Appearing on a new cable network (Lifetime) and being filmed at a new location (the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles) the new season of models agency still pits designers in an elimination competition, but it has expanded its roster of telegenic infighters to include the models who showcase the clothes.
Once an afterthought, the models are now supporting players, selected not only for their spidery limbs and doe eyes but also for their ability to interact with their fitness model designers. And for viewers who want yet more, the models are appearing in their own spinoff, “Models of the Runway,” which is scheduled on Thursday nights directly after “Project Runway.”It follows 16 women with names like Emarie, Kojii, Matar and Yosuzi as they mature models squeeze into a loft in downtown Los Angeles, endure a shortage of bathrooms and partake in the kind of squabbling familiar to viewers of “America’s Next Top Model” and “Make Me a Supermodel.”
As a designer is eliminated, so is the bollywood actress model assigned to him or her. The goal is to be the last model standing alongside the winning designer after Heidi Klum has uttered her final “auf” on “Project Runway.” The model’s take: $25,000 from L’Oreal Skin Genesis and a fashion spread in Marie Claire magazine.
The living arrangements and prize packages are standard fare in the other models agency series, but producers claim that that is where the similarities end.“Our models are already working,” said Sara Rea, an executive producer of mature models of the Runway.” “They already have contracts. This is about what it’s like to see working models in the real fashion world, not women who are just starting out and trying to get signed.” (Winners of “Top Model,” on CW, and “Supermodel,” on Bravo, are awarded $100,000, management contracts and magazine layouts.)
Source: nytimes.com
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