Late To The Party: Project Runway Junior
Do you ever stumble upon a piece of media and wonder, “How has this not been in my life before now?” Every other Friday, I will be bringing my belated discoveries to you.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every reality competition show is infinitely better when you add the word "Junior" to the title. I could spend all of my time watching Chopped Junior or Kids Baking Championship. Now I can add Project Runway Junior to that list. It is incredible what young people can accomplish when you treat them as capable people, instead of talking down to them.
If you are not familiar with the Project Runway franchise, it is a competition show where a group of fashion designers design and make an outfit every week, based on a challenge. They are mentored by fashion expert Tim Gunn and judged by an impressive panel of judges. Each week, the designer with the highest score wins the challenge (and immunity for the next week) and the designer with the lowest score is eliminated. The final three (or four) designers create a collection to show at New York Fashion Week. Project Runway Junior follows the same structure. The only difference is that the designers are 13-17 year old teens, instead of professionals.
The judges are different (although most have been involved in the original show at some point), but Tim Gunn remains as the mentor. I love Tim Gunn. Everything I have seen of him has shown me that he is an incredible person. This series proves that even more, as he speaks to the teens the same way he speaks to the adults. He doesn't dumb down his impressive vocabulary, which I feel others would do. He speaks as he normally does and clarifies if needed. Tim believes in the contestants and shows compassion. I feel that having any other mentor would have been a disservice to the contestants.
The designs that the contestants put forth are impressive. I am only on Episode 2 at the time of this writing, but I have not seen a bad outfit yet. Kelly Osbourne, one of the judges, comments that it is the best first runway she has ever seen on the show and I agree. The talent in these designers is very clear.
I am excited to watch the rest of this season and wish that they had done more than two seasons. (Curse you, Weinstein!) Maybe Heidi and Tim's new show with Amazon can have a Junior spin-off? I recommend binging this show (it's only 10 episodes each season) to see that the future of fashion is in capable hands.