Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Making the Cut is new, but the pattern is familiar
I love the print, but the proportions seem wrong. I like the idea, but it feels a little joyless. There’s something very unresolved about the crotch on those pants, and they don’t feel elevated.
Did we all talk like this before Project Runway? Maybe. But I barely remember looking at the Chrysler Building and not thinking of Jay McCarroll’s dress from Season 1. I can’t hear the name “Andre” without also hearing Santino Rice imitating Tim Gunn sighing “What happened to Andre?” (He’s our little lamb, you guys.) I don’t think I say “fierce” anymore, but that’s only because I said it enough times post-Christian Siriano’s season that the well ran dry. I have owned multiple capes.
Project Runway was a cable darling and then a cable staple and then an “is that still on?” But now it has also spawned two direct descendants, Netflix’s Next In Fashion, which came out Jan. 29 and Amazon’s Making the Cut, which premiered March 27 and stars Heidi Klum and Gunn. And the original itself is still chugging along; it crowned its Season 18 winner March 12.
These are Darwin’s finches for reality contest shows, adapting to various conditions and also demonstrating what can be exploited within each environment. Or what can’t.
When Project Runway debuted
in 2004, it was initially a flop, but viewership increased fivefold over its season, and before you knew it, it was the classy reality contest show; American Idol was the brightest star in the galaxy, but that was also the kind of show that chews with its mouth open. Top Model had better drama, but it was decidedly lower brow. Then Runway switched from Bravo to Lifetime — after a protracted lawsuit — and in the interim, Top Chef came along and set a still unmatched standard of surprise credibility and glorious backbiting.
The tale of Runway is the tale of its spinoffs and cable’s propensity for bloat and self cannibalization: Episodes went up to 90 minutes, from 60. Then came the spinoff Project Accessory in 2011. Then Project Runway: All Stars, with judges Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman. (Chapman was at the time married to Harvey Weinstein; The Weinstein Co. produced Runway until 2017.) Under the Gunn aired in 2014. Project Runway: Threads begat Project Runway: Junior, a version with teen competitors — and easily the best spinoff in the franchise. The Shark Tank-esque Project Runway: Fashion Startup aired in 2016. There were also series
specifically about the models.
Streaming, as with other subscription media, is less reliant on spinoffs, but it also can’t reap the benefits. Siriano is one of the beating hearts of the Project Runway franchise, winning Season 4 then guest judging on All Stars, judging Threads, judging Junior and now taking over as mentor back on the original. He’s also now an executive producer on that
show and is by far the best part. Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes pervasive — and cable gets a lot more practice than streaming.
Which brings us to Making the Cut. It’s Amazon’s first reality show, and it does away with some of what makes Project Runway tick. For starters, the contestants don’t have to sew things and are instead assigned seamstresses to assemble garments.
Everything is extremely luxe, and the designers rarely seem constrained by cost. The show travels from New York to Paris to Tokyo. Naomi Campbell is among its judges. It all feels very lavish.
Making the Cut has a slightly different purpose than its brethren. As the show says over and over — and over — it’s looking for a “brand,” a “global brand,” and the winning designs from each episode are available to buy on Amazon. While Bravo and Lifetime occasionally offered manufacturing as a prize, it was rare and also not the central purpose of the series. Here it is, and the show sometimes feels unsure about its own commitments. The best designer and the most lucrative designer are not necessarily the same person.
That hasn’t made Making the Cut less enjoyable. In fact, the show is a very successful recapitulation of the Project Runway theme. Each of these shows is capable of pleasing us, of entertaining us, of educating us — and as the judges and mentors on each show remind us, you have to think about your client. Who’s your girl? they ask. Where is she going? Project Runway was designed to sell ad time. Next in Fashion was designed to sell Netflix subscriptions. Making the Cut was designed to sell Amazon Prime memberships and clothing. Those are their girls. That’s where they’re going.