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Since Project Runway has paved the road for so many other fashion reality shows, is there more pressure now to be better than the competition? How do you deal with that?
I think there’s always competition in any job that you do and we just try to be true to what Project Runway is all about. I definitely think that we were one of the first ones who did a reality show about fashion. That’s why it was so hard to sell the show to begin with because people were always saying to us, “Why would someone want to watch how clothes are being made?”
We had to explain why it is interesting to show the talent of people, that they make something beautiful out of a piece of fabric or unconventional materials. So yes, there are definitely a lot of shows that have originated from Project Runway. And to the sense even though there are competitions I’m kind of proud of that too, because we started it.
Competition doesn’t make you rest and just sit on the couch with your feet up. I think it also pushes you to still work very hard at it. Even though we are doing the tenth season we still all love coming to work and we work all very hard making new challenges and thinking of new ideas and keeping it fresh. Even though we’ve been doing it for ten seasons we still want to keep it fresh and exciting for all viewers. We definitely do not fall asleep over here. And with competition, it makes you work harder in a way.
Since fashion has become even more accessible nowadays, how do you approach the challenges now as compared to other seasons? Is it that much harder?
We just try to think of challenges for them to do that they haven’t done before. We try to think outside of the box. Obviously there are still challenges that are attached to certain companies so that we get their clothes out for people to buy. I always think that that’s important. It’s important to our fans to be able to buy the clothes and it’s important for our designers to be seen out there. So we just try to keep that same mixture as we’ve always had, but we don’t really look at it differently.
We try to come up with new challenges, and we do. We do. I don’t know how, but we always do. We brainstorm. We come up with things and then we have conference calls. We meet and then we mull it over. Someone sparks an idea and then someone else finishes that idea off. We’ve all known each other for a long time and so it’s a lot of back and forth and we do come up with new things. We always do.
I’m curious about how you choose what you’ll wear on the show when you present the challenges to the designers? I was wondering do you purposefully try to wear something that won’t give them ideas when you’re presenting a task or is that not part of the consideration?
Yes, I don’t think about the challenges or what I’m wearing. My outfit never has anything to do with what the challenge is about.
I do have a stylist. Her name is Maryam Malakpour. What we do is we basically have one or two days of fittings. Many different designers send things to me, some designers that are big and some new designers. A lot of Project Runway designers will send me things. Then I basically for like four or five hours try clothes on and then we create the look so that when I come to work I don’t have to think about what I have to wear. So we do all of that before the season starts.
It never used to be like that when we first started. When we first started I was in my own closet. I was like, “What am I going to wear?” Also being ten seasons ago I was not having the closet that I have today and not the kind of clothes that you have to have when you do a television show about fashion. As a model, you go to a job and then you wear the designer’s clothes but you don’t really own all of that in your own closet.
I didn’t really have a stylist in the beginning. So when you see all the old episodes of when I come out sometimes I’m in jeans and in a strange top or whatever, that’s what I had in my closet. So I’m very thankful that we have grown in that sense that we can now afford a stylist who can help me.
You always look so great. I was wondering what was your experience like when you shot the Project Runway print ad with all the scissors. Were you scared or were you just like, “Let’s do it. It’s not a big deal.”
Actually I put a video on my Facebook page if you guys want to—because a lot of people thought it was retouched, that I just did a photo in my lingerie and that the scissors were kind of put around me afterwards. So I wanted to let people see how it was done.
Here’s the clip from Heidi Klum’s Facebook page:
No, they had basically all the scissors laying on this piece that was in the shot and they kind of left a gap for me in the middle so I could just like lay right down in the middle of it. The photographer was above me on kind of like a little cherry-picker crane, something like that, and just shot down on me. It was fun.
I’m used to wearing lingerie from my Victoria’s Secret days. I was happy that I actually got to wear something. Last season I had to be completely naked. I don’t know if you guys remember … from last season. So I was happy that I got something on this time around.
Can you touch a bit on the challenges again? Are there any particular challenges over the seasons that you thought would never work that were a success? In turn, is there anything you’d like to try that you haven’t yet?
Challenges that didn’t work—Last season it was, unfortunately, one of my ideas. I was wearing stilts one season on Halloween. I was a gigantic robot from the future and so I thought it would be really cool if we did a runway show and we called it “Larger than Life” where the designers make an outfit for models that are on stilts, because I thought that it would really create more of a dramatic show with a lot of volume, in terms of fabric and flowiness when they walk over the runway.
I have to say I was very disappointed in what the designers came up with. They came up with weird kind of clown pants. They weren’t as fashionable as I wanted that challenge to be. So that unfortunately was not as cool as I thought it would be.
I think it was still dramatic, but they just thought too surfacey or something. They were thinking too much costume instead of fashion. I thought that you could still make a real fashion outfit and then just have it on stilts, but it just went the other way.
