C of C graduate makes it to finals

A fashion designer who graduated from the College of Charleston has made it to the finals of the sixth season of "Project Runway."

Carol Hannah Whitfield, a 2007 graduate, will compete in the two-part finale, which airs at 10 p.m. Thursday and Nov. 19 on Lifetime network.

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

The show finished filming in early 2009 but was delayed in airing because of a move from Bravo. To protect its confidentiality, contestants are not allowed to discuss how long they were on the show or what they are doing now.

Since filming the show, Whitfield, 24, a native of Anderson, has moved to New York, as have the two other finalists, Althea Harper, 24, of Dayton, Ohio, and Irina Shabayeva, 27, of the Republic of Georgia.

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

Another contestant also has ties to Charleston. Gordana Gelhausen, who made it to the final five, lived here for more than a decade and owns the King Street shop Goga and a house here. Gelhausen, 45, now lives in San Diego. She and contestant Christopher Straub, 30, were eliminated from the show last week.