Project Runway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Project Runway | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Format | Reality, competition |
| Created by | Eli Holzman |
| Starring | Heidi Klum Tim Gunn Michael Kors Nina Garcia |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 54 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Bravo (2004-2008) Lifetime (beginning November 2008) |
| Original run | December 1, 2004 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Project Runway is a Peabody Award-winning[1] American reality television series on the Bravo network which focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are usually restricted in time, materials, and theme. Their designs are judged and one or more designers are eliminated each week. On April 7, 2008, the show's producers, Weinstein Company, announced a five year deal that would relocate the show to Lifetime Television. In response, NBC Universal has filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Company, for violating its contract rights.[2][3]
Contents |
[edit] Format
Project Runway uses progressive elimination to reduce the initial field of 12 or more fashion designers down to 3 or 4 before the final challenge. Each non-finale challenge (the scope of one episode) requires the designers to develop one more new garment to be presented at a runway show. The challenges include to creating a garment from non-traditional materials, such as recycled materials (Season 3) or items from a grocery store (Season 1),or using the 'clothes off their backs' (Season 2), or designing for a certain person (such as figure skater Sasha Cohen or Miss USA Tara Conner), corporate fashion line (Banana Republic or Macy's INC), or specialized theme (such as a "cocktail party"). The designers are given a stipend and limited amount of time to finish each garment (from as short as half a day to two or three days). Often the designers work independently, although on some challenges contestants must work in teams. Once the deadline is reached, the designers must dress their models and select their hair, make-up, and accessories. Each model walks down the runway, and the garment the contestant made is rated by a panel of judges, scoring each dress in a number of categories from 0 to 5. The judges then interview the designers and share their opinions before conferring as a group and selecting winning and losing designers based on their scores and other considerations. Generally, the loser of each challenge is eliminated from the competition, with host supermodel Heidi Klum wishing him or her "Auf Wiedersehen" before they depart; thus elimination from the show is sometimes called "being auf'd".
After the final challenge, the remaining three or four designers are then told to prepare a complete fashion collection to be presented at New York Fashion Week at Bryant Park. The finalists are given 12 weeks and $8000 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 return to New York City to perform final fitting on their models, and also may be thrown an additional challenge, such as designing an additional outfit to fit the collection. The ultimate winner is selected by the judges, and receives $100,000 to start his or her own design line, a magazine spread in ELLE Magazine, and a mentorship from a design firm; later seasons have also included a new car as part of the prize package.
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, with one model remaining at the end. Models may sometimes be randomly pre-assigned to a designer; in other cases, designers will have an opportunity to pick the model they wish to work with, the winner of the previous challenge receiving first pick and subsequent designers picking through a random draw. Included in the prize package for the winning model is coverage in the American edition of ELLE magazine, featuring the winning designer's designs as part of her prize.
Joining Klum in judging duties include American designer Michael Kors, ELLE magazine fashion director Nina Garcia, and a fourth judge - typically a fashion designer (e.g. Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang), critic (Teri Agins of the Wall Street Journal) or model (e.g. Iman), a celebrity (Nicky Hilton, Nancy O'Dell) , or a professional from an industry related to the challenge (Sasha Cohen). Tim Gunn, Chief Creative Officer for Liz Claiborne Inc, acts as mentor to the designers and does not participate in the judging; instead, he will visit the designers midway through each challenge to comment and suggest improvements for each design. The show takes place in New York City (with a short stop in Paris in Season 3) with designers using a workroom at Parsons The New School for Design, shopping for materials at a fabrics store in New York's Garment District (usually Mood Designer Fabrics on W. 37th Street — unless the challenge calls for an unusual material or the fabric is provided, as in the Banana Republic challenge from Seasons 1&2), and living together at Atlas New York (an apartment building near Parsons) during seasons 1-3 and New Gotham during season 4. 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 books with them during the show.
