By Peg Quann
Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, Pa.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) At 64, Nancy Volpe-Beringer is the oldest contestant to ever appear on “Project Runway.” In fact, the designer didn’t start studying fashion professionally until she went back to school at Drexel to get her master’s at 58.
Levittown
Growing up in Levittown in the 1960s, Nancy Volpe-Beringer remembers how much time she and her five siblings played outdoors with other children.
“You created your own games,” she said.
Barbie was one of the newest, hottest toys on the toy market. Volpe-Beringer and her friend Mary Beth spent hours designing outfits for their long haired, grown-up dolls. “We made Barbie clothing. You had to be creative. We made our own little clothes. My first interest in clothing was probably for my Barbie.”
Volpe-Beringer has now taken her lifelong love of fashion and dressmaking to the popular “Project Runway” competition show airing now on Bravo. At 64, she is the oldest contestant to appear on the show.
The shows taped a few months ago and so far Volpe-Beringer’s designed her way into episode three, which airs Thursday.
“Project Runway” showcases 16 up-and-coming fashion designers facing challenges as they create clothing ensembles that will be critiqued by some of the best judges in the business. At the end of each week’s show, one winner is declared, while one (or more) is eliminated from the competition.
Volpe-Beringer traces her skills back decades.
One summer she took a class in sewing that the Neshaminy School District offered and, at age 14, took out an ad in a local paper for mending and alteration work so she could raise funds for a trip. Soon, she was designing outfits to wear to the Bishop Egan football games.
At Bishop Conwell High School, where she was a member of the class of 1972, she had to wear a uniform. But then there was the prom. She spent hours touring bridal shops in Philadelphia, getting ideas so she could alter the pattern for the gown she made herself.
The next year, she made the prom gown for her friend, Patty Kane.
“I still have it. I’m 64 and still have it … I just thought it was awesome,” said the now Patty O’Rourke, of Lower Makefield, of the detailed, cotton gown that her friend made for her.
When O’Rourke learned her friend was going to be on “Project Runway,” she sent her a photo of the label “Specially Handmade by Nancy” that Volpe-Beringer had attached to the prom dress she made her so many years ago.
Volpe-Beringer didn’t start studying fashion professionally until she went back to school at Drexel University to get her master’s degree at age 58. She’s a novice on the show compared to some of the more experienced designers.
“I think the hardest thing is managing our time. I’m not the fastest designer,” she said.
Each week, the show requires the contestants to whip up a stylish outfit in a couple of days, using the criteria the judges set out, without much time to think about the form, pattern, colors and all the other attributes that can turn a piece of fabric into a masterpiece of haute couture.
Whatever the outcome of this season’s shows, Volpe-Beringer is grateful for the experience.
For most of her life, she worked in business or nonprofit administration. At age 30, she graduated from Trenton State College, now the University of New Jersey.
A single mom with two sons, they were her priority. Her sewing was limited to making their Halloween costumes. But using her creativity in the various jobs she held was what she enjoyed most.
When she got promoted to a job where she couldn’t be creative, she asked herself: What would you really like to do? Fashion designing. So she quit at the pinnacle of her career and enrolled in the master’s program at Drexel University.
“Then there was no stopping me,” she said. “I had to do this … I needed to let my creative side take hold.”
Since then, her designs have been featured at Philadelphia Fashion Week and in the city’s fashion concept store, Joan Shepp. She designs custom couture for private clients, including 2019 Grammy nominee Tierra Whack, which won her a “Best in Philly Fashion” design award.
She now works about 15 hours a day in a studio next to her home near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But she makes time for her husband, Ted, whom she met while doing something else she enjoys. “I love playing golf,” she said.
She’s participated as a designer in the Salvation Army’s Garbage Bag Gala and has served as a mentor for the Refugee Women’s Textiles Cooperative, a program that empowers immigrant women with sewing and textile skills, the Project Runway description about Volpe-Beringer notes.
Volpe-Beringer offers custom clothing designs because a good fit “will make a good fashion statement for that person.” She also designs outfits not limited to one gender or body shape. Some are works of art, “investment pieces.”
“I just go on an exploration with fabric. If it makes you feel good, you should be wearing it,” she said.
It makes her feel good that her participation in the Project Runway program will be seen by many middle-aged or older adults who think their time to shine has past.
“I like to feel I’m an inspiration for people not giving up on their dreams,” she said.
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