Carlie Wong

Carlie Wong (born June 13, 1984), is a Canadian fashion designer of Chinese ancestry who lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was a participant in Project Runway Canada's first season. She was eliminated in the sixth episode, finishing the competition in eighth place.

Biography
Wong was born in Hong Kong, but moved with her family to Canada when she was young. Always dressed to impress, Carlie does not own a pair of jeans.

Education and early career
Wong attended Eric Hamber Secondary School and then pursued a degree in fashion design from Kwantlen University College where she graduated at the top of her class in 2006.

Upon graduated, Wong was hired by Manuel Mendoza as a dressmaker. She then took a job with mac&jac/Kensie as an assistant designer.
Carlie says her experience in the industry has given her strong couturier skills, not unlike the delicate handiwork of centuries past. The goal of her design aesthetic is to bring back a sense of luxury to our everyday dress. Carlie has been featured in Style Magazine, The Georgia Straight newspaper and the Vancouver Sun.

Project Runway Canada

During the taping of Project Runway Canada, Wong did not receive as much airtime as most of the designers, but her designs managed to make impacts according to the slice.ca blogs and other media critics. Project Rungay bloggers Tom and Lorenzo slated her by episode three as their favorite contestant.
The first challenge where the thirteen contestants had thirty minutes to manipulate white cotton into a feesible design had competition winner Evan Biddell proclaim her as the unofficial winner of that challenge. Later that episode, the contestants celebrated her twenty-third birthday. Lastly, Wong's first design (a manipulation of eliminated contestant Darin Hartmann's clothes) landed her a spot in the second round.

In the second episode, the designers were required to design a dress out of umbrellas fit for a rainy day. Several media outlets picked Wong's outfit as the winner, but the judges ignored it and merely granted her safe. There was also a possibility of misediting as the show claimed her design featured seven umbrellas when Carlie herself claims there were sixteen in the design. Half a year later, Wong reinterpreted her umbrella design for her all-black collection at Toronto Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2008.

The third challenge made Wong feel she would be the one to leave. As Carlie doesn't like working with bright colors, a design for Bratz dolls gave her a real challenge. However, Carlie's colorful garden party dress landed her a spot in the fourth round where she assisted Marie Genevieve Cyr with her Winners mini-Collection.

In the fifth challenge, Carlie ran into some trouble. When guest judge and client Measha Brueggergosman's diva nature collided with Carlie's design. Brueggergosman mentioned that she appreciated backless gowns. When Wong designed a backless gown, the judges put her in the top three designs with Lucian Matis and Megan Fischer, but Brueggergosman was not pleased. After taking hits at the color and the backless qualities (saying it is a perfect dress for Iman, but not for her), Wong scraped by, but not after promising Iman to make the dress again for her. Brueggergosman snidely commented, "Next challenge. Buh-bye."

In Wong's final challenge, she was paired up with contestant Megan Fischer to create two opposite looks that represented two qualities: soft vs. hard & daywear vs. evening wear. Fischer spent most of the team's budget on her own design leaving Carlie with the budget for cheap fabrics. After nearly completing a good design, Megan's poor tailoring skills made her zipper pop. Not knowing how to do a whipstitch, Carlie came to Megan's rescue and sewed her garment correctly. Unfortunately for Carlie, ruching that was supposed to be fixed on her model's bum had to be left as is since time ran out. Wong was placed in the bottom two with contestant Shernett Swaby. Unfortunately for Carlie, Shernett's past win granted her a pass to the next round, leaving Carlie Wong as the eighth place finisher.

Although Carlie was out of the competition, she was mentioned frequently in the following episode. Project Runway Canada's winner, Evan Biddell, stated that his main competition left unjustly and that Wong felt like family to him. Fellow contestant and show runner-up Lucian Matis thought Wong's departure was deserve.
Wong last appeared on the show in the finale to support Evan Biddell's final collection.

After Project Runway Canada

After her appearance on Project Runway Canada, Wong was one of four Project Runway Canada contestants to show a collection at Toronto Fashion Week in March 2008. Wong took her first fashion show opportunity to debut her first all-black collection.

Carlie Wong is currently scheduled to show at L'Oreal Fashion Week on October 22, 2008.

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