[edit] Season 1
- Further information: Project Runway (season 1)
Project Runway premiered its first season on December 1, 2004. In its first season, Project Runway received critical acclaim, including an Emmy nomination for outstanding competitive reality series. Growth in audience popularity was also dramatic from its debut to the season finale, making it a sleeper hit. Project Runway gave Bravo one of its most successful series since Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
The winning designer of the first season was Pennsylvania-based designer Jay McCarroll. Second place was Kara Saun, and third was Wendy Pepper. As his prize for winning the competition among 12 designers, McCarroll was eligible to receive a $100,000 cash prize, a mentorship with Banana Republic to aid in developing his own fashion label (both of which he turned down), and display of his work in the American edition of ELLE magazine. The winning model of the first season, selected by McCarroll, was Julia Beynon, who beat out models Jenny Toth (for Kara Saun) and Melissa Haro (for Wendy Pepper).
Austin Scarlett, who placed in fourth, produced a decoy collection for Fashion Week after being eliminated in the "Nancy O'Dell Grammy Challenge." His appearance at Fashion Week was an 11th hour decision made by the show's producers who were concerned that the identity of the three finalists would be revealed before the Project Runway Season 1 finale aired. The ploy was later adopted for the show's succeeding seasons.
[edit] Season 2
- Further information: Project Runway (season 2)
The series' second season began on December 7, 2005. Following a nationwide search earlier in the year, sixteen designers were chosen as semi-finalists and brought to New York City in June, 2005. After the first challenge, called Road To The Runway, fourteen went on to compete as finalists. The winning designer, Houston-based Chloe Dao, received $100,000 in seed money to help launch her own line, a one year contract with Designers Management Agency, a 2007 Saturn Sky roadster, a spread in ELLE magazine, and a mentorship with the Banana Republic Design Team. Michael Kors and Nina Garcia returned as judges for the second season. The final judging seat rotated each week, based on the challenge. Tim Gunn, fashion chair at Parsons The New School for Design, returned as a mentor for the designers. The winning model paired with designer Chloe Dao was Grace Kelsey, beating out models Rebecca Holliday (for Daniel Vosovic) and Heather Brown (for Santino Rice), and landed the spread in ELLE Magazine.
Kara Janx, who placed fourth in the competition after having been eliminated in the "Iman Evening Gown Challenge", produced a decoy collection which served as a distraction at Fashion Week before the finale aired.
[edit] Season 3
- Further information: Project Runway (season 3)
Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Nina Garcia, and Michael Kors returned for season three, which began airing on July 12, 2006. Season 3 introduced a new set of sponsors, notably Macy's replacing Banana Republic, in advance of Macy's conversion of former May Company department stores.
In this season, designer Keith Michael became the first designer to be asked to leave the show for multiple rule violations. He was found to be in possession of prohibited pattern-making books and left the production site for several hours, during which time he used the internet. Also, for the first time, the last four designers were selected as finalists (Jeffrey Sebelia, Laura Bennett, Ulrike "Uli" Herzner, and Michael Knight), with no decoy collection to serve as a distraction before the finale aired, and allowed to compete at New York Fashion Week.
In a "Reunion" episode that aired on October 4, viewers voted Michael Knight as their favorite designer, earning him a $10,000 prize.
The season finale aired on October 18, 2006 with Jeffrey Sebelia voted winner by the judges. Winning alongside with designer Sebelia was his model, Marilinda Rivera, edging out models Nazri Segaro (for Ulrike "Uli" Herzner), Camilla Barungi (for Laura Bennett), and Clarissa Anderson (for Michael Knight), to take the coveted ELLE fashion spread.
Jeffrey Sebelia was accused of having outside help to finish his garments by fellow competitor Laura Bennett. The issue was investigated, and it was declared that he had followed the guidelines and did not violate any rules that would prevent him from continuing in the competition at Fashion Week. He did, however, go over budget by $227.95, and had to remove things from his collection to bring it back under the budget limit. However, he did not have to remove articles of clothing he had designed; the only items taken out were blonde wigs.
