Local graduate on 'Runway' spinoff

 “Project Runway: Under the Gunn” mentor Nick Verreos said on the first episode of the new Lifetime show that he wanted to be “part of the cool group” by having Columbia Falls High School graduate Brady Lange on his design team.

Lange had another mentor vying for his talents, though, and chose to be on the team headed up by Season 9 “Project Runway” winner Anya Ayoung-Chee. Flathead Valley viewers can stay tuned on Thursday nights to see how far Lange goes under Ayoung-Chee’s tutelage in the first season of the fashion design contest, a spinoff of the wildly successful “Project Runway.”

Lange, 29, has been living in Portland since he graduated from CFHS. He went on to earn a bachelor’s in apparel design from the Art Institute of Portland in 2008, and has spent time working for local clothing and jewelry designers. He recently launched his own line of apparel, sold mostly through his website, www.bradylange.com

“It’s kind of a hotbed for independent designers and creativity in general,” Lange said of Portland. “It feels likes it’s the up and coming city for fashion. There’s so much creativity.”

Lange had tried out for “Project Runway” years ago, but didn’t make it on that series. He was unaware that Lifetime was creating a spinoff starring celebrated designer Tim Gunn until he was contacted by Lifetime and asked to audition for “Under the Gunn.”

It’s a different show than “Runway” in that the contestants, though competing as individuals, will be mentored in teams of four, led by one of three successful designers. 

“It’s kind of like ‘The Voice’ meets ‘Project Runway,’” Lange said.

The season is wrapped up, but Lange is not allowed to hint at its outcome, even keeping mum on when the episodes were shot. 

What he can say is that it was a worthwhile experience.

“I had a great time in L.A.,” he said. “It was fantastic to be in the warmth and the sun — it was all rainy here when we were shooting. I got along with most of the designers." 

Of the show’s first two episodes, Lange was only really featured in the first, as the setup involved two weeks of cutting the 15 contestants down to 12 through a design challenge. Lange created a crop top and pencil skirt for his model during the design challenge, during which each designer was given six hours to create an outfit that “represents who you are as designers” out of identical bags of fabric.

Lange said that even just that one episode of exposure has given his design business a real boost.

“I’m already getting a lot more orders, and just within social media getting a lot of traffic on that,” he said. “It’s great just to see how it is definitely helping me and putting me out there.”

Fashion design can be competitive in Portland, he said. 

“It’s a lot of promotion and going to events,” he said. “Even in the design community there are rivalries, but I feel like there’s a lot of support and camaraderie with designers here. The designers are working toward the greater good of making Portland a viable place.”

Fashion design was not his initial career plan, Lange said — he started in fine arts in college. He later became involved with fashion, though, and “fell in love with it." 

“From a really young age I was always drawing fashion sketches, so I guess it was always imbedded in me,” he said. “It wasn’t until my early 20s in college that I realized ‘I can do this for a living.’" 

He said the support from his family in Columbia Falls — including sisters Hilary and Whitney and parents Dave and Robin — has been a great inspiration.

“A lot of people don’t have that,” he said.

Viewers can see tangible displays of the feelings Lange has for his family inked on his body. The window tattooed on one of his arms represents the window of a chicken coop on his family’s Columbia Falls home. Another tattoo is created from the wallpaper motif in his parents’ kitchen, before they remodeled.

“I’ll always be a Montana boy at heart,” he said.

As a casual dresser, wearing mostly jeans and T-shirts like every other student, Lange said he doesn’t remember standing out fashion-wise among the students in Columbia Falls High School.

“I felt like I presented myself in a stylish way, but not over the top,” he said.

Lange was given a fair amount of attention on his first TV appearance, though, as the three mentors, looking at his design portfolio, called his works “on point” and praised his “street-wear aesthetic.”

“We all like Brady,” Verreos said.