive, thorough,
interesting, beautiful package.
Fashion design is no small thing and it was a struggle to choose how deep to delve and how broad to go, but it also was an introspective process for myself, having to put into black and white the decisions I make when working and then explaining why. I guarantee that a vast majority of creative people never want to explain themselves! Ha ha!
I
know you have several roommates. Who's responsible for cleaning the
apartment?
It's every man for himself. I ain't
no one's mama.
Please
look up from your computer (or wherever you're answering these questions) and
describe what you see.
I'm looking at the bookshelf holding
my classics section: Dickens, Twain, fairy tales from Hans Christian Anderson
and the Brothers Grimm, and more. There is also a black-and-white print from
Sally Mann's Immediate Family.
Tell
me about your favorite item of clothing/jewelry and why it's so special to you?
A sterling silver bracelet that my
sister gave to me a few Christmas' ago that has "Ancora Imparo" [I am
still learning] engraved on it; I wear it every day as a reminder to myself.
When
was the last time you wrote a letter? Received one?
I sent my grandmother one of my books
for Christmas and I included a letter with it. The last one I received was last
week from one of my favorite Koreans of all time, my dear friend Ellee Lee, who
has since left me in NYC and has gone to conquer the architecture world in
London.
What's
the greatest or most important lesson your parents taught you?
It's OK to dream big.
What's
the first thing you do when you get home at night after work?
I check the mail.
What's
the worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Any gift is a welcomed gift... even
if it is a close-up photo of a hairless cat in a cheap, rhinestone frame -
because I actually did receive that this year.
What
never fails to make you cry?
The scene with Meryl Streep and
Claire Danes in The Hours when
they're lying on the bed and Meryl says to her daughter "I remember one
morning getting up at dawn, there was such a sense of possibility. You know
that feeling? And I remember thinking to myself: So, this is the beginning of
happiness. This is where it starts. And of course there will always be more. It
never occurred to me it wasn't the beginning. It was happiness. It was
the moment. Right then."
That scene always makes me appreciate
the moment.
When
are you happiest?
I know this sounds so sappy but it's true. Rain or shine, waking up next to my loving boyfriend Kieran
I'm honestly at my happiest.
Stay tuned for Random Questions For…Reem Acra.
