Anya Ayoung-Chee (born October 17, 1981) is a Trinidadian

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

and

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. She was

Miss Universe Trinidad and Tobago Miss Universe Trinidad & Tobago is a beauty pageant held annually since 1963, a year after Trinidad & Tobago's independence from the United Kingdom. The contest is meant to select a suitable delegate from both islands to compete in the Miss Uni ...

2008 and was a contestant in the

Miss Universe 2008 Miss Universe 2008 was the 57th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. This was the first time that the Miss Universe pageant was broadcast in 1080i High-definition. At the end of th ...

pageant. She was the winner of ''

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mater ...

''s ninth season in 2011. She founded the fashion lines Anya de Rouge and Pilar and the online fashion retailer cANYAval.

Early life

Anya Ayoung-Chee was born to Trinidadian parents in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

but moved to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

at the age of two; she therefore holds dual

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

and

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citizenship. She is the only daughter in a family of eight. From an early age she pursued classical ballet training. During her attendance at an all-girls secondary school, St. Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain, that she became passionate about art and design. She continued her education in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, studying graphic and interior design at

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

and Central St Martins School of Art and Design. She remained in New York until 2007, when her brother, Pilar died. She then returned home to Trinidad.

Miss Universe Trinidad & Tobago

Following her return to Trinidad, Ayoung-Chee entered the 2008 Miss Universe competition and won the title of Miss Universe Trinidad & Tobago. She is the second title Miss Universe Trinidad & Tobago in the franchise's 44-year history to be of

Chinese descent Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, ref ...

. When asked, "Is your Asian heritage an issue since you represent a country with an overwhelming African and Indian heritage?" Ayoung-Chee replied, "Trinidad & Tobago is unique in its ethnic make-up because it is a country with people of all races. I am of mixed origin, mainly Chinese, Indian and Caucasian, and although my particular mixture is a minority, I represent the unusual combination of ethnicities that defines us as a people." Following her success as Miss Universe Trinidad & Tobago, Ayoung-Chee went on to host a number of Caribbean television and web-based shows, including her own fashion show, ''Make It Yours''. Ayoung-Chee had been involved in philanthropy since 2003, when she became a member of the TallMan Foundation. The foundation was established by her family for the empowerment of young people in underprivileged areas. Following her Miss Trinidad & Tobago title, she became more involved in charitable work. In 2008 the United Nations Association of Trinidad & Tobago (UNATT) asked Ayoung-Chee and

Gabrielle Walcott Gabrielle Walcott (born 26 June 1984) is a Trinidadian artist, model, charity worker and beauty queen who won Miss Trinidad and Tobago World 2008 and placed as the second runner-up in Miss World 2008. She is also titleholder of Miss World Beauty ...

to be spokeswomen and champions for the group. They both served during their reigns as Miss T&T, and continue as members of UNATT, the NGO arm of the United Nations which aims to advocate for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and the

Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenniu ...

Fashion designer

During the Miss Universe pageant, Ayoung-Chee brought her design training and experience to her own wardrobe, most of which she designed and styled, and she decided to become a fashion designer as a result. She auditioned for and was accepted as a contestant on

Season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of the

television show ''

'' in 2011. Ayoung-Chee had experience creating designs, but her tailoring had been done by others. Despite learning to sew only four months before auditioning for the program, she placed in the top three of most of the

challenges Challenge may refer to: * Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters * Euphemism for disability * Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty Places Geography *Challenge, C ...

, and eventually won the competition on October 27, 2011. Ayoung-Chee earned $100,000 from L'Oreal Paris to begin her own women's line, Pilar—named after her deceased brother. She also was featured in a fashion spread in ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' and received a $50,000 technology suite by HP and

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with which to design and sell merchandise, as well as a partnership with Piperlime.com. She was also voted the fan favorite in a Twitter contest, for which she received another $10,000. Ayoung-Chee continued to design for Pilar and also founded a lingerie line, Anya de Rouge. In 2014 she appeared on reality show ''

Under the Gunn ''Under the Gunn'' (also known as ''Project Runway: Under the Gunn'') is an American reality competition series that premiered January 16, 2014, on Lifetime. Production of the series began in November 2013, with the finale filmed on December 17, ...

'', working with

Tim Gunn Timothy MacKenzie Gunn (born July 29, 1953) is an American author, academic, and television personality. He served on the faculty of Parsons School of Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to Mar ...

to mentor other designers. She has hosted events and produced fashion for Trinidad's carnival, and has founded online store cANYAval, where she works with other designers creating clothing inspired by Trinidad's carnival. The store focuses on Monday Wear, or elaborate bathing suits worn on the day before carnival Tuesday. She is also a travel ambassador for Trinidad and Tobago. In 2019, Ayoung-Chee competed in

Season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of ''

Project Runway All Stars ''Project Runway All Stars'' is a spin-off of ''Project Runway'', featuring returning designers competing for grand prizes. Angela Lindvall and Carolyn Murphy have each hosted one season before Alyssa Milano became the staple host of the past five ...

'', that featured a cast of previous winners. She placed 10th overall.

Personal life

Ayoung-Chee met her longtime boyfriend

Wyatt Gallery Wyatt Gallery is an American photographer. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia, he now lives between New York City and Trinidad & Tobago. Gallery graduated high school from the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia in 1993. H ...

in 2006 at Trinidad carnival. Following the theft and release of their private sex tape in 2009, they ceased to appear in public together for some time, but continued dating. The two became engaged in 2015. The couple married in January 2018, and their son Kaïri Pilar Gallery was born on July 3, 2018.

References

External links

MissUniverse.com - delegates 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayoung-Chee, Anya 1981 births Living people Miss Universe 2008 contestants Trinidad and Tobago female models Trinidad and Tobago people of Chinese descent Project Runway (American series) participants Project Runway (American series) Mentors American emigrants to Trinidad and Tobago American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Reality show winners American fashion designers of Chinese descent American fashion designers American women fashion designers People from New York City