A 23-year-old man from Hawera is to appear on Project Runway, the New-York based fashion show hosted by model Heidi Klum.
Sean Kelly grew up watching the show with his sister Hannah.
“I am really proud of Sean and he has always gone the extra mile to get ahead especially when getting the internships with [Danish designer] Henrik Vibskov in Denmark and [London designer] Alexander McQueen in London,” Hannah said.
Filming is under way for season 13 of Project Runway and Sean Kelly is off limits to media during filming of the series.
Kelly’s mother Margaret said he would watch Project Runway even if the family was watching the All Blacks in the other room.
From a young age Kelly was the typical dairy farm boy, waking up each day at 4.30am to help milk cows but, as he grew, he found his passion for design and fashion.
He had an exchange year in Denmark in Year 12, which his parents Margaret and John credit as the starting point of his design career. Kelly was deputy head boy of Hawera High School in Year 13 before going on to study design at Massey University in Wellington.
Hawera High School deputy principal Wendy Armstrong said staff were delighted with Kelly, given his skills and talent while being a student at the school.
“Sean was an excellent role model and had good communication skills and related well to all. He had the ability and motivation to achieve whatever he wanted to do,” she said.
– Brad Roberts is a Wintec journalism student.
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– Taranaki Daily News
