Monday, February 7, 2022 – Project Runway

Project Runway Season 19 judges

Project Runway is a reality TV show where clothing designers from all over the world compete. I just finished watching Season 19, and it was very satisfying to see talented designers who had been turned down for years get their moments to shine. I am no fashionista, but I do admire people who can take a few yards of fabric and transform it into something stunning. I have sewed a few clothes, but always used a pattern. And even then, it wasn’t easy. These designers know their way around a sewing machine plus they often do hand-beading, macrame trim made by hand, intricate braiding of fabric, hand-painted fabric, etc. Some of their creations seem otherworldly and others are simply true elegance. In every season there is an unconventional materials challenge. This year, the designers had to take materials from the supplies, walls and furniture of a cocktail bar. The winning look to me was made from black straws sewn on black fabric into a provocative dress. It is quite entertaining to watch their amazing talent. Let’s find out more about Project Runway.

According to Wikipedia, “Project Runway” is an American reality television series that focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, materials and theme. Their designs are judged by a panel, and one or more designers are typically eliminated from the show each week. During each season, contestants are progressively eliminated until only a few contestants remain. These finalists prepare complete fashion collections for New York Fashion Week. After the runway shows, the judges choose the winner.

Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum

"Project Runway" was created by Eli Holzman and was hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum from 2004 to 2017. It has a varied airing history, with Bravo originating the first five seasons, followed by Lifetime for eleven more. In the wake of The Weinstein Co.'s bankruptcy in 2018, the show then returned to Bravo. Klum and the designers' mentor Tim Gunn both left the show in 2018 to helm another fashion competition show — “Making the Cut” — on Amazon Video. American model Karlie Kloss followed Klum as the new host, with Season 4 winner Christian Siriano replacing Gunn as mentor.

The show won a Peabody Award in 2008 "for using the 'television reality contest' genre to engage, inform, enlighten and entertain." It has had over 30 international adaptations.

Season 19 cocktail dress made from black straws

Format

“Project Runway” uses progressive elimination to reduce the initial field of 12 or more fashion designers down to three or four before the final challenge. Each non-finale challenge — the scope of one episode — requires the designers to develop one or more pieces of new clothing to be presented at a runway show. The challenges range in creative diversity to test the designers' ingenuity, while maintaining their personal fashion design aesthetic. These challenges may include creating a garment from non-traditional materials, such as: apartment furnishings (Season 3), recyclable materials (Season 3), items from a grocery store (Seasons 1 & 5), edible food items (Seasons 1, 4 & 10), plants and flowers (Season 2), their own clothes that they happened to be wearing (Seasons 2 & 9) or materials from a party store (season 8). Other challenges include designing for a certain high-profile person such as actress Brooke Shields, figure skater Sasha Cohen or Miss USA Tara Conner; for a corporate fashion line like Banana Republic, Diane von Fürstenberg, Macy's or Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten; or centered on a specialized theme such as "cocktail party," "wedding gown," "female wrestling outfit" or "prom dress."

The first several seasons were filmed in New York City, at The New School University's Parsons The New School for Design. They shop for materials at a fabric store in New York's Garment District — usually at MOOD Designer Fabrics — unless the challenge requires otherwise e.g., denim jackets and jeans from Levi's, confectionery and souvenirs at the Hershey's Store in Times Square or fabric at Spandex House in Season 4. The designers live together, grouped by gender, at Atlas New York (an apartment building near Parsons) during Seasons 1–3 (back again at Season 5) and at New Gotham during Season 4. Along with the network change to Lifetime, the location changed from New York to Los Angeles for Season 6 only (permanently returning to New York for Season 7.) While on the show, the designers are prohibited from leaving the apartments without authorization, making unauthorized communication with family or friends or using the internet to research designs.

Designers are also forbidden to bring pattern books or similar how-to materials with them during the show or risk being disqualified from the competition, as was the case of Keith Michael in Season 3 and of Claire Buitendorp in Season 16.

