Kansas City News Blog

Photo by Kev-In Show and Gert at Rush Wade

Imagine getting the best news of your life, but not being able to tell anyone. That was the happy dilemma of local designer Ari Fish, whom we named "Best Up-and-Comer in the Fashion World" last year. She'll appear on the upcoming season of Project Runway, which finally premieres August 20th. Fish wasn't allowed to announce that she'd earned a spot on the show until the season's lineup was officially announced, an agony further prolonged by the legal clusterfuck that began in 2008 when the show's producers, Weinstein Co., announced that they were moving Season 6 from Bravo to Lifetime. (Bravo parent NBC Universal sued Weinstein Co. over contractual rights, but it all settled in April.)

Peregrine Honig, artist and owner of Birdies on 18th Street, knew six months ago that Fish had won a place on the show, and somehow managed to keep her lips tighter than a secret agent's. "You're not behind," she says when we asked whether we were the last to know. "You were just protected from the information."

www.mylifetime.com

Ari Fish ... or a pretty Samantha Ronson?

Honig first became aware of Fish's work when the designer started sewing costumes for Mark Southerland, Honig's musician/artist husband. Fish's work appeared in the West 18th Street Fashion Show, of which Honig is a producer, in 2007 and 2008.

Fish will likely make Kansas City proud -- a rare thing among our homegrown reality stars. (RIP, Frankie.)

"Most of the time, when you read about young actors or designers emerging from Kansas City, it's treated as a novelty. 'Kansas City?' As if we're living in cornfields with a piece of wheat hanging from everyone's teeth," Honig says. "I'm proud of Ari no matter what the end result turns out to be. I think she's an excellent face for Kansas City. She's super intelligent, extremely generous, and of course, her work is incredible."

But can she wow Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn? Of course, Honig says. "(Fish's clothing) is very American in the sense that it deals with turning things inside-out and having all different ways to wear things." Putting on Fish's one-of-a-kind pieces -- Honig owns several -- feels like a luxury, she says.

Fish's designs are currently on sale at Peggy Noland's 18th Street boutique, but expect what's left to go fast. After this season of Runway, Fish's designs may make savvy aesthetic investments.

And once she's no longer contractually-obligated to stay mum on the behind-the-scenes details, we'll be all, "Spill it, girl, spill it!"