Keith Michael
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Keith Michael (full name: Keith Michael Rizza) was born on January 14, 1972 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a New York City-based fashion designer. He currently resides in New York City.
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[edit] Education & Career
After graduating from high school, Keith Michael attended the Pratt Institute as an illustration major, but dropped out after one year. He took a job as a receptionist at a photography studio, and was soon promoted to stylist, assistant photographer, and finally, photographer. His photography has been published in W, ELLE, GQ and BlackBook magazines. He has his own line of men's clothing which has been described as "natural, organic and lovingly hand finished." (Andrea Cusick of Nylon Magazine). He has also been honored with a nomination for "Best Newcomer of the Year" by Sportswear International. Michael's distinctive tightly tailored clothes are sold in high end boutiques in Los Angeles and New York City.
[edit] Project Runway
Despite having a design focus on men's wear, Michael auditioned for Project Runway; a women's wear design reality television show competition on the Bravo Network. Michael came out as a front-runner from the beginning by winning the first challenge and receiving immunity for the second. Michael was also told on air by show host, Heidi Klum, that he might have won the third challenge, but did not because he did not fully complete the task (the third challenge was to make an outfit for a woman and her dog; Michael refused to make a dog outfit). Michael was made the leader of his team in the fourth challenge based on his sketches for the challenge.
[edit] Disqualification
According to Tim Gunn, the contracts which are signed by the designers upon qualifying for Project Runway clearly state that pattern-making books, fashion how-to books, fashion magazines or other such materials are not allowed anywhere on the production. Designers are also not allowed to leave the production without being accompanied by a member of the production staff, to ensure that they do not gain even temporary access to such materials, outside assistance or suggestions, or materials for their challenge garments not acquired according to the challenge parameters.
During the episode "Reap What You Sew", designer Kayne Gillaspie discovered pattern-making books in Michael's room of their Atlas apartment. Upon consultation with other designers in the apartment, he brought the books to the attention of the producers. In the Reunion special, allusions were made to an off-sceen confrontation between the designers over the presence of the books, and Michael left the production for several hours, during which time, he accessed the Internet when he e-mailed one of the producers. Upon consideration of the egregious breach of the contest's guidelines, Michael was dismissed from the show mid-challenge.
Michael's version of the events, according to the Reunion special and other public statements, is that there was no disclaimer in the contract stating that pattern-making books were illegal in the context of the competition. The books were taken from him (for reasons which would have been unclear if the first statement were true), and later returned to his room by an unknown person. When the books were discovered by the other designers, there was apparently an off-screen altercation between the designers prior to the producers making any kind of decision on the issue. Michael stated that he informed a production assistant that he was leaving pursuant to the confrontation and was allowed to leave unescorted. He then went to his boyfriend's apartment and used the Internet to e-mail a few people. He stated in his exit interview that he never used the pattern books 'to give myself an unfair advantage'. This statement is contra-indicated by his assertion earlier in the show that he would win at any cost and would bend any rules he must to get there. This statement was coupled with a scene of Michael persistently persuading the staff at MOOD to give his team a substantial discount (reducing a $110 cost to $80) on fabrics so that they could purchase other materials for the challenge.
During the Reunion special, all of the other designers objected to Michael's assertion that the prohibition against pattern books was nowhere in the contracts. Tim Gunn, upon hearing Michael's assertion that the books were taken by the production staff and then returned to him, defended the producers' integrity and challenged Michael's veiled suggestion that he was the victim of a conspiracy to disqualify him. Upon being challenged on that point, Michael did retreat from that innuendo, though he continued to assert that he had no idea how the books got into his room. Heidi Klum said several times that his statements regarding his version of the events were "hard to believe".
There has been speculation among fans of the show that Michael may pursue civil action against the show based on his version of the events, but no such action has been officially reported and is unlikely given the improbability of Michael's statements.
