Watch This Space

Author: Sheila Seles

Slip on your moccasins, comb your faux-hawk into place and get ready for the show that has fashionistas from coast to coast cheering. "Project Runway", the latest brainchild of entertainment mega-moguls Harvey and Bob Weinstein (with help from super-model Heidi Klum), airs on Bravo at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays.

The premise: 12 amateur designers compete to win a reality show contest by tackling a new fashion challenge each week. Some past challenges include creating a wedding dress, updating the U.S. Postal Service uniform and making a bathing suit that could double as evening wear. A panel of fashion heavyweights then evaluates all the designs and chooses to eliminate the weakest designer. The last three designers left got to show their fashions on the catwalk during New York's Fashion Week last Friday. The result is still under wraps due to the show's production delay. The winning designer gets a fashion designer's dream package: $100,000 to start his or her own fashion line, a mentorship from Banana Republic and a fashion spread in Elle magazine.

On paper, "Project Runway" seems like a typical reality show contest in the vein of "The Apprentice." In truth, it is. The premise follows the formula for a successful reality contest show: "Project Runway" has a bunch of young people living in a pimped-out apartment, projects that test human endurance (in this case, short deadlines and long hours) and plenty of personality conflicts. "Project Runway" stands out among other reality shows, however, because it lets the viewer into a very glamorous microcosm of society -- the fashion world. "Project Runway" gives us a brief but fascinating look at what it takes to design, make and show clothing. Each week we follow the designers to fabric stores and sewing studios as their creations come to life.

The show started in early December, and this week's episode is the last before fashion week. Things are heating up as only four designers remain. Bravo's not hiding its lust for ratings - it seems like the designers with the most personality, not necessarily the most talent, remain. For example, Wendy should have been fired last week. Her updated design of the postal uniform looked exactly like the current postal uniform, but I'm sure the producers want to keep her around as an antagonistic force. She's the oldest contestant by far and she makes no attempt to connect with the other contestants, which makes for tense situations all around. And while tension does not a reality show make, tension does make a reality show more interesting. Of the other remaining designers, Kara has the best track record, which makes sense since she works as a professional designer and stylist. But Austin and Jay, the last two contestants, each have a lot of flair and could give Kara a run for her money.

The designers also have to work with models, which usually makes for some interesting television. While these models don't have the panache of Derek Zoolander, they are far more than just glorified mannequins. In past episodes, the designers have had to deal with models who ruined the clothes and models who couldn't walk in the clothes, but the most interesting model snafu happened when Jay's model didn't show up at all. Pressed to find an emaciated six-foot woman in the frantic final minutes before the runway show, Jay finally asked fellow designer Austin to step in as a model. If Austin's career as a designer falls through, he'd make a terrific model. He strode down the runway with a graceful model's prance and resisted the urge to sabotage Jay's design. The model's failure to show up seemed like a planned plot twist, but to enjoy "Project Runway," you have to embrace the show's fabulousness and ignore loose threads in logistics.

This week's "Project Runway" promises a tough competition, as the last designer will be eliminated before Fashion Week. The designers will be creating a dress suitable to wear at the Grammy Awards (sounds like a good place to get ideas for that Winter Carnival dress). Go on, give yourself over to fashion.