Gowns, Galas,
and Gossip A Jersey City fashion designer makes waves on the Runway By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Project Runway and Tyler Neasloney
A
fashion designer stands on the runway next to a dress that he’s created, a fitted shift with a ruffle at the front, made of upcycled materials from Goodwill. Judges sit before him critiquing the look: a famous fashion designer, a magazine editor, and a supermodel who says that she would never wear the dress. “Not even to dinner with the Kushners’?” the fashion designer asks. He’s Jersey City’s own Tyler Neasloney. It’s a record-scratch moment. The supermodel, Karlie Kloss, is married to Josh Kushner, Jared’s brother. Tyler’s comment, and Kloss’s meme-worthy facial expression, went viral when the show aired on Project Runway in 2020. “I never thought that would make the final edit,” says Tyler, who works on his clothing line from his downtown Jersey City live/ work space where he lives with partner, Jacob Hudnut, municipal prosecutor who’s running for city council. “Karlie is an executive producer, so she had the final say,” Tyler says. The moment aired. Tyler was voted off the show that day. Kloss, who had rarely addressed her marriage publicly, was pressured to do just that.
In the Public Eye Tyler was dealing with a lot of internet attention of his own. “I got so many comments and DMs from people all over the world saying how mean the comment was, or I was just pissed she didn’t like my outfit,” Tyler says. “But it definitely wasn’t, ‘Oh you said something mean about my outfit, well, I’m going to say something mean to you.’ It was just a shoot from the hip kind of fact.”
16 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ SPRING | SUMMER 2021
