In the beginning, there were 16 designers. They sewed, cried, coined catch phrases, made dresses out of seatbelts. In the end, the winner of the fifth season of Project Runway was Leanne Marshall, a Portland-based designer with an eye for detail and a love of sustainable fabrics. Pop Omnivore spoke with Marshall (above, left) about how her surroundings influence her work, what it means to be a "green" designer, and why she'd never use Styrofoam fabric.

First up, a geographic question: Did moving from California, where you grew up, to Oregon affect your aesthetic?

Yeah, definitely. When I came to Oregon, I became much more inspired by nature and the whole sustainable materials thing really started. Portland’s a very green, ecofriendly city, and it’s just a natural thing to do here.

So Portland sparked your interest in sustainable fabrics?

You can actually buy sustainable textiles here, and I was in a pretty small town in California, so I was going to Joann’s Fabrics, where the options weren’t even available.

Is sustainability one your trademarks?

I wouldn’t call it my trademark, but over half the fabrics I use are sustainable. I think there are a lot of lines out there that are green just to be green, and that’s not me. As a designer I strive to make beautiful clothes, and if they’re sustainable, that’s great.

Are there fabrics you absolutely wouldn't use?

(Laughs). Well, if there were Styrofoam fabric, I probably wouldn’t use that. I probably wouldn’t use a lot of the traditional cottons that have been farmed using lots of pesticides, especially when organic cotton is better quality.

What was the hardest thing about the green challenge on the show?

The models chose the fabrics. I work with a lot of sustainable textiles and I’ve never seen that ugly brown [fabric] in my life! Other designers were working with the same textiles, and I was trying to do something different, but I guess that was a flop.

Your final collection was obviously influenced by nature, with lots of green and blue fabric and wavy shapes.

Being in Portland, it’s so easy to go to the park a couple blocks away and from there I sketch what’s around me. A lot of the natural shapes I gravitate toward end up being floral patterns interpreted in an architectural way.

The way I get the most inspired is when I take the materials and start playing with them and folding them and twisting them and cutting them and seeing what I can create out the material instead of a basic shirt. Once I get the details, I figure out where can I go with this, what would look good. My process is sort of backwards that way.

That you start with the details and move on to the big picture?

Yes.

Is it more costly to use organic and sustainable fabrics?

They do cost more, but it’s definitely worth it to use these sustainable fabrics. In terms of quality, I don’t think there’s any jersey that’s better than bamboo jersey. It’s not that difficult of a choice to use them. They are a bit more expensive but they always sell.

Do you think the green fashion movement will hit the mainstream?

I think it already has. It’s still a little bit behind in terms of the number of fashion designers using it. There are so many big name designers out there, and I can only think of a few names that are using it.

I want to do high fashion that is sustainable, and that’s where [the industry] is lacking. There are a ton of great green and sustainable lines, but in terms of high fashion, it doesn’t really exist so much.

What’s next for you?

I’m moving to New York. The time is right. I’ve always wanted to try being in the New York fashion scene. I’m going to get my line going and finally have some people helping me, rather than just doing it all on my own, and hopefully show at fashion week again pretty soon.

-Winona Dimeo-Ediger

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