If you live under a rock, you've never heard of Project Runway. I'm assuming you don't live under a rock, so you must be familiar with Bravo's Weinstein-headed, Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn-hosted smash series about 16 desperate fashion designers. Three of the designers will ultimately show collections at Fashion Week, and one will take all in the competition: $100,000 to start their own line, a new car, and usually an apprenticeship from a well-known off the rack company such as Banana Republic.
The draw of watching this reality show is the creative aspect: how many people, outside of FIT and Parsons students really understand the process of creating fashion? And when the usual reality TV gimmicks are thrown in (tight deadlines, tight budgets, weird materials, sleep deprivation) hilarity and drama inevitably ensue. I've been drawn to this show since it first premiered in December 2004. I was 16 or 17 at the time, and I'm 22 now.
What does this all have to do with the nature of "If reality TV has taught us anything"?
As the seasons progressed, two things were patently obvious:
1) This show was Bravo's top moneymaker
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2) As such, the show became a vehicle for sponsors and brand names.
The designers don't go to Fashion Week, they show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. To complete their models' outfits, the designers borrow from the BlueFly.com accessories wall. When readying for runway shows, the models are gussied up in the Loreal Paris makeup room. And some challenges are dedicated entirely to a certain product, such as Season 4's Levi's jeans challenge.
To keep viewers interested, Bravo also poses questions to viewers during commercial breaks, which viewers reply to using text messaging. (A popular question posed is who viewers would like to see eliminated). Viewers are additionally integrated through the Fan Favorite contest. This one is simple: Vote for your favorite designer, the one with the most votes wins an additional $10,000 dollars at the season reunion episode. My guess behind this is to keep ratings up for an episode which sees no fashions being made, and no designers being eliminated.
This show has evolved from revealing the creativity and process in creating fashion to touting major sponsors and employing silly gimmicks to keep their viewership interested. If text messaging and the Internet not existed, Bravo would have been forced to create more original challenges for their designers, and rely less on big-name sponsors to think for them. I think it's cool that Bravo attempts to involve viewers, but I've never once voted in text messaging questions or Fan Favorite.
This summer Project Runway is moving to Lifetime after an extensive legal battle between The Weinstein Company and NBC. I'm curious to see how the show will change, if at all.
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