But Haskins-Simms, who took classes as a child at the Fleisher Art Memorial, fell into graphics while temping at a graphic design firm years ago and then fell into fashion while fooling around with T-shirts, is one of the 17 contestants who'll be introduced tomorrow night as "Runway" launches its eighth season, at a new time - 9 p.m. - and a new length - 90 minutes.
"For me, it's been trial and error," the Germantown-based designer said last week in a phone interview from Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where she was vacationing a few days after filming wrapped. "I think that's how I got to where I am. I never wanted to be a fashion designer. I never imagined being a fashion designer. But I just started experimenting . . . I just started deconstructing T-shirts and I made a jacket out of an old T-shirt and, 'Oh, this is fun.' And then I wanted to use regular fabric to do it. And sometimes it was hit or miss, but after a while, I sort of got it down."
Though she wasn't watching "Runway" in Season 1, when Philadelphia University's Jay McCarroll won, she eventually got hooked.
"It was my virtual classroom, and I was learning a lot, not just about technical aspects" but about "creating a collection, like what is involved in creating a collection and a narrative between the garments," she said.
The way she sees it, not studying fashion formally has mostly been to her advantage. "Even in my casting interview with ["Runway" mentor] Tim Gunn, he said that I do have a fresh approach because I don't really know all the rules . . . I'm not hindered by all the technical aspects of fashion. I just do what I like and what looks good on me, looks good on women," she said.
