48 Fun Facts About Project Runway

What was the name of the Boston terrier who greeted Project Runway designers at their fabric store?

Swatch belonged to the family that owns the store and became its mascot, greeting contestants or sleeping through their shopping dashes until he died in 2022 at 15.

Which farewell does Heidi Klum say to each designer eliminated from Project Runway?

Auf Wiedersehen comes with an air kiss, and the send-off stuck so firmly that fans and recappers call being eliminated getting "auf'd".

Longtime Project Runway judge Nina Garcia became editor-in-chief of which fashion magazine in 2017?

Elle was a homecoming: Garcia had been its fashion director when the show began, left for Marie Claire in 2008, and came back nine years later to run the magazine.

Which Project Runway season 2 designer went on to judge the first six seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race?

Santino Rice, who finished third in season 2, sat beside RuPaul from 2009 until Carson Kressley and Ross Mathews took over the seat for season 7.

Which designer replaced Michael Kors as a regular Project Runway judge starting in season 11?

Zac Posen got the seat because seasons 10 and 11 were filmed back to back and Kors could not commit to all the dates; Posen stayed until 2018.

Which New York fabric store do Project Runway's contestants usually shop at?

Mood Designer Fabrics got such a boost from the show that mentor Tim Gunn's exit line, "Thank you, Mood!", became a slogan the Garment District store sells on merchandise.

At which New York design school was Project Runway filmed for most of its first decade?

Parsons also supplied the mentor: Tim Gunn chaired its fashion department, and because the show paid him nothing at first, he lived on his teaching salary.

Why did Jeffrey Sebelia drop the wigs from his winning Project Runway finale?

Over budget by $227.95: a rival's claim that he farmed out his sewing led producers to audit his receipts, which cleared him of that but found the $8,000 limit overshot.

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn shared which award in 2013 for hosting Project Runway?

A Primetime Emmy for outstanding reality host went to the pair in 2013, five years after Klum co-hosted the ceremony as one of the category's first nominees and left without it.

Which prestigious broadcasting prize was Project Runway awarded for its 2007 season?

The Peabody Award citation called the creative process the heart of the series and praised it for using the reality contest "to engage, inform, enlighten and entertain".

Whose 2018 bankruptcy sent Project Runway back to Bravo?

The Weinstein Company had already had its founder's name and its logo pulled from the show's credits in 2017; once it went bankrupt, a court approved the sale of its assets, the show included.

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn left Project Runway in 2018 to create which Amazon fashion competition?

Making the Cut raised the stakes for its designers: a $1 million prize, and each episode's winning look was put on sale on Amazon for viewers to buy.

Which model took over as Project Runway's host for its 2019 return in season 17?

Karlie Kloss hosted two seasons and one viral exchange: when a judge said she would never wear a designer's look, he shot back, "Not even to dinner with the Kushners?", her in-laws, and went home.

Which former Project Runway champion returned as the show's mentor in 2019?

Christian Siriano was a red-carpet name by then: in 2016, when Leslie Jones tweeted that no designer would dress her for the Ghostbusters premiere, he made her gown.

Which celebrity stylist joined Project Runway's judging panel in 2025?

Law Roach, the self-described image architect behind Zendaya's red-carpet looks, took the seat two years after announcing his retirement from celebrity styling.

Who won the very first season of Project Runway?

Jay McCarroll turned down both the $100,000 and the Banana Republic mentorship after learning the contract would give the producers a share of whatever he went on to make.

Why did eliminated Project Runway designer Austin Scarlett still show at Fashion Week in season 1?

As a decoy for finalists: producers feared the real final three would leak before the finale aired, so a fourth collection walked too, and decoys became a fixture of later seasons.

Who won season 2 of Project Runway?

Chloe Dao, a Laos-born designer, was already running her own Houston boutique when she won, and she went straight home afterwards to keep building it.

Which Project Runway season 3 designer was the first sent home for breaking the show's rules?

Keith Michael was sent home in the fourth episode after a fellow contestant found banned pattern-making books among his things; he insisted they were for his own menswear line.

Which retailer replaced Banana Republic as a Project Runway sponsor starting in season 3?

Macy's signed on in 2006, just as it was going national by putting its own name on the former May Company department stores.

Through season 22, what distinction does Project Runway's season 4 champion hold among its winners?

Youngest winner: Christian Siriano was 21 when his nearly all-black collection of ruffles and feathers took the title, and he told the cameras, "But hello? Did you have a doubt?"

Why did Jack Mackenroth leave Project Runway partway through season 4?

Medical reasons: what he first took for a pimple in his nose was a drug-resistant staph infection, and after walking off the show he spent five days in hospital on intravenous antibiotics.

Project Runway's season 5 opened by repeating which task from season 1?

The grocery store challenge sent the new designers back to a Gristedes supermarket, and Austin Scarlett, who won the task the first time with a cornhusk gown, returned as guest judge.

Who won Project Runway's season 5, the first with an all-female final three?

Leanne Marshall climbed from the bottom two in the second episode to win with a wave-inspired collection, and she also made a maternity dress for the pregnant Heidi Klum.

Which city hosted Project Runway's season 6, the first filmed outside New York?