What do you feel it is about the show in particular that continues to resonate so well with viewers?
I think viewers like when they see people who have maybe a job at a completely different place. For example a bank or some who maybe still go to school for something or a lawyer, and their passion is also design and they’re really good at sewing and coming up with great things and here they are on Project Runway living a dream that is within them too. I think that people like to see that. They like to see people who have a talent with something. I think that’s why it works.
I think also that’s why it’s great to see those shows where people have another talent, like singing for example. Where you see these people who have a completely different job but then they’re on television belting it out. They have this amazing voice, this hidden talent.
I think people enjoy watching that dream of another person, that dream that these people have. You fight for them. You root for them. You want them to do well and you want to see what they can come up with.
I noticed there are a lot of gay competitors on this season. I was going to ask about Gunner. Could you talk about how he didn’t make it last season and what made your decision to have him in this season?
We were thinking about Gunner. He came last season and he didn’t make it. He had this dress that confused us. It was kind of this prom-looking gown that he had and it was just not very on trend or fashion forward. It was very Cinderella, old school, and we just did not believe in him that much.
I think he grew in that season and he showed us a lot of great things. He showed us that he evolved as a designer so we wanted to give him a shot. Last season we didn’t give him a shot and this season we wanted to give him a shot. So he made it on the show and he’s a good designer.
We like it when we’re wrong. We like it when they prove us that we’re wrong, that they’re better than expected. He’s fun. He’s a fun guy and he deserves to be here.
Are you going to bring your book signing to Chicago? We’d love to have you here.
I’m here in New York right now and I’m filming so I was able to go. I’m going on Friday. It is not my book. I wrote a little bit for it and there are definitely some of my stories in there, but it’s not my personal book. It’s the show’s book and someone else wrote the book. I was very excited that they asked me if I would go to Barnes & Nobles on Friday and sign a little bit, but I’m not going to go on a book tour. (You can see a photo of Heidi at the book signing below.)
What has been your most awkward moment ever when filming Project Runway?
Well for me a lot of the times I would make my outfits too short and then I have to sit in the director’s chairs and I literally have to tell the camera man to please keep me from the waist up, because no matter how I cross my legs it’s always too short. Michael is like, “Put your cards on your lap. Put your cards on lap.” But that is for me, personally, one of my awkward moments.
I would do my fitting and I’m like, “This is too long. Let’s shorten it.” And then we would shorten it and then we get it back and I shortened it too much and I forgot I have to sit in this dress and then, oops, it all rides up—yes, so that’s an awkward moment for me. But then I have to make it work because I don’t have anything else to wear for that day.
Well speaking of the judging segment, do you ever have moments where you feel sorry for the stressed out and the sleep deprived designers?
Of course I do. Sometimes I feel bad. I launch into this whole thing, what I don’t like about this and how I don’t understand why you came up with something like this. The challenge was X, Y and Z and you just gave it away and you’re such a designer. I launch into a whole thing and then afterwards I’m like, “Oh no, now I feel really bad that I said all of that.”
I fight for them. I fight for them and I root for them and I sit there and I want them to do good and I don’t understand sometimes why they do these things where I know that they can be so much better because they’ve shown it to me before. And afterwards I sometimes think, “Wow that came out rather harsh.”
I’m from Argentina and we have a Project Runway here too, the Latin version. I was wondering if you have ever considered doing an international all-stars like you did last season or to bring some of the elements of international versions to the main Project Runway?
Maybe that is something we can do after this season is over. Maybe we can incorporate other countries or maybe go to other countries. For me it is hard to go—you mean for me to go to Argentina and other places?
Or bring the internal all-stars participants or the winners from different Project Runways—
Together and then they can compete?
Yes.
I think that is a great idea. We should definitely do something like that. To have a Project Runway winner from Argentina or from Germany or from Italy, all those winners, to bring them together and do an all-stars. I think that’d be great. Then all the country’s winners can fight with each other. Who is the best designer?
I guess everybody on that team must be working like crazy to get something new in a ten-season old show.
Not so much Tim, Nina and Michael. They don’t really participate in the producing of the show. I do that with the producers of the show. It’s people that no one really knows. We work behind the scenes and we work months and months in advance before we start shooting.
But it is definitely hard because you want it to always be good. It definitely is hard to always come up with new things. When you’ve been around for so long it is hard, but we do always pull it together. We do always make it happen. It always works out. We always do come up with new things.
What’s the difference between how you leave the show when you’re making it and the things that we as viewers get to see? For instance, I always think that maybe that was not the dress or why did this guy do this stuff and then we see something different on the show. Maybe you get to see a different aspect?
I’m sure there are a lot of people in the audience that think why are we judging the way we’re judging, but I think that’s normal. I think also a lot of people who are maybe not in the fashion industry will look at things differently. They would say, “Oh but that was so pretty.”
