Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn: Project Runway on Lifetime

After an endless legal battle kept season 6 in limbo for nearly a year, Project Runway will finally return with a new network, a new city, and new twists (including a spin-off). Project Runway will premeire August 20 on Lifetime. This week's Entertainment Weekly speaks with Gunn and Klum about the new season.

Heidi Klum had envisioned a major overhaul for the sixth season – after five seasons in New York, the hit reality competition for aspiring fashion designers was moving to both a new city, Los Angeles, and a new network, Lifetime. And the show’s statuesque host had her heart set on a revamped world. But when she first stepped onto the soundstage in downtown L.A. last fall, she realized her hopes to change the color palette, seating, and catwalk were shattered. “I was shocked,” Klum says. “It was déjà vu. I was looking forward to different scenery, and everything was the same!”

Beginning in April 2008, the hit series became the disputed pawn in a trio of lawsuits between The Weinstein Company, NBC Universal, and Lifetime. The legal deadlock kept the fate of the entire series hanging in the balance for almost a year. “By the end of production [of season 6],” says new exec producer Jon Murray, “we started to joke around, like, ‘Are we going to have to show this to our friends and families in our living rooms?’”

Thanks to a resolution reached in April, Runway will soon be back in almost everyone’s living room. And despite a delay of nine months for the new season’s debut, team Runway insists the series is still as fresh and addictive as ever. Says exec producer Jane Cha: “It’s like we’ve been keeping a baby under wraps in the house and now we’re ready to give it a party.”

Tim Gunn is actually looking forward to the change. “After five seasons, the show needed a booster shot,” he says. “Los Angeles is indisputably the home of the red carpet. It’s the home of film and television costume, and it has a celebrity dimension that New York doesn’t have. Watching the first elimination this season, I thought, Wow, we should be here.”

Shooting in star-studded Los Angeles provided a bonanza of celebrity guest judges, including Christina Aguilera, Eva Longoria Parker, and Lindsay Lohan. It also helped inspire an entirely fresh crop of challenges. “L.A. can be the most laid-back and the most glamorous,” hints judge Michael Kors. “It’s the land of bikinis and gowns.” Fittingly, this season the designers will take on challenges centered on the beach and the red carpet. They’ll also create garments as a tribute to movies and Hollywood.

Throughout the legal dramas, Lifetime Networks president Andrea Wong says “I really tried to insulate everyone [on the show] from the legal issues.” Some involved, though, started to fear the worst. Says judge Nina Garcia: “I was like, You know what? This may not be back. I had given up.”

But the legal dispute was settled, and somehow, in this age of Internet spoilers, the identities of the 16 contestants have remained a secret all this time. Though photos of the garments that the finalists created for Manhattan’s Fashion Week are widely available on the Web, the producers and judges aren’t worried about viewers figuring out the winner after a handful of episodes. “Somebody might start as the weaker designer,” says Garcia, “but they come back as a dark horse and wow you. It’s even sometimes a surprise to us.”

Either way, viewers are still likely to get their dose of seam-popping drama. “We have a challenge, the outcome of which will have the blogs going crazy!” says Gunn. “I’m surprised I didn’t need CPR when it all came down the runway, because I’m still in such a state of shock about it.”

Adding the No. 1 cable reality series to its lineup – which already includes the hit drama Army Wives is another big step for Lifetime. “Our average age is under 47 and Runway’s is about 38, so there’s an opportunity to bring a younger viewer to Lifetime,” says Wong.

Beginning with the seventh cycle, each season will alternate between New York City and Los Angeles – a new format that could be just the beginning of further changes. Like Klum, Gunn is eager to see the show take more risks: “Now that we have a season behind us on Lifetime, we’ll feel more comfortable pushing the envelope.” (this issue of EW on stands June 1)