Logan Neitzel is a 26 year old up and coming fashion designer from Seattle who expresses his inner creativity through the clothes he creates. He is hard working, self reliant and confident; all this stems from growing up in a small town in southeastern Idaho with a very strong, close family. “I remember looking down at my grandfather’s work-worn hands when I was young and thinking ‘this man has worked his whole life and every scar, wrinkle, and crack told a story’… someday I want to look down at my own hands and see the same thing,” said Neitzel.
As a kid he was described as a loner and very independent. After high school, Neitzel branched out from his family and went to the Art Institute of Seattle where he received his associate degree in fashion design. From that point on he has debuted a line in a Seattle fashion show, has his own website that features his spring 2009 looks, a fashion blog, a gallery of his line and is on the current season of Project Runway.
As a Project Runway contestant, the pressure is extreme and brought on by tight deadlines, difficult challenges and a stressful environment. Designers have to stretch themselves to think outside the box. Sometimes contestants even make clothes out of raw material , such as recyclables or food, and this season, a dress made out of newspaper. Even under all these tense circumstances, Neitzel always seems to remain calm and laid back on camera. He simply does what he can do best and goes with the flow.
However, his edgy fashion designs aren’t the only thing getting attention on the show. Neitzel has earned the reputation of the “hot designer” by all the models on the show and even some of his fellow designers. Being that he is the only straight, single, young guy does help, but it’s his non- cocky, positive attitude, which attracts the females on the show to him. He doesn’t even seem to notice.
Not only is he attractive but also talented and showcases designs that are avant-garde, edgy, rocker chic, with just a twang of a badass futuristic feel. He takes all these different genres and creates what he likes to refer to as “more so as art than clothes.” He follows an artist approach to fashion in comparison to the commercial clothes worn by everyone.
A good example of this would be the black leather and tulle gown that turns into a zipped up romper when the tulle train is detached. The sea of intricately sewn tulle plays off the sleek, form-fitting leather that turns the punk rock Cinderella into a provocative hipster. He uses leather, studs, torn up skinny jeans, even a hint of tie-dye to bring all these different elements together.
Neitzel draws inspiration from all sorts of fashion icons and designers. He idolizes Karl Lagerfeld, would love to dress Kate Moss, and gets his ideas from the latest issue of Vogue magazine. The young fashion designer is making waves in the fashion world and doing it with a nonchalant style that critics and women are eating up.