Project Runway Season 21 champion Veejay Floresca has a brand new milestone to celebrate, and this time it is not happening on a catwalk. The trailblazing Filipino designer, who made history as the show’s first trans winner, is now engaged to her long-time partner, turning a fashion fairy tale into a real-life love story. Her proposal moment, shared with fans online, feels like a natural next chapter for someone who has spent years designing other people’s dream weddings.
The engagement instantly lit up fashion and LGBTQ+ circles, not just because a fan favorite is getting married, but because of what Veejay represents. From growing up in the Philippines glued to Project Runway to becoming its Season 21 champion and now a bride-to-be, her journey folds personal joy into a bigger story about visibility, resilience, and finally getting the kind of happy ending she has helped so many clients dress for.
The proposal that stopped the scroll
Veejay Floresca chose to share her engagement the way many modern love stories go public, with a carousel of photos and a caption that sounded like it came straight from the heart. In her announcement, she wrote that she was “Thinking of a perfect caption, but I can’t think of anything. All I know is I’m ready to spend the rest of my life with you,” a line that fans quickly picked up and echoed back to her in the comments, turning the phrase into a kind of instant catchphrase for commitment. That simple declaration, paired with images of her flashing a new ring, captured the mix of disbelief and certainty that often comes with saying yes to forever, and it framed the moment as something intimate that she still wanted to share with the world.
The man she is ready to spend that life with is Ryan, her partner who has been by her side away from the cameras while her career has accelerated. A post from a Filipino entertainment account described her as a “Filipino trans designer and historic Project Runway Season 21 winner” who is now officially engaged to her partner Ryan, underscoring how personal and professional milestones are colliding for her at once, and how meaningful it is for a Filipino trans woman to celebrate this kind of joy in public view. That same update, which framed the news as a move “from the runway to the altar,” captured how naturally the language of fashion fits into this next phase of her life, and how her love story is already being woven into the narrative that fans and media have built around her.
From Project Runway fan to Season 21 history maker
Long before anyone was zooming in on her engagement ring, Veejay Floresca was the kid in the Philippines who watched Project Runway and imagined herself in that workroom. She has spoken about growing up as The Filipina who was a fan of the show and even competing on the Philippines version of Project Runway, where she finished the competition but did not yet have the global platform she has now. That early experience, grinding through challenges in a local format, set the stage for her eventual leap to the main franchise and gave her a sense of how hard she would have to work to stand out in a crowded field of designers.
When she finally stepped onto the Project Runway Season 21 set, she was not just another contestant, she was a trans woman determined to claim space in a corner of television that had not yet crowned someone like her. Coverage of the season has highlighted that she became the show’s first-ever trans winner, a historic outcome that resonated far beyond the usual reality TV chatter and landed her in conversations about representation in fashion. Along the way, Flor also built a résumé that included competing on Hulu’s Dress My Tour, where she placed as a runner up, and that combination of reality TV experience and design chops helped her walk away from Season 21 with more than a trophy, it gave her a platform that now follows her into every new chapter, including this engagement.
A designer of weddings planning her own
There is a special kind of symmetry in watching a bridal designer get engaged, and Veejay Floresca is leaning right into it. On her social media, she has been teasing pieces like a “gorgeous hand-beaded wedding gown” that she describes as perfect for brides who love classic elegance, a reminder that she has spent years obsessing over every bead and seam that walks down the aisle. Her Instagram feed, which doubles as a lookbook and personal diary, is filled with gowns, fittings, and behind-the-scenes glimpses that show how deeply she understands the emotional weight of wedding fashion, and that makes fans especially curious about what she will eventually design for herself.
Her timing could not be more on brand. As she celebrates her engagement, she is also gearing up for NYFW, with posts hinting that New York Fashion Week is coming soon and that she has new collections ready to hit the runway. Lifestyle coverage has noted that the Project Runway S21 winner is engaged while also preparing to show during Fashion Week in mid February, which means she is juggling seating charts and show notes right alongside whatever early wedding planning conversations she and Ryan are having. For someone who has always blurred the line between personal style and professional output, the overlap feels fitting, and it turns her upcoming shows into a kind of prelude to the dress she might eventually create for her own walk down the aisle.
Love, visibility, and a Filipino trans trailblazer
Part of what makes this engagement resonate so strongly is who Veejay Floresca is and what she represents. She is a Filipino trans woman who has carved out a place in an industry that has not always been welcoming, and reports have consistently described her as a Filipino designer and a historic Project Runway Season 21 winner whose success has put the Philippines on the global fashion stage. Earlier profiles have emphasized that The Filipina grew up being a fan of Project Runway and that she later returned to the franchise as a judge in the Philippines version, a full-circle moment that showed how far she had come from the days of watching the show from home.
Her story has also been framed as a beacon for other trans creatives who are trying to find their footing in fashion. In one feature, writers pointed out that Along the way she competed on Hulu’s Dress My Tour and that her Project Runway win came with prizes like a spread in Elle magazine, which helped cement her as a visible, bankable talent rather than a one-season curiosity. Television interviews, including segments where she talks about being the history making winner of Project Runway Season 21 and about achieving success post Project Runway, have highlighted how she navigated rough patches and leaned on allies, and that context makes her engagement feel like another hard-earned victory in a life that has not always been easy.
How fans and media are celebrating the news
The reaction to Veejay Floresca’s engagement has been immediate and enthusiastic, especially across Filipino and fashion-focused corners of social media. One entertainment account on X shared a post that opened with “From the runway to the altar” and called her a Filipino trans designer and historic Project Runway Season 21 winner, pairing the caption with photos of Veejay and Ryan that quickly circulated among fans. Another update from a lifestyle desk highlighted that Project Runway S21 winner Veejay Floresca is engaged and slotted the story under a Filtered Lifestyle section, a reminder that her personal life now sits comfortably alongside coverage of trends, travel, and culture rather than being treated as a niche curiosity.
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