Reality Meets Fashion Week
Sept. 13, 2006 — -- In the elite world of fashion, few first-time designers ever get to show their collections at New York's legendary Olympus Fashion Week.
The exception this year is Bravo's reality TV fashion show "Project Runway," which will take over the show Friday.
"Project Runway," hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum, is a stylish glimpse into the world of fashion from the eyes of 15 designers, all vying for the title of "the next great American designer."
The goal for most participants is simply to make it to the Final Three, which guarantees them a spot at Fashion Week.
At 9 a.m. Friday, that goal will be realized for the three final designers as each showcases his or her collection in hopes of winning an Elle magazine spread, a car, and $100,000 to start his or her own line.
The three finalists aren't known yet, and the executive producer would not give any clues in advance of Friday's show.
Most likely, a decoy will be included among the would-be Final Three because the shows air one week behind each other.
Here are the five remaining contestants. One of them will be voted off the show tonight:
Olympus Fashion Week has served as the backdrop to "Project Runway's" season finale the last two seasons.
Fanfare during the first season was limited, as "we were an unknown commodity," executive producer Shari Levine said.
Now expectations are very different because the show has achieved an almost cultlike status both in and out of the fashion community.
The third season has become the most-watched broadcast in Bravo's history.
Tim Gunn, the fashion-design chair at Manhattan's Parsons New School for Design, has the marquee catchphrase: "Make it work."
There's the never-ending "diva versus genius" debate over Season 2 contestant Santino Rice.
The drama, egos, talent and all-out catfights in the third season have catapulted the show to the No. 1 spot for a cable program for five weeks in a row.
"This is a show with definite word-of-mouth appeal," said EW.com senior writer Michael Slezak.
"It shows extremely talented folks creating things that most people at home wouldn't have the first clue about how to do."
While the average viewer may not know the first thing about a bias-cut dress, the average viewer knows what he or she likes.
On the "Project Runway" Web site, fans are willing and eager to pay $500 to more than $1,000 for the contestants' creations, even when they are made entirely out of materials from a waste-management recycling plant.
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