Philly designer Jeanette Limas is ‘Making the Cut’ but will she win it all?

Local designer Jeanette Limas has made the cut, becoming one of the ten contestants on the third season of Making the Cut, which premiered August 19 and is hosted by fashion gurus Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn.

“I’ve watched the show before, but I never thought I would be on the show,” Limas said. A producer of the show contacted Limas and urged her to apply. Before she knew it, she had been accepted and was whisked out to Los Angeles in a whirlwind.

The combatting designers are assigned a different theme each week, for which they have to create two pieces: a high-fashion runway version and a real-life version.

At the end of each episode, another contestant is given the boot until the last person standing is declared the grand winner. Standing in Limas’ way are equally talented creators like London-based Georgia Hardinge who created looks for Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys. Or Gabriella Mayer who has worked with Issa Rae, Sza and Bella Hadid.

However, Limas is no novice designer. She has worked for the design team of Urban Zen by Donna Karan and Jolibe Atelier and has presented multiple collections at New York Fashion Week. Her specialty is elegantly draped dresses and she would return to her strength throughout the show. But all the other competitors came with equally strong bona fides leading Klum to gush in the opening episode that this season’s crop of contestants were “the best ever.”

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The format is tailor-made for Limas who hails from the Dominican Republic and admits she is quite competitive – a trait that has helped her build her brand and is already paying off on the show.

Spoiler alert: On this week’s episode, Lima will garner her second win. The contestants were taken out to the desert to work on items with a festival theme.

“I was concerned. When I think of festival, I think of shiny things. I don’t use shiny things,” Limas confessed.

But wowing the judges is key to survival. She turned to Gunn for advice. “I love him. He is such a gentleman and is always there. I always had questions for him off camera. He never said ‘no’ although there were no cameras.”

Gunn’s answer: “So don’t (do shiny).”

Limas took his advice. “I won with that piece. It was magic for me.”

Yet the real drama, she said, isn’t that she won, but how she won. Behind the scenes she, was fearful that she would be eliminated because she had worked so long on her first piece that she only had 40 minutes to produce the second look..

“I went into the bathroom, and I was praying and praying,” she said. “I didn’t think I had a shot.” And yet, the judges fell in love and now her festival looks, some of which were not shown on the show, will be in the Amazon Prime store along with outfits from her first win on episode three, which featured a winter theme.

For Lima, the show is an opportunity for the judges and the audience to fall in love with her brand, but she had a rocky start in second episode when she was almost eliminated after failing to impress the judges after working for two days on her pieces for an activewear theme. She came back strong in episode three when she aced the Winter Wear category.

“That’s very funny, extremely funny because the Dominican Republic is a very hot country,” laughed Limas.

It’s the messages from customers that Lima said delight her most, such as the happy emails from people who got their coats — a $149 metallic Jacquard coat in silver and gold, ranging in sizes from XXS to 5X. A spokesman said the looks for the show usually sell out within 24 hours.

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Now, Lima is working hard to win the grand prize of one million dollars to transform her eponymous businesses into an internationally known brand. Previous season winners, Andrea Pitter and Jonny Cota, both now have boutiques in Los Angeles.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Limas studied pattern making at the The Mercy Jacquez Institute and was accepted in the prestigious School for the Arts Altos de Chavón, where she admits she felt less than qualified at the start. But she was awarded the Young Designer of the Year award upon graduation and given the opportunity to show her collection at Dominican Republic Fashion Week. She also won a scholarship to study at Parsons School of Design and relocated to New York City.

In 2015, she started her own brand.

“My Dad had a vision when I was young,” Lima said. He told her his dream was to see her go to New York. “They sacrificed so much. (Being on Making The Cut) means the world to them.”

What brought Limas to Philadelphia?

“Love.” She laughed.

She followed her boyfriend who was attending medical school at Drexel University. However, she also fell in love with the city, enjoying Center City’s restaurant scene, visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Department for Costume and Textiles, and riding her motorcycle along Kelly Drive.

But for now, she has “no days off and no time to relax.”