The designers are given a budgeted stipend to select and purchase fabric and notions, and then provided a limited amount of time to finish their designs — the shortest being 5 hours and the longest being two or three days, with the exception of fashion week when they are given 12 weeks. Often, the designers work independently, although on some challenges, contestants must work in teams or as a single collective group. Once the deadline is reached, the designers must dress their models and select their hair, makeup and accessories. Each model walks down the runway, and the garment the contestant made is rated by a panel of judges, who score each look in several categories from 0 to 5, and often provide personal annotations and comments regarding the presented designs. Each contestant does a voiceover while the model is walking down the runway.

Judges interviewing designers

The judges then interview the remaining designers (usually six) who garnered the highest and the lowest scores (usually a top 3 and a bottom 3) and share their opinions while listening to the designers' defense of their outfits, then confer as a group in private. The panel then announces the winning and losing designers based on their scores and other considerations. Typically, the winner receives immunity for the next challenge, and therefore cannot be eliminated. As the season progresses, immunity is disregarded during later challenges to prevent the designers from getting an easy pass in the final and crucial rounds of the competition. Other incentives given to the contestants aside from winning immunity include: The winning garment may be featured in print media, integrated into a limited edition look for a particular clothing brand, or sold at an online fashion store e.g., BlueFly.com beginning in Season 4 onwards. Generally, the loser of each challenge is eliminated from the competition, with host Klum giving him or her a double air kiss on the runway and wishing the eliminated designer farewell her catchphrase, Auf Wiedersehen — formal German for goodbye, literal translation "until we meet again" — before they depart. Thus, elimination from the show is sometimes called "being auf'd" — a play on words as it can be interpreted as offed — and designers who receive an unusually large amount of camera time, solely to lay a predicate for their elimination from the show, are occasionally described as receiving "the 'auf' edit."

Project Runway New York Fashion Week

After the final challenge, the remaining three designers are then told to prepare a complete fashion collection of twelve looks to be presented at New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park. The finalists are given 12 weeks and $8,000 for this task, which they perform at their own homes or studios. While some construction work can be outsourced, the majority of the garments must be created by the designers themselves. Prior to the show, the finalists must return to New York City to oversee model casting, hair and makeup consultations, finishing touches to their clothes, final fitting on their models and possibly an additional challenge, such as designing another outfit to blend in with the collection (as in Seasons 2, 5, 6 and 8). Their receipts are also handed over to the producers of the show to determine if they went over budget or had outsourcing done as favors, both of which are against the rules. If rules are violated, they may be forced to eliminate a crucial aesthetic factor in their presentation e.g., Jeffrey Sebelia's blond wigs and pleated leather shorts in Season 3 or the judging panel might lower their scoring, if they insist upon using a forbidden item e.g., Kara Saun's outsourced footwear in Season 1. The ultimate winner is selected by the judges and receives $100,000 to start their own design line, a feature spread in “Marie Claire” magazine, and a mentorship from a design firm — ended on Season 3. The winner is also given the optional opportunity to sell their collection on bluefly.com. Subsequent seasons have also included a new car as part of the prize package. Prior to its 2009 dissolution, the automobile company Saturn furnished the winners' vehicles.

