Nina Garcia

Nina Garcia was tailor-made for a life in the front row: "I would have done anything and worked for anyone. I just wanted to be in fashion."

The Colombian-born journalist is, with fellow judges Heidi Klum and Michael Kors, one of the panel on the hit fashion-design reality series Project Runway, now in its fifth season on Bravo. The television show has made Nina a celebrity, and, like Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada, helped expose the gilded, multi-billion-dollar industry of fashion to the masses.

The program "demystified what it took to be a fashion designer. It brought to life what it entails to be successful," Garcia explains. Audiences get an up-close view of what it takes to create a design from scratch. Neatly, in an hour, the show peels back each stage of the design process, from post-assignment brainstorming, to development and production, then, finally, a presentation to the jury. "We work in a business that is all about these mega-brand conglomerates that could very easily squash an up-and-coming designer. There needs to be a support system for them," she says, asserting that Project Runway, which will move to Lifetime next season, is just that.

The former fashion director at Elle, Nina will take on the same role at Hearst-owned Marie Claire magazine in September. Her second book, The One Hundred, comes out on August 26, following the massive success of her first book, The Little Black Book of Style, now in its eighth printing. Her new Ruben Toledo-illustrated tome is all about building a distinct and timeless wardrobe during a period when there is, as she says, "just too much information out there." The tastemaker distills the countless mixed trend messages and showcases the 100 items that will never go out of style. "I want to help women shop for value and invest in the right things for their wardrobe. You can purchase either expensive or inexpensive things, and they can both be wrong. It's about buying things that will stand the test of time," she enthuses.

Givenchy; Balenciaga	Tory Burch; Pologeorgis	Fendi	J. Crew; Balenciaga
Photos by Patrick McMullan

So what is Nina's expert advice for a would-be fashionista? She counsels women to seek out style inspirations from the world around them, instead of solely depending on fashion shows and glossy magazines. She also encourages looking to movies, art and music, to shop for drama and seek out unique finds. But above all, Nina advises: "You want to be an original. Fashion icons became that way because they made their own rules." Instead of following fashion trends, find clothes that express your own personal style.

Her typical weekly schedule is a busy one: styling editorial shoots, meeting with designers, writing articles and filming Project Runway two days out of seven. Nina even made a cameo on Ugly Betty this spring. When the fashion editor and television personality wants to escape from her hectic life in the city for a weekend, she heads East.

Dior	Calvin Klein	Proenza Schouler	Prada; Miami	Armani

"For me, the Hamptons are all about being in my bathing suit all day and barbecuing with my family," Nina says. She tends to stay away from the social scene, unless it involves an invitation to one of Dennis Basso's dinners, which she never misses. But most weekends she stays in with her husband and son, entertaining such friends as Tinsley and Minnie Mortimer and Marjorie Gubelmann, at the Southampton house she rented this summer from Rachel Peters. Nina might drop into Tracy Feith or Stubbs & Wootton if she absolutely needs to shop, but the woman most responsible for bringing the fashion world into the homes of mainstream America would rather stay away from the boutiques on weekends. The Hamptons is the one place in New York where she is off-duty, she claims, but should you catch sight of her sauntering down Main Street or lounging on the beach, perfectly turned out in the season's newest looks, you'll realize that for some, life is a runway.

-James Kurisunkal

Marni	Vera Wang	Prada	Prada; J. Mendel	Marchesa

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