Project Runway was the only reality tv series that I could stand to watch. I love high fashion, so you know I was glued to my television set when this show came out. It really shows you the amount of stress and work that goes into designing clothes that people will want to buy. From Wikpedia:

Project Runway is an 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. The third season winner received a spread in Elle magazine, a mentorship with INC (Inter-National Concepts) Design, a year of representation by Designers Management Agency, a 2007 Saturn Sky Roadster, and $100,000 furnished by TRESemme professional haircare to start a clothing line.

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 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 judged by a panel of judges. The judges then interview the designers and share their opinions before conferring as a group and selecting winning and losing designers. 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 at New York’s Olympus 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 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 Furstenbergh, 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 New New School for Design, shopping for materials at a fabrics store in NeChief 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 w 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.

delete reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Jan 25, ’08 Everything is becoming a reality show–probably because reality is more interesting than fiction. Cooking, clothing design, tattoos, makeovers, singing, dancing. It’s back to the future. We are back at Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. And the kick is, you don’t need big writers, the stars are unknowns and production saves a bundle. It’s such a highly competitive field, and very cutthroat, Having taught the deaf at The High School of Fashion Industries, and having studied at F.I.T. (Fashion Institute of Technology) I was right there in the garment center for years.  I used to shop for materials down there, too, very exciting area.

delete reply sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Jan 25, ’08 I LOVE this program…and have a young friend who hopes to go to design school who I share this program with. Tim Gunn recently came to the area and meet him…VERY nice person and so gracious to his fans. This reality show is a bit like a fantasy to me as I possess zero capapbilites in the sewing department so I enjoy seeing such creativity and talent.

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jan 26, ’08, edited on Jan 26, ’08 It was interesting and amazing to see what creations the designers came up with because they were given so little time to make anything.

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jan 26, ’08 Does anyone know if this show is running new episodes ?

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Aug 28, ’08 Cathy, It’s a designer competition.