Project Runway models

Female fashion models, who work with the designers throughout the season, are also in the competition. Each week, as the number of designers dwindles, the number of models is also reduced. Models are randomly pre-assigned to a designer during the first challenge, but from the second challenge onwards, the designers are able to choose the model with whom they wish to work. During weekly model eliminations, the models stand on a runway with Klum, in front of the seated group of designers. The models appear by wearing the same outfit, black dress and barefoot. The designers then pick their models in sequence, based upon their respective scores in the previous design competition. Originally, model selection happened at the start of every episode save for the first. The winner of the previous challenge receiving first pick, and the other designers picking models in order through Klum's random draw of large red shirt buttons with their names stored in a black velvet bag. However, there were times when only the winning designer was given the choice to pick with the following choices: either keep their previous model, take the losing designer's model from the last challenge or switch models with another competing designer. Beginning with Season 6, model selection appears on a companion program, “Models of the Runway,” usually near the end of that show. At the end of the weekly model selection process, the one unpicked model is sent home. This losing model is also given host Klum's air kiss and “Auf Wiedersehen” before leaving the runway. Included in the prize package for the winning model is coverage in Elle magazine, featuring the winning designer's twelve-piece collection as part of her prize. However, certain challenges may not require the models at all, such as: giving a competing designer a head-to-toe makeover (Seasons 2 and 5), designers creating their own looks (Season 3), designing menswear (Season 4) or creating a garment for a specific client e.g., reconstructed outfits for women who lost weight, or wrestling costumes for the WWE Divas in Season 4. Airing of the model selection ended starting Season 8.

Project Runway judges

Judging

Joining Klum in judging duties are American top designer Michael Kors, Marie Claire fashion director Nina Garcia, and a fourth guest judge — usually a fashion designer, a supermodel, a celebrity or a professional from an industry related to the challenge given. Tim Gunn, former chair of the Fashion School at Parsons The New School for Design and now chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne Inc., co-hosts the show along with Klum and acts as a mentor to the designers, giving them suggestions and tips for their designs throughout the episode, but he does not participate in the judging. Zac Posen became a regular judge on the show at the beginning of the eleventh season, as Kors was unable to participate due to scheduling conflicts. Throughout the eleventh season, Rachel Roy alternated with Posen when he couldn't commit to being a judge for a particular episode. After the departure of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn was announced in September 2018, designer Zac Posen released a statement confirming that he too was leaving the show. Therefore, as the show returned to Bravo for Season 17 only Elle Magazine editor-in-chief Nina Garcia remained as a continuing judge. In October 2018, it was announced that fashion designer Brandon Maxwell and former “Teen Vogue” editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth were joining Nina Garcia as permanent judges.

Production

On July 4, 2006, the show's producers, The Weinstein Co., announced a five-year deal that would relocate the show to Lifetime, beginning with Season 6. In response, NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against The Weinstein Co. for violating its contract rights. A September 2008 court decision granted NBCU's request for an injunction, preventing Lifetime from promoting or exhibiting "Runway" until further notice.

On April 1, 2009, the lawsuit between The Weinstein Co. and NBCUniversal was settled, with Weinstein agreeing to pay NBCU an undisclosed sum for the right to move the show to Lifetime. Season 6 began airing on Lifetime on August 20, 2009. On August 27, 2009, NBC Universal wound up gaining partial ownership of Lifetime, when A&E Television Networks — which was already partially owned by NBCU — acquired the channel's parent company, Lifetime Entertainment Services. It premiered on the Slice channel in Canada on September 12.

Following the show's 16th season, NBCU reacquired the rights to the show, as a result of the bankruptcy of the Weinstein Co.; Weinstein Co.'s assets, which included “Project Runway,” were acquired by Lantern Entertainment in March 2018, and by May 2018, NBC's Bravo Media LLC. NBC announced in May 2018 that the show would move back to Bravo as a reboot of the series. By September 2018, host Heidi Klum and mentor Tim Gunn announced they were leaving “Project Runway” to start a new reality competition show for Amazon Studios; judge Zac Posen also stated he was leaving the show. By October 2018, Bravo announced that Klum and Gunn would be replaced, respectively, by supermodel Karlie Kloss and the winner of Season 4, Christian Siriano. Additionally, fashion designer Brandon Maxwell and former “Teen Vogue” editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth were joining Nina Garcia as permanent judges.

