Over twenty years after first launching on Bravo, “Project Runway” is getting a revamp. The beloved fashion competition underwent a complete creative overhaul as it moved from Bravo to Disney and Freeform, bringing back original host Heidi Klum and embracing fresh voices in fashion by welcoming celebrity stylist Law Roach as a judge.
But for executive producer Michael Rucker, who returns to “Project Runway” after serving as an EP for the first five seasons before the show’s Season 6 move to Lifetime, the revamp is more than just a switch-up of the judging panel; it’s a much-needed chance to infuse comedy and spectacle back into the series.
“The format was tried and true, but … from a visual storytelling standard point, I feel like it rested on its laurels,” Rucker told TheWrap. “After those first five seasons, it drifted away from funny moments … and moments of awkwardness.”
That’s why Rucker embraced the show, which moved back to Bravo for Seasons 18-20, heading to Disney’s Freeform, where Rucker had seen the network lean into comedy and “what’s happening in the cultural zeitgeist” while executive producing Freeform series “Chrissy & Dave Dine Out.” “I wanted to make sure that this season really had … a little bit more of that comedy, those fun, almost meme-able moments that weren’t as embraced at other locations.”
Rucker also wanted the new series to embrace where fashion is at today, which meant upping the spectacle fashion shows from the typical Bryant Park fashion week tents for the finale, with Rucker saying, “where the fashion world is today is, [designers will do shows] out in the desert … [or] alongside the Seine in Paris.”
“We really want to embrace where fashion is,” Rucker said, adding that most fashion is shared on a phone nowadays. “You need something that’s visually kind of arresting to tell that story.”
Rucker and the team didn’t want the revamp to be so overarching that they lost the DNA of “Project Runway,” though. “There’s always going to be challenges. There’s always going to be passionate designers, but I think that we really wanted to evolve and the show visually, emotionally [and] conversationally,” Rucker said, promising that this season would have an unconventional challenge.
Bringing back Klum certainly brings “Project Runway” back to its core as the supermodel hosted the show for its first 16 seasons, before exiting “Project Runway” alongside mentor extraordinaire Tim Gunn to pursue a more professional-focused fashion competition show with Prime Video’s “Making the Cut.” Similar to Rucker, Klum wanted to make sure her return came with a refresh to the show.
“She wanted to feel like it was less rigid,” Rucker said. “She’s very German — she loves to do stuff in sequence, but she also is goofy and funny, and that’s something that she really wanted to embrace in the show.”
Klum returns to “Project Runway” alongside mentor and Season 4 winner Christian Siriano as well as judge Nina Garcia, but welcomes in a newcomer in Law Roach, who’s best known for being Zendaya’s longtime stylist. The new addition infuses “Project Runway” with a contemporary voice in fashion that Rucker compares to longtime judge Michael Kors. But O.G. fans can look forward to Kors making an appearance later this season as a guest judge.
“‘Project Runway’ started and sort of birthed where Law Roach is now, and that’s where I think Law really kind of comes with that very similar type of critical eye that Michael Kors had, but it comes from his own perspective, his background in fashion, in his own taste,” Rucker said.
There’s one familiar face not returning to “Project Runway,” however: Tim Gunn. Gunn served as “Project Runway’s” beloved mentor for the show’s first 16 seasons before departing the show alongside Klum. For this new iteration of “Project Runway,” Siriano, who replaced Gunn as mentor for Season 17 onward, remains in the role.
Whereas Karlie Kloss, who replaced Klum as host for Seasons 17 and 18, had begun limiting her involvement in the show back in Season 19 — leaving the show without a formal host up until Klum’s return — Siriano remained as the show’s mentor since picking it up from Gunn, which Rucker and the team wanted to honor.
That said, Rucker said “the door is always open” for Gunn to potentially return in some manner.
This season’s 16 designers include some familiar faces, including Season 7 alum Jesus Estrada — and his twin brother, Antonio — Season 19 alum Caycee Black, as well as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Utica Queen, who enters the competition as Ethan Mundt. From the “Project Runway” alums searching for a redemption arc to Mundt exploring the world of fashion outside of the drag community, the stories of the contestants this seasons were embraced by Rucker and the team in the new iteration.
“There have been a lot of different fashion shows that have come and gone — some of which I’ve worked on beyond ‘Project Runway’ — and I think that the thing that ‘Project Runway’ at its heart is there’s always been storytelling about these designers, and you got to know them on a more personal level and less of a caricature level,” Rucker said.
“Project Runway” Season 21 premieres Thursday, July 31 at 9 p.m. ET on Freeform, with new episodes airing weekly at 10 p.m. ET. Episodes will stream on Hulu the next day.
