Lifetime ‘Runway’ finalist fights HIV/AIDS through fashion as Project Condom guest judge
His jet-black hair is suavely slicked to the side, with a pea green oxford buttoned up to a brown- and navy-striped bow tie. Thick-framed tortoise shell glasses, with red accents, box his kind eyes, and a silver septum ring is slyly tucked out of sight.
He carefully folds the corners of a napkin as he explains the complete ecstasy and release of emotion behind his painful piercing, the lack of room service at Greenville’s Fairfield Inn and his love for “Fashion Police,” a good glass of wine and “Dance Moms.”
The 34-year-old fashionisto turned “Project Runway” all-star and HIV/AIDS advocate is Mondo Guerra. And, in his commitment to “continue the conversation” surrounding the epidemic, the Lifetime star guest-judged Carolina Productions’ fifth year of Project Condom at USC Tuesday night.
“Whether you’re infected or not infected, we all know somebody that’s struggling with it. We’re fighting the real disease, which is the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS,” Guerra said. “And beyond that, in South Carolina, in the community, in Columbia. Columbia is disproportionately affected by new infections, and it’s really important for me to come to a place where it’s such a concentrated struggle.”
Known for his short-shorts, bold prints and bright colors, Guerra first shared his struggle with HIV during the eighth season of “Project Runway,” where he went on to take second place. It was the HP and Intel pattern-making challenge, and Guerra was asked to find his inspiration in images from his childhood, one he said “wasn’t very happy.”
After crafting a crowning pair of fuchsia, yellow and black high-waisted trousers — covered in plus signs — Guerra, for the first time in his 10-year struggle with the disease, shared his story. But, it wasn’t without hesitation.
“After hearing everyone’s inspiration on the runway, I told myself, ‘Wow, they’re really wearing their hearts on their sleeves and being honest with where they drew this design from — where they really pulled from to make this design come to life.’ And I just lied about it,” Guerra said.
After a quick backstage confession with Nina Garcia, a Colombian fashion journalist and “Project Runway” judge, Guerra faced his reality and what has become the moment of freedom and pivotal point in his far-reaching career.
“I felt physically lighter, emotionally lighter — it happened very organically,” Guerra said. “I focus on something, I want to achieve something and all I wanted to do that day was win the challenge. But that day, I won so much more. I won my family back, I won my life back, I won my honesty and I gained so much support from people around the world. It made me take responsibility and live with this disease, not only for myself, but for so many other people.”
That one challenge, that one runway is what has changed it all for Guerra. He’s moved from being “HIV positive” to “living with HIV,” with all of the same responsibilities and complexities of a relationship. He’s regained his fire, passion and personal fame.
“I eat, live, breathe creativity, and I’ve done that since I was a kid. It’s always been my kind of escape: creativity. But, when I was diagnosed HIV positive, I really shut down, and over the course of the years, fell further and further away from who I was as a person — to the point where I was forgetting my goals,” Guerra said. “My goals: being a successful designer, having children, writing a score for a film. I was really letting the disease define who I was. I wasn’t taking responsibility for it; therefore, I was lying about it.”
Now, in the true semblance of himself, Guerra has become an advocate with an inspiring passion for fashion — with all the cliché of the statement intended. He’s over-the-top, vibrant and daring. He’s polished and put-together, but known for his color wheel — so fabulously reflected in his Project Condom getup, classily topped with a navy blue blazer.
When did the Denver-born, Mexican-American designer take this road toward the creative, mismatched and unchartered?
“When I was held back in kindergarten,” Guerra said.
His parents and teachers thought he was autistic, and he began taking special education classes. He had no motor skills, and in his struggle, his therapist would blindfold him and have him identify objects in brown paper bags — and not only the object, but also the obviously unseeable color.
And, there was music. The piano in particular.
“I would write music and make patterns in my head about not only how the keys would go in and out, but how the sounds would go in and out and mix in with each other,” Guerra said. “It really translated into my next creative endeavor, which was fashion.”
Fashion: creativity in practice — by the designer, model, boutique and student on the street. Guerra’s growing career in the hyper-competitive field has been built on “Project Runway,” both in season eight and on the current all stars competition. His creative process has been whittled down to daylong challenges.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself — it’s really stretched me to believe in what I am able to accomplish, not only under time constraints, but in life and in my artistic work. I also understand that I have a story, and I’m special and I can be accepted for who I am and what my point of view is,” Guerra said. “On the flip side of the coin, everybody comes from somewhere different, everybody has a story and everybody hurts and everybody struggles. But, as long as you’re honest with yourself, things will always work out.”
Guerra has now partnered up with “Project Runway” contestant Jack Mackenroth in “Living Positive By Design,” a campaign to transform the patient experience with HIV/AIDS.
“The message is really simple: Continue to have a positive outlook on life while you’re working with your doctors,” Guerra said. “And, that’s something I really forgot to do. I wasn’t taking responsibility to check in with my doctor, to take my meds, to follow up.”
In “continuing the conversation” and taking his knack for the crazy, creative and classy of fashion — through events like Project Condom — Guerra hopes to lighten the mood surrounding HIV/AIDS.
“It doesn’t have to be a death sentence; it can be celebrated and presented in a different light,” Guerra said. “It doesn’t have to be such a sad thing — we always hear these statistics and stories of people passing away — but we can have some fun with it, too.”