Friday, October 1, 2010

Project Runway's Mondo Guerra

Anyone see last night's Project Runway? I just watched it, and man, I was fighting back tears the whole time!! Geez, that was emotional! (Episode 10)

I want to praise Mondo for his courage to reveal one of his deepest secrets. For those of you that don't know and didn't see the episode, the design challenge was to create an original fabric pattern that represented a moment in the designers' past. Mondo's pattern featured plus signs, something he wouldn't tell the other designers or Tim Gunn the meaning behind.


Everyone was unsure of his inspiration and it seemed like that was going to end up hurting him when it came to judging. On the runway, he decided to explain that the plus signs symbolized that he is HIV positive and has been for 10 years. He had been keeping it a secret, even from his family. Everyone on the show was touched by his bravery and he ended up winning the challenge. He spoke about "how good it felt" to tell someone and how "free" he felt afterward. He was glad to think that his story and design might help others in his situation.

I think everyone can learn from Mondo. What I can take from his experience is the lesson that no one should be hiding who they are. You shouldn't have to close yourself off and bury the things you don't want people to see. Don't allow the fear to overcome you and eat at you. The ones who love you the most will accept you and still be there for you in the end.



Good for you Mondo!

You can watch the episode here on Lifetime.


XOXO,
Courtney

Photos are property of Lifetime.

1 comment:

Beth said...

I totally agree!First of all, if the pattern was not so meaningful mondo's design would have still blown all his competitors out of the water. I adored absolutly everything about it. I really love how he matches the lining in his jackets to some part if the outfit. So classy.
His story was so strong. So sad, though these days hiv is so much less of a life sentence, thankfully, or we wou
D have lost so many great artists.

You might also like:

Related Posts with Thumbnails