Uli was the runner-up to the title, also highly praised by the judges for her collection. Designer Michael Knight was first eliminated in the season finale for his collection titled "Street Safari." Michael was a fan favorite, but his line did not appeal to the judges in Fashion Week. Knight was also eliminated due to his lack of industry experience. Designer Laura was second eliminated in the finale for her collection of cocktail dresses and evening wear, with the judges praising how expensive the items in the collection looked. At the time Laura was pregnant with her sixth child. Jeffrey won the competition, and his girlfriend and son were there to celebrate his win with him. He was also the winner of a 2007 Saturn Sky Roadster.
[edit] Season 4
- Further information: Project Runway (season 4)
Casting auditions for Season 4 of Project Runway began in April 2007 and production took place in June and July 2007. The fourth season premiered on November 14, 2007, with Heidi Klum returning as host and Tim Gunn returning as design mentor. Earlier in the year Gunn was named Chief Creative Officer for Liz Claiborne Inc..[4]
Cast members for Season 4 were revealed during episodes of Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
This was the first season a designer was compelled to quit the competition for medical reasons. Jack Mackenroth left in Episode 5 and was replaced by Chris March, who had been the most recently eliminated designer.
This was also the first season in which four designers were chosen to prepare collections for Fashion Week, but only three will proceed on in the competition to show their collections at Fashion Week. Christian Siriano, who had won the last challenge, was assured of presenting his designs at Fashion Week. Jillian, the runner up in the last challenge, was also guaranteed a spot in Fashion Week. In a new finale twist, Rami and Chris were in a deadlock and had to show the three best pieces from their collections to the judges. With these three initial looks, one winner would be chosen to participate in Fashion Week. Rami was selected for the third slot at Bryant Park, and Chris March was eliminated.
Kathleen "Sweet P." Vaughn, the last designer eliminated before the finale, produced a decoy collection for Fashion Week, along with Chris March, the designer eliminated in the first part of the finale. Siriano won $10,000 as the Project Runway Season 4 Fan Favorite. Season 3 Fan Favorite winner, Michael Knight, brought out the check to Christian during the Reunion episode.
In the final days of New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park, New York, Christian Siriano beat out fellow contestants Jillian Lewis and Rami Kashou to become the fourth and youngest winner of Project Runway. Winning alongside Siriano was his model, Lisa Nargi, who won the coveted ELLE fashion editorial featuring his winning designs at Fashion Week, over fellow models Sam Ruggiero (for Rami Kashou) and Lauren Browne (for Jillian Lewis). This was also the first season of the show wherein the final three models did not wear the finale pieces of their respective designers.
[edit] Season 5
- Further information: Project Runway (season 5)
[edit] Season 6
The sixth season has been announced to begin airing in November 2008.[2][3]
There are also rumors that this could be an All-Stars season of Runway, featuring contestants of past seasons like Chloe Dao, Santino Rice, Andrae Gonzalo, Jay McCarroll, Nick Verreos and Daniel Vosovic. [5] In this season there were 14 people.
[edit] References
- ^ Complete List of 2007 Peabody Award Winners.
- ^ a b Project Runway Walks To Lifetime; NBC Files Suit.
- ^ a b Project Runway Shocker.
- ^ Tim Gunn on his new gig and what it means for ''Runway'' | Tim Gunn | The Q&A | News + Notes | Entertainment Weekly
- ^ reality blurred + All-star Project Runway designers may reunite for competition.
[edit] External links
- Project Runway official web site
- "Project Runway" at Yahoo! TV
- "Project Runway News @ BuddyTV"
- Project Runway at the Internet Movie Database
- Project Runway at TV.com
- Blogging Project Runway
- Project Rungay
- "Project Runway at Newsday.com"
- Preview of Project Runway Season 4, Part 1 at film.com
- Preview of Project Runway Season 4, Part 2 at film.com
- Project Runway Wiki
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