Inspired by the 1980s, South Hempstead's Belania Daley competes on 'Project Runway'

South Hempstead’s Belania Daley, a first-generation Jamaican American, is among the dozen fashion designers competing on season 21 of "Project Runway," now moved from Bravo to its new home on Freeform starting Thursday with back-to-back episodes at 9 and 10 p.m.

“ 'Project Runway’ is the Olympics for fashion designers,”says Daley, 34, of the competition hosted by Heidi Klum, with Elle editor-in-chief Nina Garcia and stylist Law Roach serving as judges and designer Christian Siriano as judge and mentor. "So many designers and so many creatives are under the radar and go unseen," she says. "And to make it to ‘Project Runway’ really confirms how good a designer I am, and that all my work is not in vain. So, thank you, ‘Project Runway,’ for being there for the unseen designers like me."

Daley is what’s known as a technical designer, the industry position between design and apparel production that spearheads the process of turning sketches into manufacturable clothing.

"I deal with computer programs to help communicate fit and pattern corrections," she explains. "I fit garments on live models and I make technical packages," which she describes as "the directions for a garment," specifying and detailing each component. "If it’s a pair of jeans, [the tech package] will have the buttons, will have the lining, will have the zipper, will have all the sizes, because there're multiple sizes for one style."

In addition to performing that job freelance for clients that have included Steve Madden and Ralph Lauren, Daley is a fashion designer for her own Hempstead-based label, BCD Planet. She takes inspiration, she says, from 1960s and 1980s designers, in particular France's Christian Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier.

And also from movies of those eras. She gives as an example writer-director John Hughes’ "The Breakfast Club" (1985), whose characters, particularly that of Molly Ringwald’s preppy teen, embody iconic examples of the aesthetic to which Daley is drawn.

"Preppy style definitely speaks throughout what I make," she says. "But also streetwear" — urban-youth casual clothing, often oversize and generally with elements of hip-hop and skateboarding. "My aesthetic is sophisticated streetwear design — preppy and tailored. I love preppiness," she says. "And in the '80s, they weren't afraid to try new, bold, different designs. They had the shoulder pads, they had the bright colors, but they also referenced fashion from before the '80s along with the nuance of the now."

Born in Brooklyn and raised both there with her father and in South Hempstead with her mother, Daley continues to split her time between locales. Her dad, Belaniel Daley, aka reggae musician Don Jiggy, and her mom, retired registered nurse Jean Spence, are "both very much involved in the Caribbean-music dancehall party scene," she says, referring to the Jamaican pop genre.

Daley, who earned degrees from Nassau Community College in Uniondale and Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where she graduated in 2014, credits her dyslexia as part of her creativity.

"I find it to not be a disability. I find it to be an ability, because we see things differently," she says. "I see better ways to work, and I find it helps me design."