Project Runway premiere features two Milwaukee designers

Milwaukee is glowing a bit brighter on the fashion map this week as Project Runway’s twelfth season premieres on Lifetime tonight (Thursday). This latest installment of the fashion-focused reality TV series, which pits sixteen designers from across the nation against each other in a series of creative couture challenges, features two locally-based designers: Miranda Levy and Timothy Westbrook.

Miranda Levy crafts fashions for women with a sense of directness, clarity, and tailored lines. Her style is strongly inspired by her eight-year service in the Army. Her fabric palette is built on earthy olive colors, spiked with bright reds, glowing golds and rich, mid-century-inspired sophistication. Her work in Milwaukee has been seen at various events, including multiple appearances at Run Up To the Runway, MAM After Dark and in INFO magazine.

According to her Project Runway portfolio, Levy’s interests and inspirations include:

• Inspirations: William Morris, Franck Sorbier, Christian Dior
• Favorite Muse: Edie Sedgwick
• Style Icon: Bettie Page

Timothy Westbrook’s designs veer between post-punk edginess and romantic fantasies of Victorian crinolines and corsets. Long, draping skirts are created with very modern materials: hoops, frames, plastic and cassette tape. Westbrook is formerly from New York, but recently wrapped up his sojourn as the fourth Pfister Artist-In-Residence in 2012 through 2013, and currently has opened a studio right in the Grand Avenue Mall downtown.

Westbrook’s Project Runway portfolio notes the following tidbits of interest:

• Design Influences: the Adirondack Mountains, Victorian Period
• Favorite colors: Every Color
• Style Icon: Grace Jones

The season premiere airs at 8 p.m. Thursday on Lifetime, preceded by the preview show Road to the Runway at 7 p.m. Local viewing parties will be held at both the Pfister Hotel (Westbrook) and The InterContinental Hotel (Levy), with a shuttle running between the two events in support of the local fashion scene. Admission to Timothy’s viewing party at the Pfister is $10, part of which will go to fund his Milwaukee Artist Resource Network Micro-Fellowship; Miranda’s viewing party is free, but donations are accepted for the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) a nonprofit seeking to provide assistance to service women facing discrimination and sexual assault.