Project Runway/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Consolation Award: Lots [dead link] of people have alleged that Daniel Vosovic's win in the 2009 All-Stars competition was actually a consolation award for his second place finish during Season 2. It didn't help that he had just written a book with a foreword written by Tim Gunn and an interview with guest judge Diane von Furstenberg. On the other hand, Season 5's Korto repeatedly stated that she expected to win the all-star competition as a consolation award for finishing second in her season.
    • The Fan Favorite award functions as this as well, though, on two occasions, it was given to a designer who also won his or her season. (The award wasn't given for the eighth series, apparently because snubbing Mondo Guerra was very on-trend that season.)
  • Counterpart Comparison: A gay male Mexican-American designer with flawless construction skills suffers crack defeats because the judges seem to favor far more controversial personalities? While Viktor Luna and Mondo Guerra are quite different as designers, and somewhat ironically shot themselves in the foot in exactly opposite ways during the finales of their respective seasons, the parallels between them haven't gone unnoticed.
    • In fact, it's popularly believed that Viktor was placed third specifically to avert comparisons to Mondo, whose second-place finish a season earlier enraged the audience.
  • Creator's Pet: Season 8 winner Gretchen Jones, Season 9 finalist Joshua M.
    • A better season 9 example is Anya. Many, many viewers predicted her win from day one. Rules have undeniably been bent for her, and garments that would have sent other designers home in a heartbeat didn't even land her in the bottom two. Heidi Klum even said during one judging that she wanted to see Anya win.
    • The judges' weird little conversation, for the benefit of the audience, after making the decision not to eliminate Anya from the final four despite her self-admittedly terrible mini-collection. "Do you feel good about our decision?" "Yeah, I think we made the right choice."
  • Critical Dissonance: Fans have always disagreed with the judges, but a striking example occurred in Season 9. One of the most prominent Project Runway blogs holds a vote after every episode asking who the fans think should have won the challenge that week. Viktor Luna won this poll five times in a row, but the judges only named him the sole winner of one challenge all season. He also steamrolled the "Who deserved to win the whole season?" poll with 55% (compared with the actual winner, Anya, who received 22%).
    • The same blog also polls readers on "Who deserved to be auf'd?" every week. Josh M was picked four times but not only didn't get eliminated, he actually took second place for the entire season!
  • Elimination Houdini: Several, including Wendy (Season 1), Santino (Season 2), Blayne (Season 5), Christopher (Season 6), and Josh M (Season 9).
    • Wendy actually managed to ride this all the way to the finals by creating her one good outfit in the competition that decided the finalists, but the judges didn't even bother to consider her collection when it came to choosing a winner.
    • Anya, going into Fashion Week in Season 9. The last four designers all had to preview sample outfits from their final collections to determine which three would be contenders for the top prize. Anya's was clearly terrible in concept and execution (which she admitted herself). Instead of eliminating her, they put all four designers through.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Can arguably be a number of designers, but Tim Gunn, originally just an adviser for the designers, has become beloved by fans for his charm, kindness, and insight.
    • And as of Season 8, his willingness to call somebody out on their Jerkass behavior. See Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Executive Meddling: Widely offered for the reason why four finalists got to compete for the top prize in season 9. Anya's sample collection was poorly designed and poorly made, but she got put through anyway. Most people attribute this to her "story" making for better television.
  • Iron Woobie: Anthony Ryan, despite his Keet behavior, hasn't had the easiest life, and in fact survived testicular cancer and as a result only has one testicle. The initial judges were also very impressed when he revealed that he was actually colorblind, which they considered especially extraordinary considering that they wouldn't have guessed unless they told him given the quality of the colors he chooses.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: As obnoxious as seasons 9's Joshua M was, he really was right about Anya's lack of technical skills. During the entire competition she never made a jacket, form-fitting sleeves, or anything with zippers. The one time she tried to make pants they were a disaster, and not even finished when it was time for the runway. One has to wonder how she can expect to be a successful designer when all she offers are loose, flowing dresses.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Both Joshua M and Bert of Season 9 wound up here for some viewers when they talked a bit more about their lives, Joshua by revealing that his mother had died and he hasn't been able to say goodbye to her, and Bert by revealing that he'd lost his partner to AIDS and was a recovering alcoholic. It didn't excuse any of their behavior, but it did make it more obvious what made them tick.
