Project Runway NZ hosted by Georgia Fowler. Photo / Supplied
With a flash of unfortunate pink leather and some awkwardly shoehorned product placement, TVNZ's latest assault on Three's reality TV crown launched this week, with the arrival of our very own version of Project Runway.
A mere 14 years after the original show first stepped on to the catwalk, this fashion design contest is finally getting a Kiwi spin – and first impressions suggest Project Runway New Zealand may well be worth the wait.
While our local series doesn't have the inimitable Heidi Klum bidding eliminated contestants "Auf Wiedersehen" or Tim Gunn imploring designers to "Make it work", it does have a few other things going for it.
There's host Georgia Fowler, who did a solid job of presenting her first episode on Monday, and the very dapper mentor Andreas Mikellis, who seems to have the right blend of calm authority needed to hold the designers' hands through the fraught Project Runway experience.
Then, there are the 14 designers themselves, an interesting and diverse group who look to have the right mix of fashion and TV talent.
There's Beth, who says her design aesthetic has "a unicorn pooped on Elvira" vibe; Beau, who talks about himself in the third person; Lenon, a gender fluid caregiver who's shaping up to be the season's stress magnet; Nicole, who reads fortunes with her Tarot cards; and Peni, who doesn't know what basil is.
As the group met for the first time on Monday night over several heavily promoted non-alcoholic beverages, Fowler and Mikellis showed up to present the designers with their very first test. In a product placement challenge special, the contestants were asked to create a Scandinavian-influenced cocktail dress inspired by the flavour of drink they were holding. Cue 14 confused – and slightly terrified – faces.
As is always the case with Project Runway, there were a handful of designers who absolutely nailed the brief and others who rather comically missed the point.
Menswear designer Massey produced a plain white dress with what looked like a bed ruffle tacked across the top. Another menswear designer, Matt, made a slouchy grey jumper that obviously screamed cocktail attire.
Camille, a free spirit with bright purple hair, drew her designs with her eyes closed, while mother-of-four Misty designed a cocktail straitjacket. Nicole, meanwhile, interpreted Scandi style as a tight pink dress with an even tighter, hot pink leather corset over the top. The word "skanky" may have been uttered around the workroom.
And then there was Kerry, a pattern maker for Karen Walker, who sent shockwaves through the workroom with the sheer speed of his design and construction. But not everyone was impressed with Kerry's tremendous output, with fellow contestant Benjamin throwing the first A-grade shade of the series.
"It doesn't matter how good a pattern maker you are, at the end of the day, you can't learn taste," he snipped, delivering the type of delicious put-down the Project Runway franchise is famous for.
Series judges Benny Castles and Sally-Ann Mullin held back on their own withering critiques, taking it a bit easier on the contestants for their first runway show, although Mullin did produce one unintentionally cutting remark when she said she would wear a contestant's dress if they just changed the colour, length and pretty much everything else about it.
After conferring with guest judge Jessica Grubiša, the panel declared Benjamin's cocktail ensemble to be the winner, despite his addition of a handbag so enormous it looked like it was carrying the model down the runway, rather than the other way around.
Not surprisingly, poor old Nicole suffered the fate of being the first designer sent home, with the judges deciding the world just wasn't ready for Scandinavian skank chic. (It's unknown if her Tarot cards predicted that eventuality.)
So, with their very promising debut episode behind them, our designers hurtle on to their next challenge.
And with tears, catwalk tumbles, amazing outfits and some unconventional design briefs on the cards (I'm still holding out hope they'll make the designers create something out of candy or car parts), Project Runway New Zealand has all the hallmarks of being a real showstopper for TVNZ.
Project Runway New Zealand screens Mondays at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2. Models of Project Runway, which goes behind the scenes of the show, also screens Mondays on TVNZ OnDemand.