| Project Runway Australia | |
|---|---|
| Format | Reality, competition |
| Created by | Eli Holzman |
| Starring | Megan Gale (2011 - Present) Alex Perry (2011-present) Jarrad Clark (2011 – present) Kirrily Johnston (2011 – present) Kristy Hinze (2008-2009) Henry Roth (2008-2009) Sarah Gale (2008-2009) Jayson Brunsdon (2008-2009) |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 33 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | FremantleMedia Australia |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Arena |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | 15 September 2008 – Present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Project Runway Australia is a reality television show based on Project Runway wherein fashion Designers compete by making specific garments for specific challenges. All contestants appearing on the show are designers residing in Australia. The show features Megan Gale as the host, and Kirrily Johnston, and Jarrad Clark as judges.[1] Alex Perry acts as a mentor to the contestants, as Tim Gunn does in the American version.[2] Production began in May, and the show premiered on Arena 8.30 p.m. (AEST) Monday 7 July 2008.[3]
The prizes for the winner of Project Runway Australia included what is described as "$100,000 opportunity" to create their own fashion line to show in Melbourne Fashion Week, a Fiat 500 car, and having their clothes displayed in a six-page spread in Madison magazine.[4]
It was announced on 15 October 2009 that the show had been picked up for a third season to air in 2011.
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Kristy Hinze is a model and appeared in the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Sarah Gale is a fashion buyer and a trend forecaster. She is a regular speaker at Melbourne's School for Fashion. Her judging point of view is commercial appeal. Jayson Brunsdon is a fashion designer in Australia. He has dressed several people including INXS, Princess Mary, and Linda Evangelista. His clothes are sold in over 10 countries. Henry Roth, the mentor to the designers, is a fashion designer who lived in New York for 10 years. During that time he appeared on several shows and was even a judge on Style Court for two seasons.
Kirsty Hinze, Sarah Gale and Jayson Brunsdon were replaced by Megan Gale, Kirrily Johnston and Jarrad Clark respectively for the third season, with Alex Perry replacing Henry Roth as mentor..[1]
Project Runway uses progressive elimination to reduce the initial field of 10 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 or several 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 design aesthetic. These challenges may include creating a garment from non-traditional materials, such as: car parts, recyclable materials; to designing for a certain high-profile person (such as singer Kelly Rowland, a corporate fashion line (e.g., Myer), or centered around a specialized theme (such as "cocktail party", "wedding gown", or "bikini").
The show takes place in Melbourne with designers using a workroom at the Whitehouse Institute of Design. They shop for materials at a fabric store in Melbourne (usually at Rathdowne Fabrics) — unless the challenge requires otherwise. The designers are sequestered by grouped genders together in apartments. 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, or risk being disqualified from the competition.
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 (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 or as a single collective group. 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 look in a number of categories from 0 to 5, or other personal annotations and comments in regards to the designs being presented. The judges then interview the designers who garnered the highest and the lowest scores (usually a top 3 and a bottom 3) and share their opinions before conferring as a group in private after the designers' defense of their outfits. The panel then selects 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 to make it into the final round. Other incentives given to the contestants aside from winning immunity is that 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.
After the final challenge, the remaining three or four designers are then told to prepare a complete fashion collection of 10 looks. Unlike some other Project Runway franchises, in the Australian version, the three finalists do not all present at Fashion Week. Instead, they are told they will present their collections in a live runway show before an audience of their peers, and the winner is chosen from that show. Only the winner of the season gets to go on to Fashion Week.
The finalists are given 2 months and $10000 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 Melbourne to oversee model casting, hair and make-up consultations, finishing touches to their clothes, final fitting on their models, and also may be thrown an additional challenge, such as designing an additional outfit to blend in with the collection. Their receipts are also handed over to the producers of the show to determine if they went overbudget or had outsourcing done as favors, both of which are against the rules. Otherwise, they might be forced to eliminate a crucial aesthetic factor in their presentation, or risk affecting their potential scoring from the judging panel should they stand by their decision to use a forbidden item. The ultimate winner is selected by the judges, and receives $100,000 to start his or her own design line, a magazine feature spread in Madison magazine, and a mentorship from a design firm (ended on Season 3). Subsequent seasons have also included a new car as part of the prize package, courtesy of car company Fiat 500.
Female fashion models who work with the designers throughout the season are also in the competition. Each week, as the number of designers dwindle, the number of models are also reduced, with one model remaining at the end. Models are randomly pre-assigned to a designer during the first challenge, and from the second challenge onwards, the designers will have an opportunity to pick the model they wish to work with. This usually happens during the start of every episode save for the first, with the winner of the previous challenge receiving first pick, and the other designers picking models in order through host Hinze's random draw of large red shirt buttons with their names stored in a black velvet bag. Though, there are times when only the winning designer will be given the choice to pick with the following choices: either keep his or her previous model, take the losing designer's model from the last challenge, or switch models with another competing designer. Included in the prize package for the winning model is coverage in Madison magazine, featuring the winning designer's twelve-piece collection as part of her prize. However, certain challenges may not require the models at all.
Joining Hinze in judging duties includes Australian designer Jayson Brunsdon, fashion buyer Sarah Gale, and a fourth judge - typically a fashion designer, a supermodel or a celebrity or a professional from an industry related to the challenge given. Henry Roth, renowned Australian designer, acts as mentor to the designers and does not participate in the judging. Instead, he visits the designers midway through each challenge to comment and suggest improvements for each design, as well as announcing additional challenge updates and enforcing the time limit before each runway show. Roth also usually announces the design challenges aside from Hinze, and accompanies the designers during their fabric shopping at Rathdowne or on field trips related to a particular challenge.
Next season is set to be hosted by Megan Gale, the face of David Jones while Hinze is moving on to start a family. Insiders rumour Jayson Brunsdon to be out and Alex Perry in, as Perry designs for David Jones as opposed to Brundsdon who currently designs for Myer.
Project Runway Australia premiered its first season on 7 July 2008. In its first season, Project Runway Australia received critical acclaim, including an Astra nomination for outstanding reality series.
The winning designer of the first season was Brisbane-based designer Juli Grbac. Second place was Leigh Buchanon, and third was Petrova Hammond. As her prize for winning the competition among 12 designers, Grbac was eligible to receive a $100,000 cash prize, a Fiat 500 car and display of her work in the Australian edition of Madison magazine. The winning model of the first season, selected by Grbac, was Lucy McIntosh, who beat out models Yumika Hoskin (for Buchanon) and Anthea Crebbin (for Hammond).
Project Runway Australia premiered its second season on 8 July 2009. Season 2 was won by Anthony Capon from Melbourne on 16 September 2009. William Lazootin achieved 2nd place and Lauren Vieyra came in 3rd place. Although she finished in ninth place, fashion designer Amber Renae quickly established herself as a television personality following her appearance on the series.
The third season premiered on 4 July 2011, with Australian model Megan Gale replacing Kristy Hinze as the host of the reality series. Gale now serves as a executive producer, and contestant mentor Henry Roth has been replaced by Australian designer Alex Perry.
The 12 Designers are:
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