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The L-Word
Image by Kasandra Bracken/Torontoist with photos from Jay McCarroll’s and Jay McCarrol’s MySpaces.
A spelling shortcoming by one writer might become a shortcut into the fashion world for one Ryerson student.
When Hailey Eber, writer for Tina Brown’s new website The Daily Beast, contacted Jay McCarrol in early October looking for thrifty Inaugural Ball Gown designs for the new first lady, she expected a reply from the season one winner of Project Runway. McCarrol replied with his version, a striped-and-starred cocktail-length dress constructed of potato sack and American flag, as per Eber’s requirements. The design, featured with that of eight other previous Project Runway contestants, was posted alongside McCaroll’s name, photos, and website.
Now, let’s play a little game―one of these things is not like the other. Spot the dissenter from the last paragraph? No, it ain’t a typo―for us.
Screen cap of the Daily Beast’s gallery via The Smoking Gun.
Jay McCarroll is the 34-year-old winner of Project Runway season one, has a fashion line at QVC, and teaches at Pennsylvania University. Jay McCarrol is 25, a solo artist living in Toronto, half of Nirvana the Band the Show (which pretty much makes him Nirvana the band, right?), and happens to have friends in fashion at Ryerson. D-oh!
According to The Smoking Gun, it looks like Eber lazily searched for Jay McCarroll’s website and ended up on jaymccarrol.com instead. In spite of his musical bio and the links to his film scoring, she made straight for the contact section of McCarrol’s website and fired off an email asking for his designs. In reply, he submitted his 20-year-old Ryerson friend’s designs, accompanied by his very own artist statement. And we quote:
From concept to cut this dress is symbolic of the new found responsibilities we as Americans have attained in light of our country’s economic crisis. The idea is simple, we as Americans need to live within our means, get back to basics, and rebuild a solid foundation to live upon. God bless America bitches.
According to McCarrol’s copies of his correspondence with Eber, she responded with an “Awesome! I love it!” and proceeded to publish it to the Beast, the error unbeknownst to both her and her editor. Yesterday morning, the article was pulled and reinstated in the evening with a correction made. The Beast’s response? “One design in our gallery of nine was by someone impersonating Jay McCarroll. We agree with the real Jay McCarroll: people who spend time impersonating Project Runway designers ‘need to get hobbies.'”
Yeah, or people who spend their time as editors and fact-checkers need to get the story straight.
Now the only question remaining: whodunnit? Can the young, budding designer emerge from the controversy unscathed, and turn one writer’s mistake into their own breakthrough? And can someone get them a spot on the next Project Runway Canada?