Santino Rice

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Santino Rice
Santinorice.jpg
Rice in July 2006
Born
Santino Quinto Rice

1974 or 1975 (age 50–51)
Education Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
OccupationsTelevision personality, fashion designer

Santino Quinto Rice (born 1974 or 1975) is an American fashion designer and television personality. He is best known for his appearances on the reality television programs Project Runway , RuPaul's Drag Race and On the Road with Austin and Santino .

Contents

Early life and education

Santino Quinto Rice was born and grew up at Fifth Street in St. Charles, Missouri, the city where his ancestors lived in early 1800s. His mother is of African-American and Italian background; his father, of Jewish and Native American background. Rice attended a preschool program at Lindenwood College (now Lindenwood University) and then graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart (St. Charles). [1]

When he attended St. Charles High School (Missouri), he played basketball, worked for a student newspaper, and gained interest in fashion design. [1] Furthermore, he was the only male in a first-level clothing course and attended second- and third-level courses. As a high school student, he also drove a 1966 Ford Mustang, bought for $1,500 and restored by his father. [2]

With a scholarship offered to him, Rice concurrently attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM; Los Angeles) in 1990s. [1] [3] [a] To further afford tuition for the design school, the restored Mustang was sold for almost tenfold the purchase price later then. [2] After school, he performed voice-overs, appeared as an extra in certain films, and was an assistant costume designer. Also, after arrival in Los Angeles, he worked for other designers. He left St. Charles in 2002 and had not returned by 2006. [1]

Project Runway season 2 (2005–06)

Synopsis

Rice at age thirty-one first competed in the second season of the American competition reality television series Project Runway . [1] When the season premiered, he was considered "one of the most talented of the bunch" by Jill Radsken of Boston Herald [4] and an "early frontrunner[ sic ]" of the season. [5]

In the fourth episode, Rice had an elimination contention due to his performance in the team lingerie challenge and "his tirade against the judges". A competitor Marla Duran "was disappointed with Rice's catty comments about" Duran's all-female team, which included just Diana Eng and Guadalupe Vidal, for the challenge. [6] Nonetheless, he won two of the season's overall pre-finale challenges, two of which were of its first five. Besides winning the season's first challenge, he further won the season's fifth challenge: designing a party dress for a socialist Nicky Hilton. [1]

For the Fashion Week finale, after earning a finalist spot, Rice developed his "muted" collection that included an abundance of "rose and lace" and "a brown leather corset with capelike[ sic ] sleeves." The collection contrasted his prior works critically panned throughout the season as "too loud". [7] On the finale, Rice's lack of "brassiness" in his "sleek" Fashion Week collection, compared to his prior works, was noted. [8] The judges praised Rice's creativity but found his finale collection "too safe (and ill-fitting)", wrote Boston Herald. [9] He was eliminated before two other finalists—first runner-up Daniel Vosovic and crowned winner Chloe Dao—making Rice the second runner-up. [10]

Reception as a villain

As the season progressed, Rice further earned his "villain" reputation for his onscreen "egomaniacal[ sic ]" personality. [5] Katherine Nguyen of The Orange County Register described him as "talented" and "arrogant". [11] Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune noted his "refusal to follow instructions" and imitations of Runway mentor Tim Gunn that had other contestants laughing "until they drool[ed] all over their stretch tweed." Peterson further described Rice as "a towering bundle of ego, skill and hubris". [12]

Rice himself asserted to O'Fallon Journal that he was "confident" rather than "arrogant". On the contrary, he admitted appearing "overconfident and arrogant" throughout most of the season but further asserted that he was more than what he had seemed onscreen. [1] Jeff Daniel of St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Rice as "soft-spoken and modest" amid a January 2006 phone interview with him, contrary to Rice's onscreen persona. [2]

Before Rice became a finalist, the series's very first winner Jay McCarroll found Rice and other three remaining contestants "kind of boring". Nonetheless, McCarroll enjoyed Rice's "arrogant and funny" personality and his somewhat "weird" works as the only works of the season with "a clear point of view." [13] When Rice became one, Lorilee Craker of The Grand Rapids Press perceived Rice's finalist spot as if the producers intentionally carried Rice into the finale not for "his design ability" but rather "his penchant for drama". [14] However, Runway mentor Tim Gunn said, "Producers weigh in only when the judges are at a stalemate, when we see two people, both of whom can or should be out and [the judges] can't come to a collaborative decision." Furthermore, as Gunn asserted, Rice had "been listening more" since the "inspiration" challenge in the eighth episode. [15] [b]

