‘Project Runway’s’ Jack Mackenroth talks finale, AIDS Walk, Living Positive by Design
October 16, 2008 at 5:22 pm by Debbie Michaud in A&E
It used to be that Wednesday night couldn’t come fast enough. It used to be that “Project Runway” was a glorious train wreck of attitudes and outfits you loved to hate and hated to love. It used to be that people actually gave a crap who won. Not so much with season five.
I was rooting for Leanne (in addition to having a tiny girl crush on her), but I can’t say that I was gossiping rabidly about it, creating pools with my coworkers or pulling my hair out anticipating a twist in the weeks leading up to last night’s finale. So, yeah, Leanne won and I think she deserved it. But am I salivating for season six? Meh.
Season four’s designers rated slightly higher on the fabulous scale thanks to Chris March, Ricky Lizalde and Jack Mackenroth (sorry folks, you’ll have to look elsewhere for a diehard Christian Siriano fan). Unfortunately, Jack had to leave the show early due to health complications. He’s been HIV positive for 20 years and a bacterial infection that caused his lips to swell posed a serious threat.
Jack’s in Atlanta this weekend to participate in AIDS Walk and host a coming out of sorts for his new educational campaign Living Positive by Design. I spoke with him this morning and got him to dish about J. Lo’s absence, Leanne’s win and his new “project.”
J. Lo was supposed to be the special guest judge, but she couldn’t make it so Tim Gunn sat in as judge No. 4. Is that a bit scandalous considering how closely he works with the designers throughout the season?
I think Tim Gunn could be objective. I think it was kind of lame on [J. Lo's] part because she canceled apparently 30 minutes before and then three days later she ran a triathlon. The excuse was that she hurt her ankle and literally she was in Star magazine running a triathlon. So, I don’t know what the whole deal was, but as far as Tim being the judge, I don’t question his integrity at all. And, I was there for the live show and it was really obvious that Leanne was gonna win.
I’d been rooting for Leanne all season. Who was your favorite and do you think they made the right decision?
Well, this season seemed a little disappointing and I think that’s kind of a general consensus. Throughout the beginning I really liked Terri and I thought that she didn’t get enough credit. I thought her Olympic outfit was great. She had a lot of really great looks and never got very much attention. … I think Kenley had some moments; Korto had some moments. I just think once you’ve seen Christian, Rami and Jillian do their thing it’s really hard to compare.
A health scare forced you to leave the show in season four, which really was too bad because you were a favorite. Get us up to speed on your career since “Project Runway.”
Well, granted, I really would’ve like to stay on the show and I was out in the hall crying and Tim was there and he said, “Everything happens for a reason,” and I though, you know, that’s bullshit [laughs]. In retrospect it’s kind of true, though, because I did really well while I was on there, everyone kind of remembers me, and I think I came off fairly true to life.
So I’m really, really busy. I’m doing a ton of little weird design projects. I’m in San Francisco and I just finished a benefit for an HIV/AIDS organization called Project Inform where I made a wedding dress out of 3,000 condom wrappers (pictured). After the Atlanta event Kevin Christiana [another season four contestant] and I are pitching a TV show, and then I’m doing a thing called the Chocolate Show in November where I make a Wonder Woman costume out of chocolate. It’s pretty crazy, so it’s been all good.
Tell us about Living Positive by Design.
It’s a really great program because most of the HIV/AIDS information out in the public right now deals with prevention and speaking to HIV-negative people about getting tested and having safer sex practices, which is great and obviously very necessary and very needed, but, you know, there’s a huge HIV-positive population that’s dealing with this stigma of HIV that’s not really even spoken to. So Living Positive by Design is getting people to try and have open discourse.
Obviously the more you talk about something — it’s the same with being gay and all these other issues that we’ve dealt with — the more it seems to dissolve the stigma. So that’s really the main component of it, just “Here I am, I’m a visible person, people know me from ‘Project Runway,’ and I’m unabashedly very open about my HIV status.”
So first and foremost we’re trying to get people to talk about it, and beyond that we’re advocating that … we want people to take a very proactive approach to managing their HIV status and their disease. …We launched [Living Positive by Design] at the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Ft. Lauderdale last month.
What’s the most important thing people need to understand about HIV/AIDS in the 21st century?
First of all, it affects everyone … and we’re really trying to combat the stigma that’s associated with being HIV positive. It’s like, you’d never judge someone for having cancer or any other disease, so why is there this huge stigma wrapped around being HIV positive? So that’s really the goal — to get people talking about it and to not be ashamed of it because if people are shameful, they’re not honest with their doctors, their partners, they’re not honest with their families and that’s just detrimental all the way around.
The Living Positive By Design educational event takes place Fri., Oct. 17, 7-9 p.m., at the W Atlanta-Midtown, 188 14th St.
AIDS Walk Atlanta takes place Sun. Oct. 19, 2 p.m., at Piedmont Park between Charles Allen and Monroe drives. www.aidatlanta.org.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Jack Mackenroth seems like a really lovely guy. It is nice to see such a stud give back to the community. Way to go Jack.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
[...] “Project Runway” the Complete Fourth Season [...]