Project Runway is Back and Better Than Ever

Project Runway is back for Season 17. It's a new season, it's on a new station (Bravo instead of Lifetime), and it has new judges, a new mentor and, of course, a new group of hopeful designers. I wasn't sure about it when the initial changes were announced. It's a lot, dropping Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, as well as long-time judges, but I can say that I actually like a lot of the changes. So here we go again. 

The designers for Project Runway Season 17 are varied and
hungry for success. The question comes down to can they
design and can they construct? After last night's episode, I
have some doubts, but the first few eliminations are always
the easier ones. 

First, the new host and judges. The new host is model Karlie Kloss. I'm not familiar with her specifically, but any top fashion model has to be familiar with clothing, how they drape, how they walk a runway, and what needs to be done to make a so-so design into a show-stopper. 

The judges and mentor from l-r: judge Brandon Maxwell,
host Karlie Kloss, mentor Christian Siriano, and judges
Nina Garcia and Elaine Welteroth. 

The judges feature one familiar face and two new joins. My beloved Nina Garcia returns again, holding a new position - Editor-in-Chief of "Elle" magazine. Way to go, Ms Nina! The other two judges are designer Brandon Maxwell, and former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief, Elaine Welteroth. Everyone seems quite good at the poker face necessary as fashion - good and bad - walks the runway. 

Oh, and we can't forget the mentor. Who stepped into the shoes of Tim Gunn? Former Project Runway Season 4 winner and very successful designer Christian Siriano. I really liked him. He was strong, positive, gave excellent suggestions and didn't get caught up in the emotional storm of the workroom. 

The winning design last night was this
lovely beautifully-cut design by Tessa
Clark. The loser - well, the less said the
better for the loser, but the competition
looks like it will be interesting and I'll
try to be more expansive and show more
fashion in future posts. 

The new workroom is fabulous, the penthouse where the models live is gorgeous - very lux - and Mood is still the fabric store of choice. The models are ALL SIZES again - happy, happy me! I love it when designers actually design for real people. The designers themselves are a multitude of races, countries of origin, religious views and sexual identity. I'm sure there will be some jostling between designers as they get used to living with such a broad variety of people, but it's all good. 

So my Thursday nights are now set. Project Runway Season 17 is underway with its first winner and first designer sent home under the belt. I'm SO happy! LOL I'm going to quickly find some photos to share and then I have to get to the gym. I'm really hoping the streets will be safe for driving. They were talking possible glaze/glare ice as I went to sleep last night. *sigh*