March 13 (UPI) -- Project Runway chose a new winner during the emotional Season 18 finale.
Geoffrey Mac, Victoria Cocieru, Nancy Volpe-Beringer and Sergio Guadarramain competed in a final runway show during Thursday's episode of the Bravo series, with Mac emerging victorious.
Judges Brandon Maxwell, Nina Garcia, Elaine Welteroth, Karlie Kloss and mentor Christian Siriano worked with guest judge Serena Williams to declare Mac the winner.
Mac presented an avant-garde collection at the Project Runway show at New York Fashion Week. The collection, called "Purple Heart," was inspired by his father, who served in the military and received three Purple Heart medals.
"I was able to call my father ... and he was crying," Mac told People after the finale. "He was crying on the phone and that was just a life-changing moment to get that level of pride from my dad."
Mac said on the Project Runway after-show that he was feeling "absolutely overwhelmed" after his win.
"I'm beyond excited. I've just never felt this before in my life," he said.
Mac shared with Siriano how Project Runway helped him fix his career and his life.
"Before the show, my career was a disaster. The show was my kind of last attempt to fix things," he said. "To win it, and to solve my financial crisis, my career crisis, all of it in one fell swoop ... The fact that I won has not even sunk in yet."
Project Runway initially aired on Bravo from 2004 to 2008 and moved to Lifetime from 2009 to 2017. The show returned to Bravo in Season 17.
