Project Runway Season 6
"Project Runway" is an American reality TV show about fashion design, broadcasted by a television network. In each episode, designers are tested with different tasks, and at least one designer is eliminated per episode. The final three designers compete in Olympus Fashion Week, but only one designer emerges as the winner. The prizes for the winner include having their fashion designs featured in a magazine, a one-year apprenticeship contract, a brand-new Thorstar convertible sports car, and a ten-thousand-dollar cash prize sponsored by a professional haircare brand to establish their personal fashion brand.
"Project Runway" is aired on TVB Pearl in Hong Kong, and has completed broadcasting its fourth season. It is also shown in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In mainland China, it is aired on the Travel & Living Channel and the Shanghai Oriental Television Foreign Language Channel, with the latter having broadcast up to the end of the fifth season. The host of the show is supermodel Heidi Klum, while long-term judges include American fashion designer Michael Kors, magazine fashion director Nina Garcia, and sometimes Heidi herself. Occasionally, there are guest judges who vary weekly, such as designers Diane von Furstenberg and Vera Wang, critic from The Wall Street Journal, models like Iman, celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lohan Cox, or experts in related fields, like postman Tim Gunn, who is the head of the fashion department at Parsons Design School and acts as a mentor to the contestants on the show.
The program is mainly filmed in New York, with a brief stay in Paris during the third season. Contestants use Parsons Design School as their workshop, purchasing fabrics or materials to create ready-to-wear garments. During the competition, they reside at the Alatres Apartments near the school in New York. Each episode presents different challenges to the designers. Sometimes, they are required to make clothes using non-traditional fabric materials, such as using recycled waste to make clothing in one season, and creating outfits from supermarket items in other seasons. They may also be tasked to design clothes for specific individuals, like figure skater Sasha Cohen and Miss USA Tina Connor, or to design products for ready-to-wear companies such as Banana Republic or Macy's, or to create specially themed costumes, like cocktail dresses.
For each challenge, the designers receive a set amount of money and limited time to make their clothes, usually working independently, though some themes require team work. Upon the deadline, the designers must dress the models, style their hair, and apply makeup before the models walk the runway. The judging panel reviews each designer’s clothing, asking them about their design concepts and conducting interviews. Group work assignments may also occur. At the end of each episode, one winning designer and one losing designer are selected, with the losing designer being eliminated.
After the final challenge, three or four designers enter the finals. They must design a series of fashions to be showcased at New York Fashion Week held in Bryant Park on the final day. Finalists have a week and a budget of ten thousand dollars to prepare their collections, either in their personal studios or homes. While outsourcing is allowed, most of the clothing must be self-made and designed. Before the fashion show, finalists return to New York City to check if the clothing fits properly, and additional challenges might be given, such as designing another piece that matches the theme. Finally, all judges decide who will be the winner. The winner receives a hundred-thousand-dollar fund to start their brand, a double-page introduction in the magazine, and an apprenticeship with a design company. In recent seasons, an additional new car is awarded as a prize.
Models also participate in this competition. The number of designers decreases weekly, and so does the number of models, until only one model remains. Models are sometimes randomly assigned to designers, while at other times, designers have the opportunity to choose their models. The winning designer of the previous challenge gets priority in selecting the winning model, who will wear the winning designer’s clothing in a double-page feature in the American edition of the magazine.
