(Trinidad Guardian) – Ayoung-Chee designed, cut, sewed and charmed her way into the hearts of the judges and fans alike taking top honours for her “easy and effortless” Tobago-themed Fashion Week collection, sending a ten-piece collection down the runway that would forever change her life.
“You did it, girl! On the first day of auditions, who would have thought then that you would be stand here today as the winner of Project Runway?” host Heidi Klum asked the stunned designer after declaring her this season’s champ.
“What an absolute dream come true! This is an absolute turning point in my life and I’ll never, ever be able to forget it,” the emotional yet composed 30-year-old Ayoung-Chee said after her win. The Sunday Guardian caught up with an extremely busy but very friendly and jovial Anya Ayoung-Chee in between jetting off for yet another engagement.
Q: What were your dreams of the future when you were a child?
A: Very early, in retrospect, I wanted to be involved in something to do with fashion sometimes as a model, other time as a designer but always something in the creative fashion world.
Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?
I’d like to be internationally established and recognised and have my own label such as DKNY or any of the other top brands.
What else might you be if you weren’t a fashion designer?
Believe it or not, a research oncologist! I’ve always had a keen interest in biology. Also, I’ve always loved to dance so maybe I might have been a ballerina! (laughs heartily)
Who have been the biggest influences in your life?
Both my parents have been the bedrock of my existence. My dad, the pragmatic doer and my mom, the one with the huge imagination. I am a balance between the two of them for sure.
In the fashion world Meiling has been undoubtedly my most influential mentor and teacher.
What is/are the most important lesson/s you’ve learned in life so far?
Never to take anything for granted and learn from your mistakes. As human beings we all falter and make mistakes at one time or the other but with a strong foundation and family support, as in my case, I have been able to overcome whatever challenges have come my way.
When and where were you born, where did you grow up and what schools did you attend?
I was born in New York but grew up in Maraval and St Clair. I attended primary school at St Andrew’s, then spent one year at Bishop Anstey before transferring to St Joseph Convent, Port-of-Spain…I am a true convent girl as were my mom and some other relatives. I then went off to New York where I graduated from Parsons School of Design and then on to London at the Central St Martins College of Art and Design.
What are your most prized possessions: one tangible, one intangible?
Hmmm, you are asking some interesting questions…and I’ll have to say that my parents and my family are my prized tangible possessions, while the memory of my brother who passed away will live with me forever as the intangible one as his short life inspired me to consider more closely the importance of fulfilling dreams and naming my clothing line label Pilar in his honour.
What is your favourite Trini meal/dish/food?
Give me a pelau any day and I’m good to go…my comfort food with any type of curry a close second…I love doubles! (laughter)
If you had to interview someone from Trinidad and Tobago who you did not know and had to ask just one question, who would it be and what would be the one question?
Hmmm, that’s an interesting one. Veera Bhajan…and I’d say she would be someone I would want to find out more about. In spite of what is known about her there must be a lot more to her given the challenges she must have had to face and overcome and rise above it all to become an attorney-at-law that she is today.
What adjectives would you use to describe Anya Ayoung-Chee?
Let’s see—determined, focused and centred, passionate, down to earth, genuine and sometimes unpredictable.
If you could dine with anyone in history who would it be and why? What dinner conversation would you have with that person?
Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister who led such a powerful country at that time. I would ask her to tell me all about her experiences as the leader and being in such a position as a female at that time.
Of all your accolades, prizes and awards which do you rate as extremely special?
(Laughing) Everyone asks that one, it’s as if they are expecting anything different from the answer Project Runway! From not being able to sew and to have grown the way I’ve grown in the last few months and now having control over my life in this way and having the confidence to do that…. extremely special, let me tell you!
The one place you would like to visit and why?
That would be Istanbul, Turkey, as the new emerging fashion centre and also to explore the culture and religion of that area of the world which I am very interested in.
What is your favourite pastime/ interest/hobby outside of fashion designing?
I love to dance so that would have to be it.
What else would you like readers to know about Anya Ayoung-Chee?
That I would be opening up my own shop, of course called “ANYA”, in the new year. How’s that for a plug. (laughing)
As a nation Trinidad and Tobago has been voted as having “one of the ten top sexiest accents” in the world, according to a CNN published report conducted in August 2011. Following closely on the heels of this, T&T was voted as the recipient of the prestigious World’s Best Tourist Destination for 2012 award by the European Union Council on Tourism and Trade. As a nation we have captured the imagination of the world.
But no one individual in recent history has catapulted us on the world stage the way fashion designer and former beauty queen Anya Ayoung-Chee has done recently in winning the prestigious 9th edition of the hugely universally popular Lifetime hit reality show Project Runway.
