USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Project Runway’ is refashioned ( again)
‘ Junior’ looks for a seamless spinoff as teens take a turn
When Project Runway Junior arrives Thursday, it may spell redemption for Sara Rea.
It’s not the first time that the executive producer tried to create a show based on teen talent, but the hope is that this one will have legs for the runway.
Last fall, Rea produced Project Runway: Threads, a similar spinoff of Project Runway that focused on middle school- aged designers and had little continuity. Each week, three new kids worked with an adult assistant and competed for $ 25,000. But Lifetime’s Project Runway Junior hews more closely to the original, following 12 designers, ages 13 to 17, from week to week as they vie for a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, a spread in Seventeen magazine, a home sewing and crafting studio and $ 25,000 to jump- start their fashion line.
The project hopes to avoid the failure of Threads and replicate Fox’s success with MasterChef Junior.
Runway’s Tim Gunn will serve as the mentor, alongside a judging panel that includes supermodel Hannah Davis, Kelly Osbourne, Runway winner Christian Siriano and Aya Kanai, executive fashion director at Cosmopolitan and Seventeen. Look for guest appearances from first lady Michelle Obama, who will announce a special challenge via video, and actress Bella Thorne, who will judge the final challenge.
Gunn is the first to acknowledge that he was skeptical about the series.
“I’ll tell you, I taught college students for 29 years and I have worked with adults through Project Runway for 14 seasons, and I was a little dubious,” he says. “I thought, ‘ What can these kids really bring to the table? Will I have to walk on eggshells?’ ”
But after seeing how sophisticated the designs were, how shrewdly the teens responded to the judges’ critiques and how positively they rallied around the elimination, Gunn became an immediate convert.
“Unlike the adults, they’re fearless,” Gunn says. “They want to take chances. They do step up and step out, and it’s just such a thrill to be around them.”
Gunn adds that the youngsters also are adept at identifying issues with construction — with a subtle prompt.
“I have a particular method to my mentoring, which is ideally to get the designers — whether they’re a teen or an adult — to see what I’m seeing and to declare it before I say it,” Gunn says. “And each of them was really excellent in terms of their own critical analytic abilities.”
And how do the designers feel about the formidable fashion consultant?
“Seriously, he knows everything about fashion!” exclaims Peytie, a 15- year- old from Carlsbad, Calif. “I remember he would just come over and change one tiny little thing and it completely changed the whole look. He has such an eye — it’s unbelievable!”
Peytie started designing in sev- enth grade.
“I remember there was this shirt going around that everyone was wearing that said, “You can’t sit with us” and I thought that was the most negative shirt ever,” she says. “So, I went home from school that day and I made a shirt that said, ‘ You can sit with us’ and I wore that to school and everyone started saying, ‘ Hey, can I get that shirt from you? Where can I buy that?’”
From there, her fashion line, True Violette, was born. Peytie — who has professionally surfed since sixth grade — says the designs are inspired by the ocean, and she says Junior taught her to stay true to her bohemian style.
For Sami, 17, of Westlake Village, Calif., the series helped her find it.
Sami was at a national dance competition when she found out she was selected for Runway.
She first started designing in elementary school, taking sewing classes on the side. Though Sami describes her style as slightly masculine — she turned heads at homecoming this year when she wore a faded, floral pantsuit with a sleek ponytail — she prefers glitz and glam for her designs.
“I think my future fashion line would include lots of embellishments and sparkles; definitely gowns and really elegant wear that you’d probably see at the Met Ball,” she says. “And Beyoncé would 100% be wearing everything — let’s be real.”
Gunn doesn’t find that too far- fetched.
“They’re phenomenal, and for me, what I love about Project Runway Junior is that it’s such an incredible inspiration. You see these young people who are not out of the incubator yet ( and) they’re already so determined and so tenacious about what they do and they do it so well already and just imagine where they’ll be in 10 years.”
Gunn says he hopes the show will subvert the dialogue about Generation Z’s work ethic.
“I hope this show wakes people up and causes them to say, ‘ Good heavens! The future couldn’t look brighter to me.’ ”