After learning in the classrooms of the FIT Precollege Program, Molly Farrell-Savage took reality television by storm. Molly recently came in and sat with me to discuss her appearance on the show Project Runway: Threads and tell me about herself. She said that the show “That’s So Raven” and her 3^rd grade sewing class got her into fashion. She described her style as, “Very sophisticated, and very classic, with a little bit of edge. I’m really into textures like fur and feathers.”

I asked her about getting on to the show and it seemed simpler than expected. After entering an application, she did a Skype interview, and a month later, got cast. Her experience on the show seemed typical for a reality series, she spoke about the pressure of being on TV, “Of course, you do the normal stuff, your sewing and what not but something you can’t really prepare for is having cameras on you all the time. There were people popping in and interviewing you and pulling you out for interviews during work time.” On each episode, the contestants are given a set of materials and halfway through, there is a twist challenge. “They gave us a white dress, drawstring, sequin trim, purple dye, blue fabric, and fringe which we had to incorporate into one outfit along with everything else.” She goes on to say “. The main challenge look turned out ok, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted but my twist challenge look, which I was most worried about,  ended up being really, really good.” The show also partners every designer with an adult of their choice. Molly chose her mother and said of working with her, “Normally, she gets very frazzled and I thought she might bring me down but she actually ended up being a lot calmer then I was…” In a Youtube video summarizing the episode, Ingrid Nielsen said that she “stayed true to her style” and that it was “cool to see her keep it fresh but not skew too young at the same time.” I asked her about Ingrid’s comments, to which she was pleased. Molly told me that she was afraid she stayed too true to her own style and that she should have conformed more to today’s trends. After being on the show, she told me about other opportunities she’s had since appearing on Threads. She attended Boston University’s Summer Theater Intensive with a major in Design.

After finishing off with Threads, I asked her about her idols in today’s fashion world. She named Christian Siriano, Zac Posen, Max Azria, and Valentino among others. Molly has been in FIT’s Precollege program for three years, “I have had some really amazing teachers here and they have had a lot of great feedback.”

-Matt