‘Project Runway’ winner Veejay Floresca: ‘fashion is a safe space for all of us’
As the show's first trans winner, the Filipino designer wants people to know that everybody is welcome in the industry
Earlier this year, Veejay Floresca became the first trans winner of "Project Runway."
Michael Pagara
Words by Vandana Pawa
The humming and clicking of a sewing machine has been the soundtrack of Veejay Floresca’s life since she was a little girl. During the Project Runway winner’s childhood in the Philippines, her mother was a seamstress, pouring hours into sewing homewares like curtains, pillows, and tablecloths—so the mechanics of textile work has always been a part of Floresca’s everyday life. While her mother sewed at home, Floresca tended to her sister’s dolls. “I grew up very feminine, and I remember being jealous because my two sisters would get Barbie dolls for Christmas or birthdays,” she tells JoySauce. “So I remember sneaking to their bedroom and I would lock the door and play with their dolls. I would try to drape fabrics or cotton balls to create clothing for the Barbie dolls.”
It’s no surprise then that when the time came, Floresca, a self-declared superfan of the design competition Project Runway, jumped at the opportunity to compete in the very first season of the show’s Philippines edition when it premiered in 2008. The then-fledgling designer won third place in the series, but the skills gained from the experience proved invaluable when her time came to compete in season 21 of the original Project Runway series, based in the United States. “It wasn’t my first experience competing in that kind of show,” she explains. “It was a very long time ago, and I was really young during that time, but it helped me a lot to know what it’s like to compete with other contestants and complete challenges.”
Throughout the 10 episodes of the season, Floresca created a number of memorable looks, but both fans and designers alike agree that there was one clear standout in her repertoire: the shuttlecock dress. The look was made during the “unconventional” episode, a challenge that required contestants to utilize alternative materials to bring their design to life. “As a superfan of the show, it’s a fan-favorite challenge, so I was really looking forward to it,” Floresca says. For the challenge, she utilized badminton shuttlecocks to create lace and boning for a sculptural, one-of-a-kind dress that became one of the most memorable creations of the season. “It really is my design aesthetic; there's innovation, there’s fabric manipulation. People don’t even know that it’s a shuttlecock because it looks like lace,” she explains. “And everything was handmade. I had the option to use a glue gun, but I really wanted to challenge myself, so I said, ‘No, I’m just going to hand sew it.’”
While the shuttlecock dress was her standout look of the season, Floresca’s most memorable, and personal favorite challenge actually lies elsewhere in the Project Runway universe—the real client challenge. “That’s who I am. I'm an evening wear and bridal designer, so I do a lot of custom pieces for clients. I work from size zero to size 30, and there’s something about working directly with a person who asked me to create something for them that really excites me the most,” she says of her passion for working with clients. At her core, the designer is a girl’s girl. “The women who wear my clothes inspire me the most,” she says.
Veejay Floresca (center) celebrates with fellow contestant, Yuchen Han, on "Project Runway."
Courtesy of Yuchen Han
The overlap between the fashion world and the LGBTQ+ community has long been significant and culturally impactful, and trans designers Hannah Lander, Saisha Shinde, and Ari South have competed in the show before—but 20 seasons of the competition passed before Project Runway crowned a trans person the winner. “As a trans woman, I've experienced rejection so many times, so my hope is that winning Project Runway will inspire my community to see that fashion is a safe space for all of us,” Floresca shares. “This is an industry where we celebrate each other's uniqueness, we celebrate each other's capabilities. Maybe in other industries it’s not the same, but in fashion, I want to tell everybody that you're welcome here.” At a time when trans people are having their rights denied across the world, and diminishing feelings of safety in the United States, a sense of belonging feels especially imperative. “I want to be a beacon of hope. Every victory, every story of winning can balance the rejection that we face,” she says.
Despite the recent triumph, the designer is not naive about the difficulties she and other trans designers may continue to face. Regardless, she urges young, emerging trans artists seeking to make a career in fashion to be committed to community above all. “It's not going to be an easy journey, but you need to surround yourself with people who support you,” she urges. “There's always going to be people out there who will not like us, but we don't need them. Find people who appreciate you and support you. You have the power to choose who you want to include in your life.”
Veejay Floresca placed third in the first season of "Project Runway" in the Philippines.
Courtesy of Veejay Floresca
In 2015, Floresca stated in an interview that she wanted to be the first trans woman to win Project Runway. A decade later, her dream turned into reality, and now she’s fired up to manifest her future. “I want my pieces to be in museums, I want to dress someone for the Met Gala, I want Filipino stars like Olivia Rodrigo to wear my clothes, I want to become the next Cristian Siriano,” she gushes. And as she works towards her first solo runway show in New York City in February 2026, she’s perfectly poised for success.
Published on December 15, 2025