Liris Crosse says the designer behind the garbage bag look still hasn’t reached out
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Liris Crosse says she spoke out about her “Project Runway” experience to help other models, and landed a Christian Siriano fashion week spot.
Liris Crosse could have absorbed the embarrassment privately. She has been in the industry long enough to know how these things usually go.
Instead, the 47-year-old told PEOPLE she went public about her experience on “Project Runway” specifically to “help the next generation of models.”
Crosse drew widespread attention in August after posting a YouTube video describing how her “spirit was broken” when designer Bryan Barrientos sent her down the runway in a used garbage bag during season 22’s unconventional materials challenge.
Weeks later, she turned the fallout into an opportunity. Crosse told the outlet that comment sections kept circling the same observation, that Christian Siriano has dressed women of all sizes for years without apparent difficulty, which prompted her to act.
She had previously asked Siriano about walking in one of his shows and received a yes, but lacked a direct line to follow up.
On Aug. 31, she posted an Instagram video making the request publicly. Siriano replied in the comments, telling her he would see her there and that his casting director would reach out about fittings.
Crosse, who in 2017 became the first plus-size model to win the modeling portion of “Project Runway,” said she is approaching the booking with her family and supporters in mind, noting that her mother, sister and nieces will be watching and that she wants to make them proud.
She has no regrets about the original video. “We can’t create change and awareness if nobody knows,” she told PEOPLE, arguing that context matters because it humanizes models.
She pushed back against the idea that the work is anything less than serious, calling it both a livelihood and an art form deserving of respect, and said doing the uncomfortable thing tends to give others permission to do the same.
That appears to have happened. Crosse said models have contacted her to say her willingness to name the problem made them feel safer speaking up themselves. She described her position as one that sometimes requires falling on the sword first, and said she accepts that if it clears the path for others.
Barrientos has not contacted her, though she says she is at peace with it, declining to characterize him as a villain while maintaining the situation could have been handled far better. Other designers from the season and show producers have reached out, she said, with executives expressing appreciation for her place in the franchise.