Project Runway

Project Runway’s motto could be: “Reality Is What Reality Does.” The heart of this series is the creative process. The payoff is that viewers are able to see what has been created. In an excellent use of a visual medium, viewers watch as designs are rendered, material is purchased, cloth is cut, sewn, fitted and displayed. In the end, it is the work that counts. These people have made things, real things. Clothes—clothes that can be worn. Perhaps they are costumes. Perhaps they have been made from outlandish materials. Perhaps there is nothing “average” about the choices, about the models, about the final “look.” And yes, personalities come into play; they’re part of the appeal. It is, after all, a contest. In the making of these fashions, we have watched as participants have wept and complained and laughed. Tension is doubtless constructed in the editing rooms. But when the finished items are displayed on the runway and official judges make their decisions, it is the viewers who agree or disagree, state their own preferences, set their own standards. For using the “television reality contest” genre to engage, inform, enlighten and entertain, Project Runway receives a Peabody Award.