But then when we talk about a certain outfit and we say, “Honestly, this is very much a knockoff of what Prada did four seasons ago and he did exactly the same thing,” then we don’t appreciate that. But maybe a person who’s not in the fashion industry does not know that Prada did a certain something four seasons ago. Do you see what I mean?
So sometimes there are certain aspects as to why someone continues and why someone doesn’t and each challenge is different. Sometimes we also think about the challenge. This person wasn’t particularly very good but we believe in this designer. He did all the other challenges. He did a really a good job. And sometimes we say, “Okay, therefore we’re going to keep this person in.” We give them a last chance.
Each week is different. There’s always a reason why they continue on or why they don’t. Normally you cannot always explain to everybody why that is or that everyone will always understand why that is. We do try to explain it when we do the Q&A with the designers and why we like it and why we don’t like it, but maybe it doesn’t always come across as well as it should.
How have you and other judges grown relationship wise in the past nine seasons?
We know each other so well. We have lunch together almost every day when we’re shooting. We talk about the theater. Michael is really into the theater and he talks about things that he just saw. We just talk. We’re friends. He asks about my kids and what I’m up to. He brings his husband, Lance, and then we all chat. Nina talks about her children.
So we always have a good time together catching up. It’s always a very intense time when we’re together. It’s nice. It’s very comforting to work with people that you know and love and have fun with. We laugh a lot together. It’s not hard for us to do this. We really enjoy what we’re doing.
^ Heidi Klum at a book signing for Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion at Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue in New York City – July 13, 2012. (Photo: PNP/WENN.com)
When you guys are all exhausted and overwhelmed from filming this show what’s your favorite place to go hang out and unwind with the other judges in New York?
To be honest, we don’t really see each other that much outside from being here. We all have lives and people in our lives that we want to spend time with. Michael works a lot. He has a whole fashion house that he has to run and when he doesn’t do that he’s here on Project Runway. Nina does Marie Claire Magazine. She has children. She has a husband. So when she’s not here she’s with her family or she’s at work. And it’s the same for me. On days off I’m with my family.
We shoot until like 8:00 at night. We don’t go out afterwards. When we spend all day together we all go to our personal lives and we’re all with our families. That’s what I do on my days off. I do things with the children. We go to the theater or we go to the water park. Yesterday we went to see Brave. Every day I have off I do things with the kids. So I don’t really spend that much time outside of being here with them for so many weeks. Then everyone does their own thing.
Who’s been your favorite guest appearance so far and who would you want to come on someday?
Favorite guest, it’s hard. We’ve had some great people on. I, for example, personally love Bob Mackie. I’m a huge Barbie collector and I have all of Bob Mackie’s Barbies and all the special Barbies. So when I met him for the first time I was really like, “I love you Bob Mackie.”
For some of the designers maybe it was more like Christina Aguilera or like a Victoria Beckham. I don’t know. Everyone has a different kind of excitement for a certain person. For some people, the bigger the star the more excited they are. For me it was—I love Bob Mackie, for example. So everyone has a different guest judge.
Some actresses that have been here that I’m personally friendly with, I obviously love having them here. Debra Messing is a friend of mind. She’s been here in the past. I love having people who I spend personal time with. Having them on here is always fun too.
For you personally, what do you tend to weigh more heavily on, idea or execution? I mean obviously the best designs on the show are excellent in both, but which do you tend to value more?
If it’s one idea that is so amazing, that is so different from anything I’ve ever seen before, then I’m not that strict on execution. Like if the hem is crooked or if it’s something like that. But if it’s a very simple dress and then the execution is bad, then I don’t know why that person is necessarily here.
It’s a design show. It’s about design. So it’s not about making basics. It’s not about making a basic pair of black pants or a basic t-shirt or a basic blouse or a basic dress. It’s a design show. So they have to come up with really innovative, new designs. If there is one that’s really stunning, then I’m not as harsh on them if the hem if off.
What do you guys look for when selecting contestants? What’s the “it” factor that makes people get chosen?
When we do the casting so many different people come to the casting. Sometimes people bring the craziest things to the casting, like t-shirts with studs in them or they knock things together but not in a cool way. It’s clear they haven’t seen the show. They don’t know how hard it is to be on there.
You have to be able to sew. You have to do all these things and they’re like, “Oh,” or they just want to come for shock value or some bring things where you know clearly they have not done that. Where someone’s cut the label out and they’ll just show you that. There are numbers of people who were fake or not really real.
It’s difficult for us to kind of weed through all of these people, but then that person just all of the sudden walks in the door and they would have some clothes where we raise our eyebrows and go, “Oh wow, that’s cool. Tell me more about yourself and what your point of view is and who you are and who you’re designing for.” They can also string sentences together and they can actually have an idea on who they are and whom they’re designing for.
So it’s kind of like a little bit of all of that. Come with some great clothes and know who you are, because you do need to know who you are as a designer if you want to be here and show your point of view.
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