Mychael Knight has launched

(Credit: Robert Ector )

After making it to the finals of “Project Runway,” fashion designer Mychael Knight has run back to Atlanta to launch his own projects. Among them, the fragrance "MAJK" and the new intimate apparel line "Kitty & Dick" which premiered at the official Metromix launch party July 17, at Door 44. But until then, check out what this up-and-coming designer has inside his very own bag of magic tricks.

How has life changed for you since your stint on “Project Runway”? Well, of course everybody knows my name and knows who I am, so in that way I’m one of the cool kids in school now. Really just more opportunities and more people I’m able to work with. I see more celebrity clientele, which I had a large base to begin with, but to be able to expand a lot more and just the exposure and people who have the knowledge of my work.

So what does the “cool kid” get to do around Atlanta now, that he didn’t get to do before? Well, you know, get invited to all the chic-chic parties but actually I was doing that before so no, not that. It’s great to get invited places and get things tossed your way but what I appreciate the most is people really respecting my work and getting that public confirmation from people who saw me for the first time on “Project Runway.” That has been the best thing about being on the show--having this certain level of love and notoriety when I came back to Atlanta.

Why did you decide to stay in Atlanta and make it your home? You could have gone to L.A. and hit that up. Yeah, but if I went to L.A. I would have been in the middle of forest fires. If I went to New York I would have been in the middle of a heat wave. So I decided to stay in Atlanta. No, but on the serious tip, when I go to schools and speak to students who are fashion majors, I tell them that Atlanta right now is on the verge of a becoming a major player as far as the whole movement of fashion and I want to be on the forefront of that when it happens. I’m trying to be the king of the city when it comes to fashion.

Tell us about your new intimate apparel line that you have coming out. Kitty and Dick is really amazing. It’s a male and female intimate apparel line and it’s all about sexy intimate wear that can double as other pieces that you can wear in your wardrobe, especially things for women. We have things that start at maybe $30 for a bra or a pair of panties to custom pieces, with price upwards of 32 to 35 hundred dollars. It’s really a fun intimate apparel line. It’s not as salacious as the name sounds. But, with that we wanted to do something kind of cool. Instead of getting models and shooting them with the pieces, we thought it would be really great to formulate a female group that serves as the faces of the line and their name is Kitty Litter. They perform cabaret style entertainment and do a show every few months or so. This is something cool we thought of instead of doing your typical model runway show.

Talk about your new fragrance that’s coming out. It’s MAJK by Mychael Knight. It’s a unisex fragrance and it’s absolutely amazing. It’s been a year and a half in the making and I’m ready for the world to see and experience it. It’s great for the summer and really fresh and clean. It has floral notes, citrus notes and notes of different greens. It’s a big concoction of “fabulosity” and you’re going to absolutely love it. I’ll have something special planned for the Metromix party courtesy of me and MAJK.

Where do you draw your inspiration for your cologne and for your intimate apparel line? How do you get inspired? Life inspires me. I inspire myself. With MAJK I wanted people to have something that was very personal to me and embodies the whole essence of Mychael Knight as far as fashion and the whole lifestyle and the brand of Mychael Knight. Kitty and Dick was just a situation where I thought there was something missing in the market. I feel a lot of times lingerie has a tendency to be really, really functional or really, really over the top. I wanted to do something that was in between. That’s the beauty of being an artist. You live off of life and that life speaks to you and it just happens.

Let’s talk again about “Project Runway”. While everyone else seemed to meltdown and go nuts every once in a while, it seemed like you always kept your head. How were you able to do that? I’m a cool guy. You just have to be a cool person in this business especially. Like for instance, with my fragrance it was a whole year and a half in the making and there were so many instances whether it was the packaging or the shipping and so on and so forth, I just had to keep a cool mind about it so I really just stuck to it and now I have an amazing product to show for it. I’m just ready for the world to experience it and get their very own bag of MAJK.

I know “Project Runway” has opened up a lot of doors for you, at what point do you see yourself saying, “I’ve made it”? When I feel like I’ve made it. I haven’t yet. I have shown a level of success but really hoping with the launch of this that it’s going to get me a step closer to where I want to be. I really think I have an outstanding product for people to enjoy and get me closer to that goal. I’m hoping that MAJK is truly a bag of magic and makes you happy. How about that? You can quote me on that.