New Project Runway Premiers Without a Stitch

Fashion fans, don’t fret: after a yearlong absence, Project Runway will finally begin its fourth season tonight. And even though Bravo has come up with a particularly lame tagline for this installment of the reality series (“It’s sew time”? That’s the best you can do?), Project Runway itself is going to be better than ever—at least, if you believe what Runway staple Tim Gunn and host Heidi Klum said in a recent conference call.

According to Gunn, the fashion guru and Chief Creative Officer at Liz Claiborne Inc. who acts as a mentor for the competing designers, “With each successive season of Project Runway, at least in my view, the group of designers has been stronger and stronger. And season four is our strongest group yet.”

The season premiere proves Gunn right. These designers are professional and often already established in the fashion world. They also get to show their skills right away, thanks to a first challenge that is not nearly as gimmicky as some from seasons past. Instead of being forced to make clothing out of items found in a supermarket—incidentally, both Klum and Gunn named this as their favorite past challenge—or materials from their own apartments, the contestants are given $50,000 worth of premium textiles to create a design that expresses who they are as designers.
Early favorites include the Israeli Rami Kashou, who has already designed awards show outfits for celebrities like Jessica Alba, and 21-year-old Christian Siriano, who tells us in the opening minutes of the episode that he “was accepted to a university in London, where I was able to work with huge, amazing designers—Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood.” In his audition video, Christian notes, “I’m kind of fierce ... and I’m kind of a celebrity. In my own head.” Later, he decries the “hand-sewn crap” that he sees other designers laboring over in the workroom.

Clearly, someone’s gunning to be the new Santino Rice, the third-place winner from Project Runway’s second season who was famous for his elaborate outfits and sharp tongue. Santino’s legacy lives on at Runway—as Klum said, “My favorite drama queen really was Santino ... I mean, the things that came out of his mouth sometimes were just unbelievable. Sometimes very over the top where you have to think about if that even can be aired, or has to be bleeped or whatever.”

Tim Gunn recalled the contestant’s impressive impression of him: “On the show, when I hear my voice off camera, I think, ‘is that me or is it Santino?’ I will never be sure.”
Santino’s got serious competition for most memorable Project Runway contestant in the form of Elisa Jimenez, a multimedia artist and “accidental fashion designer” who already has her own page on Wikipedia. Jimenez specializes in making enormous marionettes and fashion that is “more toward the edge of avant-garde.” She also appears to be accomplished in the art of bullshit: Jimenez describes her first dress as “a mythical gown ... a cascade, almost like water. Or magic.” Later, she elaborates: “I wanted something that would be sylph-like, you know, aerial, water-air, going for a haiku of a cut.”

Could it be possible that Jimenez will stay on the show not because of her artistic genius but instead because she’s, you know, a little nuts? Absolutely not, said Gunn: “I’ll say with impunity that it’s preposterous” to imply that contestants are cast or not kicked off of the show because of their personalities rather than their talent. During the audition process, Gunn said, “We bring the pool down to about 120 people. And I will say that out of those 120 people, any one of them could have won the entire season ... It’s all about what they produce on the show and not how loud they are or what antics they’re performing.”

Klum echoed her colleague, remarking that the judges’ deliberations are often long and trying. “It’s not just like boom, boom, boom, ‘you’re in,’ ‘you’re out,’ ‘auf wiedersehen,’ and see you next time, you know. I mean, we really, really take it to heart what they do and we want to be fair and all of that,” she said.

Unfortunately, neither Klum nor Gunn would reveal any guest judges who will help decide who stays and who goes on future episodes. However, Klum did not seem to be opposed to the idea one reporter had about her husband, the singer Seal, lending his talents to the Project Runway judging table someday. “I mean, he thinks it’s a fantastic show too. And, you know, he loves design. Before he started to become successful as a singer, he actually made clothes too. He specialized in leather.”