Attention fashionistas: Whether your couture is haute or pret-a-porter, your show has returned.
Season 14 of Project Runway premieres at 8 p.m. today on Lifetime with host/judge "supermodel and fashion maven" Heidi Klum up front, mentor and co-host Tim Gunn telling all to "make it work," and judges Nina Garcia and Zac Posen arching eyebrows at the appropriate times.
Two things:
First of all, I'm impressed if you know what pret-a-porter means without having to look it up. All my clothes are pret-a-porter. True Project Runway fans know their couture. And how to make a dress out of stuff found in hardware stores.
Second, it still puzzles me at what point a merely gorgeous model morphs into a "super" model.
At what point, for example, did 35-year-old Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen become super? Was it when she became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2000? Was it after she dumped Leonardo DiCaprio and married Tom Brady?
"Supermodel" Coco Rocha is one of this season's Project Runway guest judges. I admit I had no idea who Rocha was until I looked her up. That's probably because I allowed my subscription to Vogue Italia lapse.
However, had Roca been in the DirecTV commercials riding on a beach on her talking white horse, then I'd know who she was. In case you've been in a cave, those ubiquitous commercials star Hannah Davis, the 2015 Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model and baseball star Derek Jeter's girlfriend.
For the record, that horse can't really talk and is voiced by New Zealand native Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords.
Back to Project Runway.
Season 14 will have 16 hopefuls, all working to impress the judges and kick start their careers in fashion.
Whatever else they do, the 16 will need to impress Gunn, because he'll still have his one chance to save one designer from elimination.
In addition to supermodel Roca, there will be a number of other guest judges. Most will be on to hype their own shows and hopefully add a little pizazz to the episodes. In my experience, some seem to know what they're talking about, others are obviously clueless.
The judges are Bella Thorne (Scream), Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper on Mad Men), Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish), Paula Patton (About Last Night), Ashley Tisdale (Clipped), Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer (Lifetime's UnReal), singer/songwriter Ciara, America's Got Talent judge Mel B and fashion designer Lisa Perry.
Added bonus guest judge: Davis (sans her horse), who will also be host of Lifetime's Project Runway Junior, set for the fall.
There are no Arkansas connections this year, so if you need a local fix visit Little Rock native Korto Momolu's website at kortomomolu.com to see what she's up to.
Korto was first runner-up in Season 5, and was robbed again in Project Runway: All Stars Season 3.
The Season 14 designers range in age from 23 to 37 and here's what's at stake: Other than undying glory for all of 15 minutes, the winner gets $100,000 in cold cash, a Celebrity Cruises luxury vacation for two, a year's supply of Sally Beauty and Mary Kay beauty products, a complete sewing and crafting studio from Brother Sewing and Embroidery, a fashion spread in Marie Claire magazine and -- and -- a 2015 Lexus RC 350.
The MSRP for that basic transportation is a hefty $51,945.
• Valerie cooks. Attention, foodies. I bet you didn't know that veteran actress (One Day at a Time, Touched by an Angel) and Jenny Craig weight watching guru Valerie Bertinelli was also a best-selling author. Yep. A cookbook -- One Dish at a Time (get it?).
And you thought she was only Hot in Cleveland.
Now Bertinelli puts her mouth, so to speak, where her passion about food is with Valerie's Home Cooking, a new series premiering at 11 a.m. Saturday on Food Network.
The series is geared toward preparing easy meals for family and friends and will feature Bertinelli's family recipes "passed down through the generations."
A sure highlight for Hot in Cleveland fans will be the premiere episode, when Bertinelli invites her co-stars, Jane Leeves, Wendi Malick and Betty White, over for lunch. The challenge will be that each of them enjoys different food, but Bertinelli swears she's up to the task.
Teaser: Lunch involves quiche Valerie, Italian tuna salad and grilled romaine with "Caesar-ish" Dressing. There is also Panna Cotta with Frutti Di Bocca dessert, along with behind-the-scenes tales from their show, which ended its six-season TV Land run in June.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 08/06/2015