  • Manipulative Editing: Does anyone else find it odd that in the season 9 episode when Anya lost her money at Mood, they had tons of footage of her running around with the envelope in her dress and tons of footage of her looking for it, but no footage of her actually losing it? Seems like something that might have been pre-planned....
  • Misblamed:
    • Type 1 shows up whenever a designer blames the model for a garment's shortcomings.
    • Type 5 showed up in Season 8 when Team Luxe attempted to place the blame for the failure of its line squarely on Michael C.'s shoulders.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Bert of Season 9. As the season went on he relaxed, became better friends with some of his competitors, started telling sly jokes about his time at Studio 54, and eventually evolved into Cool Old Guy status. By the time of his elimination, significant portions of the fandom were enraged that he was auf'ed before Laura or Josh M.
  • Seasonal Rot: The less said about Los Angeles, the better.
  • Silver Fox: Tim Gunn, natch. He was named one of People Magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2006.
  • Tear Jerker: You couldn't help but shed a tear when Mondo, who was so secretive about the inspiration for his pattern, revealed that he was HIV+ on the judging floor. He had carried this secret for 10 years and never told anybody
    • That whole episode (Season 8-10) was the biggest tearjerker so far in the history of the show.
    • Daniel Franco refusing to throw his teammates under the bus and honorably offering himself up for elimination during the second season's team lingerie challenge.
    • Bert of Season 9 revealed that he'd lost his partners to AIDS and was a recovering alcoholic definitely helped soften his image, and after that he seemed to open up more to the other designers.
    • Joshua M, who had been and even after continued to be a Jerkass, talking about being unable to see his mother when she was dying and unexpectedly breaking down during a Confession Cam interview. This is a big Your Mileage May Vary as it starts sympathetic. . . until you realize his mother's been dead for two years while he's sobbing like it was last week. After his Jerkass behavior in that episode and the previous one, more cynical viewers saw the tears as a plea for sympathy.
  • The Scrappy: Several, including Wendy (Season 1), Angela (Season 3), and Kenley (Season 5), Gretchen and Ivy (season 8)
    • Vince gave Angela good competition for that title, although he didn't have her longevity.
    • Olivier seems to be hated as much as he's loved, especially after his Freak-Out over having to design clothing for real women with BOOBS and complaints about not working with models and instead with "fat people", not to mention people who dislike his accent and think he's faking it. At least one blogger's referred to him as "the personification of the color beige" and was all too happy when he was eliminated.
    • With each passing week Joshua M seems to becoming more of one, and his behavior during the After the Runway special seems to have sealed the deal, in part because he managed to be a one-man Spotlight-Stealing Squad with his insulted reaction to being called out for his Jerkass behavior.
  • Too Good to Last: Tim Gunn's brutally honest video blog series for season 8.
  • Vindicated by History: April (Season 8) was raked over the coals by the judges for daring to show a "panty" short with a Phillip Treacy hat; fast forward to Resort 2011 -- a half dozen designers showed similar panty shorts for Fashion Week.
    • Also, Ben from Season 7 with his "jock strap front" trousers.
    • Alison from season 3 was roundly criticized for styling her model's hair into the shape of a bow. Fast forward a few years, a famously fashionable pop star wears the same look and influences other famous women.
    • Nina Garcia to Santino in the "give a competitor a makeover" challenge from Season 2: "Who wears jumpsuits anymore?" Jump to 2009 and suddenly they're a big trend.
      • Not only a big trend, but when Gretchen sent one (in drab, depressing navy blue) for the Macy's challenge, in a cut that wouldn't be flattering to anyone, guess who won that challenge?
  • Wangst: The more you don't like a designer, the more likely you are to view their occasional breakdowns and drama as this.
  • What Might Have Been: Maya not dropping out in Season 7.
  • The Woobie: As of Week 5, Michael Costello for season 8, for some.
    • And now Mondo as well, see Tearjerker.
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