Bravo’s ‘Project Runway’ to Start Production This Spring

Kate Aurthur
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Bravo announced Wednesday that filming for Season 19 of “Project Runway” will begin soon, the first time the fashion competition will be produced since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reality TV perennial, which made its debut on Bravo in 2004, and brought connoisseurship to the genre, completed airing its most recent season in March of last year.

Returning to the show will be Christian Siriano, Nina Garcia, Brandon Maxwell and Elaine Welteroth. Karlie Kloss, who has been the host of “Project Runway” since the show returned to Bravo from Lifetime in Season 17, will make guest appearances. Kloss had a baby last month with her husband, Joshua Kushner, and a source told Variety that the show will be “reimagining the host role.”

More from Variety

Kloss’ marriage to Kushner was responsible for the show’s most viral moment of Season 18. In a challenge in which the designers were to create a dress for Kloss to wear for an event, and Maxwell said in his judging critique to designer Tyler Neasloney that he couldn’t imagine Kloss wearing his creation anywhere, the contestant spat back, “Not even to dinner with the Kushners?” Neasloney apologized to Kloss on camera, and sold T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase on them after the scene went viral in January of last year.

At the conclusion of last season, designer Geoffrey Mac won the top prize of $250,000 (and all the rest). Shortly after the finale aired, Mac’s best friend Nashom Wooden — whose drag name was Mona Foot — died of COVID. The new season of “Project Runway” will surely address how the fashion business, and New York City, where the show is set, has changed because of the pandemic.

“Project Runway” is produced by Alfred Street Industries and Spyglass Media Group. Its executive producers are Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, Nan Strait, Dan Volpe and Meri Haitkin serve as executive producers for Alfred Street Industries, and Siriano is an executive producer as well. The show is internationally distributed by Fremantle.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.