Guess What? There Are Two San Francisco Designers on the New Project Runway

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

The first episode of Project Runway Season 14 doesn't air until August 6^th. God, how we've missed those visits to Mood and glimpses of the adorable four-legged Swatch. But we digress...we're here to introduce you to San Francisco's two contenders on Lifetime's fashion-design competition/reality show: Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Candice Cuoco, 27 and Jake Wall, 35.

As a place that can't get enough of its hometown teams (and designers), we know you'll want the 411 on the duo so you can root for them as they, and the other 14 contestants, sew, cry, drink, whine, wrangle with Nina, and wow us with their creations.

While we're still busy gathering intel on Candice (front and center in pic above), Jake (sitting next to Candice with the striped cuffs) is an old friend—and we're more than thrilled to blab about him. The San Luis Obispo-born designer is the co-founder and creative director of JAKE, formerly Artful Gentleman. The four-year-old premium fashion brand/atelier is known for its custom suiting and shirting, while its men's and women's ready-to-wear-line ROYGBIV uses limited-run boutique fabrics.

So what's Jake's aesthetic? According to his website, he has a highly curated approach to style, and mixes classical tradition with a modern touch and defiant spin. Guess we'll have to see what he can do with plants, wrapping paper, old tires or whatever other crazy materials are thrown his way this season.

Keep your fingers crossed that Jake (and Candice) will make it work.