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Third time wasnt the charm forProject Runwaycontestant Rami Kashou.
And he stood his ground with a firm rejection of the judges vaguer critiques.
Calling his work dated?
He wont let that stand.
Its very cliche, when youre describing someones work who happens to be older, saysKashou.
And Im glad they showed me disagreeing with it in my interviews, because come on, its ridiculous.
Theres no real strategy to how I start or finish.
Its not fully in my hands.
But what is in my hands is sharing my truth and my story.
Im just sharing the facts.
Thank God for Nina, because shes the grounding force.
I respect all the judges, but I dont agree with some things Elaine said.
Nina was there to counterbalance things.
I was always drawn to her, and to Brandon and his humor.
What was key for me was to highlight the positive moments and leave the rest.
If something did not apply, in my view, I just let that go.
There was a lot of reliance on adjectives likedatedas a criticism, and I wanted more.
Thats why I always say, in the words of Maya Angelou, words really matter.
People sometimes underestimate that they matter.
Thats why its important to have constructive criticism.
Calling something dated without explaining the reasons why is just not enough.
Korto has brought that up; I think it was even discussed between the designers at one point.
It doesnt mean that older designers cannot create hip, cool, fashion-forward things.
Of course we do, and of course we can.
I dont think our talent is measured by how much time we spent on the show.
During Like Totally 90s, you shared that Aaliyah had worn one of your designs.
How did that come about?My background is retail.
Ill never forget: Destinys Child filmedone of their first music videosacross the street from us.
It was a very bustling time and that store sold to a lot of stylists and celebrities.
A few years into doing retail, I talked to the owner and made a deal with him.
At the time, Daniel Caudill was Aaliyahs personal stylist.
He was pulling clothes and he pulled several of my tops.
He came back and told me, Shes wearing it onthe cover.
She ended up buying it.
Tori Spelling also shopped there and bought some of my pieces, so did J.Lo, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Those were the most special times, in the beginning.
I did not finish design school.
I went to school in Long Beach.
The classroom was overcrowded.
The teachers couldnt get to all the students.
I started on the mannequin and on the dress form, and I found much beauty in that.
As a child, I used to drape my young sister with bedsheets and we would do fashion shows.
In the first episode of this season, you use romantic again to describe your aesthetic.
Romantic doesnt necessarily mean an exchange between two people attracted to each other.
You mentioned you go back every summer to Palestine.
I know youve mentored young designers there.
Its not a TV show, its more of a workshop.
I was very thrilled.
We were in a center that is called the Inash Al Usra Society.
They support women who do beautiful Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery,tatreez, and they train them.
I mentored five designers of different ages the youngest was 21 and the oldest was 45.
I was very impressed with their talent.
The one limitation they may have had is they didnt know they had it in them.
It was very interactive, very hands-on.
It took a lot of energy and time, but it really was amazing.
It ended with afinal fashion showand the winner received $10,000 to boost their business.
It was just as rewarding for me as it was for them.
We didnt get a final Rami collection.
I wanted to highlight that.
These collections need major funding to put together; I hope to work on that in the near future.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