Los Angeles hosted season 6 at a fashion school, but a court fight kept it off the air so long that its finale runway show was held before a single episode had been broadcast.

Which company sued to block Project Runway's move to Lifetime, delaying season 6?

NBCUniversal, owner of the show's first network, won an injunction in 2008 that stopped Lifetime airing or even promoting the season until the producers paid to settle the next April.

Which season 2 runner-up won the 2009 Project Runway: All-Star Challenge special and its $100,000 prize?

Daniel Vosovic beat seven other alumni in the one-night special, collecting the same $100,000 he had missed out on as a runner-up three years earlier.

Who won Project Runway's season 6, its first on Lifetime?

Irina Shabayeva, who comes from the country of Georgia, won with a collection inspired by female warriors, and Carrie Underwood later wore one of her ombré gowns on the cover of Blown Away.

Which Project Runway season 7 designer quit late in the season, saying she wasn't ready?

Maya Luz walked out in episode 11, saying she had only just left school and wasn't fully developed as a designer yet; the eliminated Anthony Williams was brought back in her place.

Who won season 7 of Project Runway in 2010?

Seth Aaron Henderson later came back to win a season of All Stars as well, which made him the first designer to take the title twice.

Gretchen Jones narrowly beat which fan favorite in Project Runway's season 8 finale?

Mondo Guerra had Heidi Klum and guest judge Jessica Simpson on his side, but Michael Kors and Nina Garcia held out for Jones through an unusually long deliberation, a result Tim Gunn later criticised.

Which Project Runway season 8 designer later made the white lace gown Beyoncé wore to the 2014 Grammys?

Michael Costello, who finished fourth in season 8, made the sheer gown she changed into after opening the show, and said the night felt like winning a Grammy himself.

Which Trinidadian designer won Project Runway's season 9 and its fan favorite vote?

Anya Ayoung-Chee, a former Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe, had only about four months of sewing behind her when she arrived, yet finished most challenges in the judges' top three.

Who won the tenth season of Project Runway in 2012?

Dmitry Sholokhov, a Belarus-born designer who works mostly in black, went on to win All Stars too, then finished one place short of a third title in 2019.

Project Runway's season 11 carried which subtitle, reflecting a twist in its format?

Teams Edition made the designers work in groups for every challenge, and its winner, Michelle Lesniak, came close to being sent home before the judges gave her a second chance.

Which twist kept Justin LeBlanc in Project Runway's season 12 after the judges had eliminated him?

The Tim Gunn Save let the mentor overrule the judges once a season; LeBlanc, a Deaf designer sent home in episode 6, used the reprieve to reach the finale and finish third.

Who won season 12 of Project Runway in 2013?

Dom Streater went from the win to a New York Fashion Week show and a design job at Urban Outfitters, then came back to take an All Stars title as well.

Which designer won Project Runway's season 14 in 2015 with a plus-size collection?

Ashley Nell Tipton turned the win into a contract with JCPenney, which hired her to design for its plus-size boutique and to be its face.

Project Runway's Claire Buitendorp was disqualified in season 16 for keeping what in her apartment?

A measuring tape let her copy the measurements of clothes she had brought from home; she admitted it to Tim Gunn, who took back the challenge win she had just been handed and sent her home.

Which designer, also a classical pianist, won season 16 of Project Runway in 2017?

Kentaro Kameyama played Tim Gunn a piano piece during his home visit, then explained it was the sound he heard after burying a dead cat he had found in the street.

Who won season 17 of Project Runway in 2019?

Sebastian Grey, a Colombian designer who came up through his family's leather business, went on to a New York Fashion Week debut and, in 2024, a collection for the shopping channel HSN.

Who won Project Runway's all-star season 20 in 2023?

Bishme Cromartie, fourth in season 17, won while grieving his older sister, who had recently died of cancer, and showed a collection at New York Fashion Week within a week.

On which channel did Project Runway's season 21 premiere in July 2025?

Freeform, a Disney-owned cable channel, became the show's third network and marked the move by bringing Heidi Klum back as host after eight years away.

Who hosted the last five seasons of the spin-off Project Runway All Stars?

Alyssa Milano, an actress rather than a model, got the job for season 3 after Angela Lindvall and Carolyn Murphy had each lasted a single season, and she kept it to the end of the run.

Which Project Runway spin-off put three former contestants in charge of teams of new designers?

Under the Gunn turned the usual set-up around: Tim Gunn stepped up to host while three past contestants did the workroom coaching, and it lasted a single season in 2014.

Which Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model hosted the teen spin-off Project Runway: Junior?

Hannah Davis fronted both seasons of the spin-off for designers aged 13 to 17, with Tim Gunn as mentor; by the second she had married Derek Jeter and taken his name.

Which star presented the first series of Project Catwalk, Britain's version of Project Runway?

Elizabeth Hurley fronted only the first series in 2006; Kelly Osbourne replaced her as presenter for the other two before Sky One dropped the show.

Which supermodel joined Project Runway as a recurring judge in 2026?

Tyra Banks arrived for the biggest season yet: a record 22 designers started, and a first-night twist sent six of them home on looks they had made before filming began.