Kayne Gillaspie

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Jonathan Kayne Gillaspie (born March 14, 1979) is an American fashion designer, specializing in beauty pageant gowns. He was a contestant on the third season of the Bravo reality series Project Runway after being rejected during second-season auditions.

[edit] Education and career

Gillaspie earned a full scholarship to Volunteer State Community College, where he studied pre-veterinarian medicine. While working at a veterinary clinic for four and a half years, he took a second job as as a sketch artist at a local pageant boutique in Tennessee. Gillaspie quickly became enamored with fashion, changed his major and transferred to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. In 2002, he won the Critics Choice Award at FIT for evening wear and graduated magna cum laude. He moved back to Nashville after graduation and opened Kayne's Clothing Boutique, where he created custom ballroom dance costumes, eveningwear, and wardrobe for the country music industry.

In 2003, the openly gay Gillaspie and his partner, Warren, bought Southern Charm, an established formal wear and pageant store in Norman, Oklahoma. In December, 2005, he dressed the entire top five teens and the winner and first runner up in the Miss Oklahoma U.S.A. pageant.

[edit] Project Runway

While appearing on Project Runway, Gillaspie won the "Fit for a Queen" challenge that required designers to create an evening gown for Miss USA Tara Conner to wear in the Miss Universe pageant. He was the tenth competitor to be eliminated (eleventh overall to leave the show) during season three, making him the last contestant to be eradicated before New York's Fashion Week. He lost the "Black and White" challenge, in which designers had to make cocktail dresses using only the aforementioned colors. Gillaspie was not the only competitor to go home during that challenge; previously eliminated contestants Angela Keslar and Vincent Libretti were brought back for the challenge as a reward for previous wins, yet were sent home again.