Designer here for night of fashion, art

The New Mexico-based fashion designer uses her saliva in her dressmaking process. Viewers saw her do it when she was a contestant on Bravo's fourth season of "Project Runway," which began in 2007.

"It is actually not spitting; what I do is 'blessing marks,'" said Jimenez, who will be in Tucson for a show of her fashion today at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

There's a practical reason, too: Saliva evaporates, so it's a convenient way to mark her place on fabric.

Jimenez, 43, said she doesn't always like being remembered for the technique.

"I'm like, great, 13 years (of experience) and I'm remembered as the girl that spits," she said in a phone interview from New Mexico.

Even though Jimenez works out of both New Mexico and New York, she has roots here — she earned a master's of fine arts degree at the UA.

Jimenez's high-profile clients include Sarah Jessica Parker and Cameron Diaz. She helped design the "High School Musical 3" costumes and was named one of Vogue's Top 10 Independent American Designers.

Among her influences are her artist parents.

Her father, Luis Jimenez, was a renowned sculptor, and her mother, Vicky Balcou, was the main designer for Fitz and Floyd for 25 years.

Jimenez's fashion shows are a mix of fashion and art. Through writing, sculptures, music and performances with marionettes and models dressed in her designs, she creates what she calls "The Hunger World."

And she makes impulse buying easy.

"As soon as the show is over, (the models) will take off all the clothes that you saw in the runway, and then you get to buy those dresses, that shirt, that drawing that's hanging on the wall," she said.

Her designs are "polymorphic" — each garment can be worn three to 10 ways. For example, a skirt can transform into a poncho, cape or vest.

Her clothes, which she describes as "sensual," might be infused with fragrances or made of organic fabrics.

Her husband, artist and photographer Moe Nadel, will sell his line of purses, called Meander Ware, at Friday's show.

Even though Jimenez has been doing these performances for more than a decade, she said many aren't aware of it because she didn't share her background during the show.

"They think I came from nowhere and I just showed up on 'Project Runway.' I guess that's just the way it's supposed to be. I'm OK with that."

Jimenez was to appear in the first season, but decided not to because she didn't want to leave her daughter, now 12, plus she was already working on a project in London.

But when she was working abroad, she got hit by a car and fell into a coma for a few days. Jimenez promised her daughter, Calliope, that when she got better she would appear on "Project Runway." That happened three years later.

Though some doubted that Jimenez could physically tolerate the rigorous competition, the on-air mentor knew she could do it.

"Tim Gunn said, 'I know Elisa well enough to know that if she couldn't handle it, she wouldn't be here trying for it,' " recalled Jimenez.

Jimenez came by the career accidentally. She used to make the costumes for a show that involved marionettes. Her first client was a woman who liked one of those dresses she made.

Anne-Marie Russell, the director and curator at MOCA, said that Jimenez works well in multimedia.

"Elisa is a great example of an artist who has these extraordinary ideas in the world, and those ideas get played out in a variety of different forms."

If you go

• What: "Elisa Jimenez & The Hunger World Pop, Play and Pleasure-Able Purchase," an evening of fashion and art with Elisa Jimenez, one of the contestants on the fourth season of "Project Runway."

• Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 149 N. Stone Ave.

• When: 6 p.m. Friday.

• Cost: $10, or $5 for MOCA members. Clothes are $40-$300. Art is $50-$12,000.

• Details: 624-5019.

• Online: www.moca-tucson.org

• Buy directly from her via e-mail: elisajimenez7@gmail.com