PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are back in the fashion game, searching for the next big designer name on “Making the Cut.”
The model and the mentor are embracing their newfound freedom on the Amazon show that debuts March 27. The winner receives a $1 million prize and a shot at designing a global brand. Winning looks priced at $100 or less will be sold on Amazon after each episode.
Klum broke away from hosting “Project Runway” after 16 seasons and Gunn followed when it was announced the show would return to Bravo, its original network where it aired for the first five years. It moved to Lifetime for the next 11 seasons.
“Our hands were tied for many, many years because our imagination is bigger than what we were allowed to do or couldn’t do,” Klum told a TV critics meeting on Tuesday. “There is a certain look to a show that you also sometimes maybe don’t want to change and they didn’t want to change.”
Deciding she didn’t want to return to what Klum called “the same old, same old,” she called Gunn to say she was “jumping this ship and do you want to jump with me?”
Gunn said, “We jumped together.”
However, Gunn credited “Project Runway” for paving the way for the Amazon show that features an international cast of 12 entrepreneurs and designers competing in front of judges Naomi Campbell, Nicole Richie, designer Joseph Altuzarra, Carine Roitfeld and Chiara Ferragni. The show visits New York, Paris and Tokyo.
″‘Making the Cut’ wouldn’t have happened without ‘Project Runway,’” Gunn said. “I would say that ‘Project Runway’ is the undergraduate program and ‘Making the Cut’ is the graduate and Ph.D. program. It’s more about how does this mini-collection you’ve designed for this particular episode’s assignment, how does this fit into your larger view of your brand? It really is about finding the next global brand, and we do.”
Model Karlie Kloss and former show winner Christian Siriano are replacing Klum and Gunn on “Project Runway.”