From Awkward to Assured — Interview with Project Runway finalist, Carol Hannah Whitfield
“Awkward doesn’t even begin to explain myself during childhood …” Carol Hannah Whitfield laughs and sips on her coffee, sitting across the table from me. It’s not every day I get a chance to sit in a coffeehouse with a Project Runway finalist, let alone an opportunity to pick their brain.
“Do you remember your dalmatian sweatshirt that had sneakers on it?” her sister chimed in from the cream and sugar station. Her parents and sister had joined her for a walk around Charleston that morning and patiently waited as we chatted.
“Everyone has pictures from elementary school that you look back and go, ‘what was I thinking?’ But my awkwardness definitely lasted 1st through 11th grade … I really couldn’t come out of it like most people eventually do,” Carol Hannah continued to reminisce about her childhood sense of style. “I was so awkward. I would wear two pairs of sweatpants with a tank top, a teeshirt and a sweatshirt … I looked like a boy.”
She has no shame in admitting her awkward years. In fact, I get the sense that without the gawky, geeky stage, she wouldn’t be the Carol Hannah we know and love today. She also admits to never seeing fashion as her career growing up. An extremely academic student, her thoughts were that she was “too smart for fashion.” Being tall and skinny for her age, she had issues — like we all do from time to time — in finding clothes that were the right fit. So she took the issue into her own hands and started making clothes for herself. Instinctively crafty, creative and always making something, her design career eventually materialized and she understood then, that she was the only one holding herself back from her true career passion.
“So many people struggle with settling for something that’s not really what they want to do. It’s so easy to fall into that comfortable office job. Everyone has to do what they have to do at some point in their life but I think part of it is making sure you’re not making yourself so busy with things that make you unhappy.”
She also stresses that once you find your passion, it still has to be nurtured. One has to be prepared to make sacrifices and struggle to get where they want to be.
“You’re born with a certain drive to do something and when you find it, that drive never really turns off. Your body may hurt, but if you reach a bursting point, I’ve found it to be helpful to put everything aside for just a minute and find the joy again. Find the original thing that you love and pull from that. It’s pretty energizing to go back to what originally makes you happy.”
And if your dream happens to bring you into the public’s eye, be prepared to grow some thick skin.
“It used to be really hard hearing the negative things being said about me. It can still be hard from time to time but I realize that I’m doing something that’s really personal and sharing it with the world. There’s a lot of unhappy, miserable people out there just waiting to judge people; they only see me as a character, not as a real person and they would never think in a million years that I would happen to read something they posted or said. It’s about coming to grips with those kinds of things. Anytime you’re putting work out to the world, you have to assume it will be judged. And thank goodness people have their opinions or there would only be two designers in the world. We need those different points of view; it’s a matter of keeping perspective.”
While hearing something negative can still be a bummer for her, she’s quite down to earth about receiving criticism. Fully aware that the South is notorious for sugar coating everything and nearly impossible to pull a real opinion out of people, she appreciates some honest feedback.
For pushing fashion out of her life for so long, she certainly has become more assured and self-confident since she made the leap to put her talent to good use. But it still has its scary moments.
“Confidence is being afraid and doing it anyway. Of course it scares the crap out of me from time to time but if we don’t take any risks, it’s gonna be pretty boring.”
She’s also adamant about not swaying to the negative side of the fashion industry and maintaining her relatable personality. She has a passion for taking her career beyond the fashion industry and avoiding any contribution to the judgmental stereotypes.
“I don’t want to be the person who makes the 7th grade version of me uncomfortable.”
This personable attitude runs in the family. She was taught not to judge people by what they wore or obsess over labels or brands. She didn’t grow up shopping at nice places and has always been keen to the negative concept of thinking you’re better than others based on what you put on your body. Her best advice for shopping and defining a personal style is to keep things light-hearted and spend the time mixing and matching.
“I don’t think people shop the right way. They take it too seriously. Go in the stores, take your time and play. Try on a bunch of stuff, even in your own closet. If you don’t stop and take an hour to mix and match things, it’s easy to fall into that rut of wearing the same outfit with the same shoes and falling back on those go-to pieces.”
She’s also an advocate for getting an outsider’s opinion. She shared that she often leans on Logan Neitzel, friend and fellow Project Runway cast member, for another opinion.
“We don’t see ourselves the way others do at all. Sometimes we just need to listen to people when they say, ”that looks amazing on you!“”
And then sometimes it’s all about taking the risk to just be you. Carol Hannah remembered a confessional interview during Project Runway where she remarked how at home she felt. That finally, after 23 years, she had found people she fit in with. And what did she conclude at that moment? That it really doesn’t have anything to do with the other people … that it all just came down to herself.
“If you’re dressing for other people, you’re not going to be comfortable. The whole point of fashion is to have fun. Do it for yourself. Who says you have to be some sort of fashionista? It’s not everybody’s thing but it is important to be aware of how you present yourself and to realize the effects of how you act and how other people perceive you.”
Speaking of perceptions, I was adamant about refraining from questions relating to Project Runway but I couldn’t resist asking if Heidi Klum was as gorgeous in person as she is on camera.
“Yes – freakishly gorgeous! You almost have to turn away. She’s like a bug zapper, sometimes you just can’t look at her!”
This is Carol Hannah’s first day off in a month and a half and she has a mere 24 hours before she heads back to New York. Not only is she playing every role in her business — designer, producer, marketer, sales, etc. — but she seems to effectively balance all those hats with every role in her social life as well — daughter, sister, friend and single woman in the city.
“You know, it doesn’t really take that much to make me happy. I want to just make my dresses and see the faces of the people who wear them. Everything past that is just icing on the cake.”
Not many people can say they’ve completed their five year plan in one year, but her dreams still go on. She expressed interest in opening a store in Charleston. Perhaps in a quirky little house, a little refuge off a beaten path. Or teaching sewing lessons and giving workshops out of her studio. Traveling is also high on her list.
“I run and run and then I’ll have a moment. I’ll stop. I’ll look around and think, ‘wow … I live in New York City, I have a studio in Manhattan, I’m going to Dubai in two weeks to meet a client and I just turned 25 … this is not normal!’ Surreal … beyond surreal.”
-Shauna
Charleston, SC
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It’s so cool that you interviewed her! I love the photos, too.
Thanks, Angie! It was an honor. She’s very insightful!