Reality Check: Project Runway Update

The fourth season of Project Runway is actually happening. I must say I missed it this winter. New York fashion week was markedly less interesting without the suspense of finding out which PR contestants would show and who would win. I propose some kind of Battle of the Designing All Stars to make things more interesting. I would really like to see Michael Kors go all Orange-Tinted-Gorilla on those annoying little boys from Proenza Schouler. Their new Target commercial is getting on my nerves.

Fortunately, PR4 is on track to shoot in June, debuting in July with the finale occuring during the Spring 2008 shows next fall. You can find information about the casting for Season Four here.

I also found this New York Magazine article about Season Three winner Jeffrey Sebelia. It's interesting that none of the PR winners has made it big in the reality-show-winner sense of the word. Refreshing, actually. Unlike most reality shows, PR contestants compete against one another by performing an actual skill. Notably, the prize on PR isn't a million dollars or a new house or the opportunity to cheat on your spouse in a hot tub while a film crew looks on. Instead, winners receive the relatively modest sum of $100,000 to invest in their design business, a mentorship with a clothing purveyor (it used to be Banana Republic, now it's Macy's), and free publicity in Elle Magazine. In other words, winners get a little leg up in an extremely competitive business.

The article seems to indicate that PR winners aren't living up to their promise. Sebelia used his prize money to pay off business loans, Season One winner Jay McCarroll has sold some of his designs to Urban Outfitters, and Season Two winner Chloe Dao reinvested in her Houston business and opened a second boutique. Sure, maybe other reality show contestants have gone onto bigger and better things, like being convicted of tax fraud on their winnings. But I like the fact that none of the PR winners has cashed in on their television fame to marry NFL players and become shrill morning talk show hosts. They are passionate about fashion, which is why they did the show in the first place. And they've done what normal, non-fame-whorish people would do -- paid down loans, invested in their business, and developed relationships with retailers. It's like a parallel universe where being on a reality show doesn't automatically mean posing for Maxim. A parallel universe where a reality show bears an ironic resemblance to reality. Curious.