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted his "mean-spirited" confessionals, "tantrums" toward the judges, and works "rang[ing] from inspiring to epically disastrous". The publication described him as boldly the series's "first true super-villain", surpassing the preceding season's Wendy Pepper, and as "the funnier contestant" as opposed to "his blander, more talented competition" of the season. [16] Rice told the publication:

I'm not a villain. I'm not a bad guy. I'm a passionate guy who likes to create beautiful things. And I'm on a mission. It's not bad to be driven. [16]

In the first part of the finale, the penultimate episode, Rice displayed his "slightly softer side than before" and revealed his time of living with his best friend's family after losing his job. [17]

Post-Project Runway career

Rice in 2010 in makeup for L.A. Zombie Santino Rice he had a Job interview the followin monday .... (4399963397).jpg
Rice in 2010 in makeup for L.A. Zombie

Personal life

Notes

  1. ↑ Rice was eighteen years old in April 1993 when he attended FIDM. [3]
  2. ↑ Tim Gunn thought that the elimination of fan favorite Nick Verreos, who finished fifth, was the right judgment. Indeed, Gunn factored in "all the puckering and the uneven seams" of Verreos's dress, which exemplified "amateurism", and Daniel Vosovic's immunity earned from the previous challenge for Verreos's elimination. [15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carlson, Maggie (January 8, 2006). "A star by design". O'Fallon Journal. O'Fallon, Missouri. News section. NewsBank 123F864B00AD5ED0. Also published by St. Charles County Journal: NewsBank 123F864AEC1BCB38.
  2. 1 2 3 Daniel, Jeff (January 19, 2006). "Project Runway star finds his TV image fashionably entertaining". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . p. F1. NewsBank 10F4149E522441B0.
  3. 1 2 Howard, Rebecca (April 18, 1993). "Here Comes the Bridesmade (But About That Dress...)". Los Angeles Daily News . p. W1. NewsBank 0EF61892C169376D.
  4. ↑ Radsken, Jill (December 7, 2005). "Television Review: Runway success – This fashion reality show has drama all sewn up". Boston Herald . The Edge section, p. 37. NewsBank 1305FA1915630D48.
  5. 1 2 McFarland, Melanie (December 13, 2005). "Project Runway Is Appealing by Design". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . p. E1. NewsBank 10E7FC576D11FE90.
  6. ↑ Lauer-Williams, Kathy (January 4, 2006). "Bethlehem designer survives week four of Project Runway". The Morning Call . Allentown, Pennsylvania. p. E5. NewsBank 10EF244FAC8F7880.
  7. ↑ Long, Colleen (February 10, 2006). "Project Runway takes off at New York Fashion Week". Associated Press. NewsBank 110051C1DA780BF8.
  8. ↑ Woodman, Tenley (March 9, 2006). "Dao sews up victory on Project Runway". Boston Herald . The Edge section, p. 47. NewsBank 1305F292069C8528.
  9. ↑ Rubin, Sylvia (March 12, 2006). "Enough silk and lace to fill a warehouse". San Francisco Chronicle . p. D2. NewsBank 1104FCAA77DAC848.
  10. ↑ Chung, Jen (March 9, 2006). "Does Anyone Sew Around Here?". Gothamist . NewsBank 186F380159B05EC8. Designers back to the runway, and Heidi tells Santino auf wiedersehn first—and he feels bad.
  11. ↑ Nguyen, Katherine (December 21, 2005). "A dream to design". The Orange County Register . Santa Ana, California. Life section, cover page. NewsBank 10EC87BBD365AED8.
  12. ↑ Peterson, Karla (January 31, 2006). "Runway's reality is cut from a different cloth". The San Diego Union-Tribune . p. E-10. NewsBank 10FAF50DDB560FE8.
  13. ↑ White, Tanika (February 12, 2006). "Off the Runway and down to earth". The Baltimore Sun . p. 3E. NewsBank 10FD77091A2C0AF0.
  14. ↑ Craker, Lorilee (February 15, 2006). "Reality TV makes him style star". The Grand Rapids Press . Grand Rapids, Michigan. p. A1. NewsBank 10FD2B00DE11AD78.
  15. 1 2 Gunn, Tim (February 22, 2006). "Project Runway's top Gunn – Bravo series' 'mentor' gets real about show". Houston Chronicle (Interview). Interviewed by Pamela Sitt. Star section, p. 6. NewsBank 10FF449337450858.
  16. 1 2 "Santino Ranted – We Had to Watch". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . February 27, 2006. p. D1. NewsBank 110108E7957A1F88.
  17. ↑ Craker, Lorilee (March 2, 2006). "Last wrinkle – Finalists thrown another chore in first half of show's finale". The Grand Rapids Press . Grand Rapids, Michigan. Weekend section, p. 24. NewsBank 1102170286551BE8.

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