Nick Verreos (born February 13, 1967 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American fashion designer and contestant on the second season of the reality television program Project Runway.

Early life and education

Verreos was born in Missouri on February 13, 1967 to a Greek-American father and a Panamanian mother. Though born in St. Louis, Missouri, he spent his early childhood in Caracas, Venezuela after his father, a U.S. State Department diplomat in Panama, met his mother, whose great uncle had been the president of that country. At age 10, Verreos and his family moved back to the United States and he finished elementary and high school in San Francisco, California. He began college at UCLA, studying Political Science and International Relations, but after graduation, turned his interest to fashion design and pursued additional work at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles. He completed the Advanced Fashion Design Program at FIDM. He is openly gay.

Career

After finishing studies at FIDM, Verreos immediately found success in the fashion industry. He won the Suisse du Jeune Talent competition, in which he represented the United States in St. Gallen, Switzerland. He began his career in Los Angeles working for a variety of companies, before forming his own design firm, Nikolaki, with partner David Paul in 2001. Since 2003 he has also worked part-time at FIDM teaching technical sketching and draping/pattern drafting.

Project Runway

In June 2005, Verreos participated in the second season of Project Runway, a reality television program in which fashion designers compete against each other for a design mentorship with Banana Republic, seed money to start their own line, and other prizes. Verreos finished in fifth place in the competition. He won the "All Dolled Up" challenge in the third episode in which designers had to design a dress for the My Scene Barbie collection. The doll was later marketed in limited release to the public. He was judged one of the top three designers during the "Social Scene" challenge in the fifth episode. However, he ranked among the bottom two or three in three additional challenges: "Window Shopping" (episode six), "Flower Power" (episode nine), and "Makeover" (episode ten). He was eliminated after the Makeover Challenge in which he was charged with designing a fashion makeover for fellow contestant Daniel Vosovic.

Season 2 of Project Runway aired on Bravo from December, 2005 through March, 2006.

After Project Runway

Nikolaki gowns have been worn by a number of actresses, such as Desperate Housewives cast member Brenda Strong () and Marlee Matlin to the 2008 Academy Awards. Verreos appeared as a talent scout in the premiere for Project Runway season 3, and blogged about the season on Bravo's blog and maintained his own personal blog.

Verreos's sister Rita Verreos appeared in Survivor: Fiji, which aired in spring 2007.

He taught a class (and continues to teach) at FIDM in Los Angeles. Lauren Conrad was one of his students and he appeared briefly on her show The Hills.

He was a guest mentor on Project Runway Canada where the designers had to create two resort wear outfits.

He appeared on a January 2008 episode of the CW show Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants to help the mothers and daughters with their pageant gowns and choose which team had the best outfits.

He has been a panel member on TV Guide Network's Fashion Wrap which followed the Grammys, Oscars and Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Nick hosted 3 fashion segments on E! Countdown to the Academy Awards in February 2008.

He appears in an April 2008 episode of the Karma Air show Fashion 411 with Barbra Horowitz to share some of the behind the scenes experiences on Project Runway as well as the events and projects he's currently involved.

Verreos covered the Red Carpet Arrivals on SOAPnet.com for the Daytime Emmy Awards in June 2008 and the Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2008.

Nick starred in Sears 2008 Holiday Ad Campaign. Along with LL Cool J, Vanessa Hudgens and Ty Pennington, Verreos participated in the Sears Grant A Wish Campaign, in which each celebrity shares his/her American Wishtory.

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