Lela Orr, Project Runway designer, stayed true to her sustainable aesthetic

In this Project Runway season, Lela Orr used her platform as a zero-waste sustainable designer to push the fashion conversation in a new direction.

On the Ferrah Instagram page, Lela Orr shared, “Americans throw away an estimated 68 pounds of textile waste per year.” As a designer on Project Runway season 17, Orr showed a few ways that a sustainable designer can forward the conversation on this issue. While it may not have been the big storyline, her presence in this season’s competition mattered.

After being eliminated from season 17, Orr chatted with me about the experience and where she goes from here.

Lela Orr is the one of the founders of the Dallas-based fashion brand Ferrah. On Project Runway, she joined other successful and respected designers in the challenging competition. While the Bravo fashion series tries to push designers outside of their comfort zone, Orr tried to balance her own personal beliefs with the competition’s restraints.

Orr was eliminated in episode 9, the Elton John inspired stage costume themed episode. While her vision for this design sounded promising, the runway look needed more time to develop that vision. Not normally making a stage look, the challenge might have been outside of Orr’s comfort zone.

Her vision had the bones of being a performance look that was “both functional on-stage and serve as a show-stopping look. Typical runway fashion isn’t always necessarily catering to a performer, but both should be fashionable.”

Looking at Orr’s designs throughout this season, she often had a quiet elegance to her looks. In a season filled with over the top, outrageous looks, her designs had a more timeless feel. While this competition always has a weekly theme, the designers need to introduce their aesthetic into each challenge.

In Orr’s case, she didn’t necessarily feel constrained by the themes or the challenges. She said, “some challenges are more specific than others, but I feel like each challenges pushed us creatively to do our best work within the confines of each challenge’s parameters.”

Orr, and her fashion brand Ferrah, believe in eco-design. From reducing textile waste to educating the consumer on purchasing, these topics go beyond the looks that walk a runway. While her platform was discussed on the premiere episode, Project Runway could have forwarded the conversation more.

Granted, the specifics of a reality competition are not the same as real life. Given the parameters, Orr did her best to stay true to her beliefs.

She said, “It can be difficult to remain a zero-waste sustainable designer while designing a look for a timed challenge. After week 2, I felt like I learned how to be sustainable, fashionable, and show my true aesthetic. My aesthetic was consistent through the competition, but I wish I could have shown more to viewers about sustainability.”

In her final episode, Lela Orr was paired with recently eliminated contestant Renee. While team or pair challenges can cause tenuous, the pair worked well together. It seemed that Orr was comfortable working in a collaborative environment.

“At Ferrah, I work within a design team. On a daily basis my business partner, Lea, and myself collaborate on collections. Working with another designer, especially a designer as talented as Renee wasn’t challenging. Renee was a major asset within our team – she was definitely helpful.”

Although Orr seemed to shine in collaborative challenges, she shined in the elegance challenge. Looking at Ferrah’s collections, many of those looks have an understated element to the design. It is clear to see why she loved the elegance challenge.

That love of this challenge came through the design as well. She was a top designer. She said, “I felt like I could express myself most on that challenge because it is something I love to do personally within my own brand – make women feel elegant.”

Now that her time on Project Runway has ended, Orr has big plans ahead of her. This summer she will be hosting trunk shows for the current Ferrah collection across the United States. Additionally, she will be attending sustainability summits. Lastly, a new Ferrah collection will be coming this fall.

I would like to thank Lela Orr for taking the time to chat and share her insight on fashion and her appearance on Project Runway. Project Runway season 17 airs on Bravo, Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET.

How do you think that the fashion industry can forward the sustainability conversation? Could this topic be more prevalent in Project Runway?