Season 19 Project Runway designers

Season 19

On February 27, 2020, the casting of Season 19 opened. The 19th season premiered on October 14, 2021. Christian Siriano returned as mentor; Nina Garcia, Brandon Maxwell and Elaine Welteroth returned as judges. Karlie Kloss did not return as a host but will appear occasionally throughout the season. This season featured 16 designers: Octavio Aguilar, Darren Apolonio, Kenneth Barlis, Caycee Black, Coral Castillo, Meg Ferguson, Prajjé Oscar Jean-Baptiste, Bones Jones, Kristina Kharlashkina, Katie Kortman, Shantall Lacayo, Aaron Michael, Chasity Sereal, Zayden Skipper, Sabrina Spanta and Anna Yinan Zhou.

Preceding the Season 19 premiere, a web-only mini-series called Project Runway Redemption featured eight previously eliminated contestants competing for a $25,000 prize. The eight previously eliminated contestants were from seasons 17 and 18: Frankie Lewis, Afa Ah Loo, Kovid Kapoor, Tessa Clark, Bishme Cromartie, Dayoung Kim, Delvin McCray, Nancy Volpe-Beringer. The first four episodes featured head-to-head match ups, with the winners earning spots in the finale and the finale winner earning the grand prize.

Project Runway finalists Coral Castillo, Shantall Lacayo, Chastity Sereal and Kristina Kharlashkina

Shantall Lacayo won the season, with Chastity Sereal, Coral Castillo, and Kristina Kharlashkina as runners-up. It was the first time all the finalists were women.

Spinoffs

All-Stars

“Project Runway All Stars” is a spin-off of Project Runway, featuring designers from previous seasons of “Project Runway.” The show ran for seven seasons. Angela Lindvall and Carolyn Murphy have each hosted one season, and the last five seasons were hosted by Alyssa Milano. As on the regular “Project Runway,” the designers are judged by the host, two permanent judges and 1–2 guest judges. The permanent All Stars judges were designers Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman. Joanna Coles mentored the designers in the first two seasons, Zanna Roberts Rassi mentored in season three to season five and Anne Fulenwider mentored the last two seasons.

Under the Gunn

Hosted by Tim Gunn, “Project Runway: Under the Gunn” brings back “Project Runway” alumni Anya Ayoung-Chee, Nick Verreos and Mondo Guerra to mentor and manage the designer contestants. The mentors must show they have the business savvy to manage their team of four designers or else leave the show themselves. Designer Rachel Roy, celebrity stylist Jen Rade and Marie Claire senior fashion editor Zanna Roberts Rassi serve as the judges with Tim.

Project Accessory

“Project Accessory” aired directly after the season finale of “Project Runway” season 9, premiering on October 27, 2011. The show featured 12 contestants who participated in challenges to design and display the most amazing accessories. With the help of their mentor, Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti, they needed to impress host Molly Sims and judges Kenneth Cole and Ariel Foxman, editor of “InStyle.” Kelly Osbourne and Debra Messing were among the guest judges appearing this past season.

Project Runway: Threads

“Project Runway: Threads” aired directly after the season finale of “Project Runway” season 13, premiering on October 23, 2014. Each week of eight three young designers competed for a scholarship to study fashion design in addition to sewing materials and equipment. The host was Vanessa Simmons. The judges were Christian Siriano, “Project Runway” season 4 winner; Seventeen magazine Fashion Director Gina Kelly and Accessories Editor Jasmine Snow and Ingrid Nilsen, a video blogger on YouTube. Since each week there are three new competitors, there is no one winner, but rather eight spread across the eight episodes.

Project Runway: Junior

“Project Runway: Junior” is a direct spin-off of “Project Runway,” featuring 12 teen designers aged between 13 and 17. The show premiered on November 12, 2015. Season 2 of “Project Runway: Junior” premiered on December 22, 2016, with a third season announced in May 2016. The series was cancelled after two seasons.

Project Runway: Fashion Startup

“Project Runway: Fashion Startup” is a spin-off of “Project Runway” that showcases aspiring fashion and beauty entrepreneurs as they pitch their concepts for the chance to secure funds from a panel of investors to help grow their budding ventures. The show premiered on October 20, 2016.