Pocatello teen competing on new season of ‘Project Runway Junior’

Cartier Dior may only be 16, but down in her basement-turned-sewing room, you’ll find many different designs in the works. Some even ready for a model to put on for the runway.

Soon, Dior’s fashion designs will be seen on screens across the country. She will be one of 12 teenage designers competing on the second season of the competitive fashion design show “Project Runway Junior.” The show is a spinoff series of the show “Project Runway.”

Dior said being on the show put her in a different mindset, since at home fashion is a hobby.

“There’s not really a lot of places where I showcase my work, so to have it just be put out there and critiqued in front of my face — that was a little nerve-wracking,” she said.

Much like the contestants on the first season, Dior said she and her fellow competitors found a kinship with one another.

“Most of us never really met anybody our same age who was into fashion,” she said. “To be surrounded by 11 other people who have the exact same hobby as you do was really fun.”

Dior said her family has been very supportive of her design aspirations. Her dad, David Eliasen, said a lot of his income goes to buying fabric at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts and a lot of his time goes to hauling her garments around.

But for him, it’s worth it.

“She’s always making something, (being in) fashion shows all the time and charity fashion shows. She’s worked really hard to get on this show,” Eliasen said.

What it’ll be like to see herself on TV? Dior said it’ll be “bizarre.”

“It’ll be like when you see a video of yourself and you’re like, ‘Uh, is that really me,'” she said. “I’m afraid it’s going to be like that.”

The new season of “Project Runway Junior” premieres on Dec. 22 on Lifetime. The winner will get a full scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, $25,000 to launch a fashion line, a feature in Seventeen magazine, and a complete home sewing and crafting studio.