Project Runway Charleston Style

When the sixth season of TV's "Project Runway" hits the tube Thursday after several months in limbo while moving from Bravo to Lifetime, Charlestonians will have more than one reason to tune in.

Two of the contestants, designers Carol Hannah Whitfield and Gordana Gehlhausen, have ties to the area.

Whitfield is a graduate of the College of Charleston and Gehlhausen lived here for more than a decade and still owns the King Street shop Goga and a house here. In fact, each has spent a few days here this month.

"Project Runway," an Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning series, follows 16 designers as they try to make it to New York Fashion Week.

Filmed at the Fashion Institute of Design &

Merchandising in Los Angeles, the show also features guest judges from the worlds of fashion, music, film and television.

The winner gets a cash prize of $100,000, a trip to Paris and an editorial feature in an upcoming issue of Marie Claire magazine.

Another contestant on the show is Mitchell Hall, 26, of Savannah.

The show already has been filmed, but to protect its confidentiality, contestants are not allowed to discuss what happened during the contest, how long they were on the show or what they are doing now.

However, during recent phone interviews, both Whitfield and Gehlhausen talked about how they got started in the fashion industry, their Charleston ties and how they wound up on the show.

Whitfield, 24, who now lives in New York, was an art and business/marketing student at the college 2003-07.

"Charleston is still home to me," she says. "I have a strong connection to Charleston. It's really a special place that's hard to leave."

Whitfield grew up in Anderson and started sewing when she was about 7 years old.

"I always knew I wanted to do something creative but I was also into academics and was nerdy," she says. "But as things progressed, it became clear that this was for me."

She participated in Charleston Fashion Week and was a finalist in the 2008 Emerging Local Designer Competition.

"That was really the first time I had done a full collection of what I wanted to make," she says. "Until then, I had been doing custom stuff. I was making a living doing it but also getting a lot of input from customers. This was the first time I did 100 percent my thing. The response that I had from people in Charleston was amazing and it sort of gave me that nudge that I needed."

Whitfield was already a fan of "Project Runway" when she decided to try out.

"My friends and I used to have "Project Runway" viewing parties and I used to sit in my room and sew while watching it," she says.

Jillian Lewis from season four of the show was at Charleston's Fashion Week and encouraged Whitfield to try out.

"I thought, 'I could do this,'" she says, and the next thing she knew, she was selected. "Everything happens really fast."

Although she's not allowed to discuss particulars of the show, Whitfield admits that doesn't really matter.

"I sort of stopped trying to plan what I'm doing next," she says. "But I do know I am coming to Charleston this fall to do some trunk shows and stuff."

Gehlhausen, 45, who now lives in San Diego, is a native of Yugoslavia who also got an early start. She made her first sweater at age 6.

"Clothing was always such an important part of my life," she says.

When she moved to Charleston in 1996, she worked as a makeup artist at Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2001, she opened a boutique on Vendue Range and later, Goga on King Street.

"I just left Charleston last year when "Project Runway" took me to the West Coast," she says. "That's when I decided that's where I needed to stay. Charleston was really good to me and I still love it, but I needed to be somewhere where I have the accessibility to all the fashion resources that I need. I chose San Diego because it's close to Los Angeles but reminded me of Charleston on a larger scale. This was a move just to further my career. I am still connected to Charleston emotionally, financially, in every aspect. I'm so proud of Charleston and the fashion scene in Charleston."

When the early seasons of "Project Runway" aired, "Everybody who would come into my shop would say I needed to be on 'Project Runway,' " she says. "I started watching it and realized it was a good show. I liked the concept and the integrity of it."

She tried out for season three, but wasn't chosen because there was another contestant with a background similar to hers.

Still, "the more I knew, the more I wanted to be part of the show," she says. "I wanted to be a messenger for kids who are in my shoes, born in the middle of nowhere. I didn't speak English when I came here. I just took off from home and found my way."

As one of the older contestants, Gehlhausen says there were challenges but also advantages.

"I never went to design school," she says. "Then I came to the show and we were supposed to bring our own tools. I have scissors, a measuring tape and pins. Other people came in with this gear and stuff that I'd never even seen. That's when it hit me that these kids go to the university and study the latest techniques. I was somewhat intimidated, but I tried to brush it off and focus on what I'm doing. I became even more determined."

Brenda Rindge can be reached at 937-5713 or at brindge@postandcourier.com.