Gretchen Jones Named Lead Designer at Pendleton Collection

Project Runway Season 8 Champion, Gretchen Jones, has been named Lead Designer of Pendleton Woolen Mills's new contemporary line, Pendleton Collection.

Click here for the full press release.

April Johnston, "Noir"

Project Runway Season 8 and All-Star designer, April Johnston, presented her "Noir" collections at Fashion Week El Paseo on March 13th.

Alexandra Arnold Photography

Click here for more photos of the collection.

Click here for April's website.  

A New Interview With Project Runway Season 8 Champion, Gretchen Jones

Gretchen Jones talks about sustainable design with Treehugger.


A highlight:  


It's wonderful that a sustainable designer like yourself is recognized in the fashion industry. How has that changed you as a designer, or as a person?

GJ: I suppose being embraced as much as I have been...so far anyways, has just inspired me to stay true to myself...both personally and creatively. I'm not trying to be anything other than the type of woman and designer that I have always been and continue to grow into. My identity, both personally and creatively is based on conscientious living, authenticity of experience and comfort within myself...I truly believe that is the 'real' path towards happiness.

Click here for more.  

Nicholas D'Aurizio Handbags Available at Bendel's This Weekend

Project Runway Season 8 designer, Nicholas D'Aurizio has designed a fresh new handbag collection that is available this weekend during a trunk show at the New York City Fifth Avenue Henri Bendel store over Memorial Day weekend.

Click here for a new interview with Nicholas.

A highlight:

How did you get the trunk show opportunity at Bendels?

D’Aurizio: There’s an open call twice a year for new designers, one in the fall and one in winter. Basically you bring your accessories, line up at 9 a.m. until the doors open at noon. I went there in the fall last year and they saw my bags and said, “They’re cute, but not quite Bendels. Bring us your next collection.” So I showed them my next one about a month and a half ago, and they loved it. They requested a few different colors and wanted to see black. And now it’s happening! It’s great that they’re giving me four days, especially ones where there are tons of tourists in the city that will probably be stopping by the store.

Click here to visit the Nico Lena website.

A New Interview with Mondo Guerra from Marie Claire

Project Runway Season 8 finalist, Mondo Guerra talks about All-Stars and more.



A highlight:

Well, what did you hope to accomplish this time around?
I wanted to expand on my design. I was really trying to do new silhouettes and use unexpected fabrics that were out of my own comfort zone. The last thing I wanted was to go in doing the same thing I'd shown before.

Any spoilers for us fans who can't wait until it airs in January?
The challenges were designed to really make the designers work hard. You know how in the regular season, there'll be a challenge where the audience thinks, "This is so simple." You won't see any challenges that are easy.

And who were your Survivor-style allies this time around?
I love Michael Costello. He was on my season, and we became best friends. We still text every day. Our boyfriends are jealous of our friendship. We're basically dating! Ha, I'd totally date him at some point!

Who surprised you most?
Mila Hermanovski. Coming off her season, people said she was so frigid and cold. Honestly, I found her to be very mature and honest not only in her demeanor but in her design work. I was impressed.


Click here for the full story.

Gretchen Jones S/S 2012

Gretchen Jones debuted her Spring/Summer 2012 collection earlier today to an enthusiastic crowd in Chelsea. Seen here with Season 8 alum Kristin Haskins Simms, Gretchen featured very wearable separates and summer dresses with an urban cowgirl feel. The models were displayed in a straight police lineup, allowing for ample focus on her self-designed jewelry. Click here for a photo slideshow from WWD.

Congratulations Gretchen!

Team BPR in NYC

Team BPR has arrived in NYC for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and we have a weekend filled with Project Runway coverage for you. The main event of course is tomorrow's Season 9 finale, where we expect to see 9 designers show after tonight's elimination. We will be live blogging from inside the tent and attempt to run a live chat room as well.


Earlier this afternoon, I ran into Gretchen Jones and her S8 friend Kristin Haskins Simms at Gretchen's S/S 2012 presentation. More from that show coming up later.

It's an exciting time for Project Runway fans and there is tremendous buzz in the air - stay tuned!

Gretchen Jones Jewelry for Piperlime

Project Runway Season 8 Champion, Gretchen Jones has designed a unique jewelry collection for Piperlime.

Prices range from $48 - $120 and net profits will be donated to Aid to Artisans.

Click here to shop.

Project Runway Primetime Emmy Nominations

Once again Project Runway has been nominated in multiple categories for a Primetime Emmy. The show was nominated for 'Outstanding Reality - Competition Program' and for 'Outstanding Picture Editing For Reality Programming' for the 'There is an "I" in Team' episode. Congratulations to Lifetime, The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films, Bunim-Murray Productions and Full Picture for this honor.

Project Runway Season 8 DVD Now Available

Click here to order (only $19.99) from Amazon.

Project Runway Nominated for GLAAD Media Award

Project Runway has been nominated for an award in the "Outstanding Reality Program" category.

Click here to see all of the nominees.

Congratulations to our favorite show!

Project Runway Nominated for Producers Guild Award

Congratulations to Sara Rea and to ALL of the Project Runway producers for the nomination!

The category is "Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment and Competition Television."
Click here for the full announcement.

Mondo Guerra in Chicago December 16th

The Project Runway Season 8 fave will be in Chicago judging the Vogue for Tots event on Thursday. Click here for a fresh interview from Chicagoist.

Project Runway Season 8 DVD Available Feb 8, 2011

Click here to pre-order.

SeenOn Project Runway Private Sale Now Live!

Priced as low as $99.00!

Click here for the "decoy" collections.

Click here for Michael Costello's collection.

Project Runway "Secret Collections" for Sale on Monday

Our friends at SeenOn are offering more Project Runway finale designs for sale. Click here to shop beginning Monday, November 8th at 9AM PST.

The finale collections of Michael Costello, April Johnston, Valerie Mayen, Christopher Collins, Ivy Higa, Michael Drummond, and Casanova will all be available. In addition. several pieces created by Mondo Guerra and Andy South that did not walk the runway are also included in this sale.

Sign up now for access to this exclusive 72-hour sale at SeenOn.

Rachel Roy can't Recall Who Gretchen is

Project Runway Season 8 Episode 10 judge admits in an interview with Heather Staible for Culture Map Houston that she doesn't recall who Gretchen Jones is:

Because of her schedule, Roy hadn’t seen the season finale and didn’t know who had won. When I told her it was Gretchen Jones, she had no reaction. Not because of any personal feelings about her, but because she had no memory of her on the runway. Ouch.

Roy also admits that April was her favorite designer and that she wasn't opposed to Valerie's design at all - BUT VALERIE WAS ELIMINATED ANYWAY:

Roy praised Mondo Guerra and confessed her favorite designer on the episode she guest judged was April Johnston, who favored dark and modern designs and a constant blonde top-knot. Surprisingly too, Roy says she wasn’t opposed at all to Valerie Mayen’s “napkin dress” the way the other judges were.

“I hadn’t seen the designers work like the other judges had, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but I like the way she worked with the fabric,” Roy says.

More support for our suggestions that guest judges be given portfolios of each designer's prior looks. Also more evidence of a lack of respect for guest judges. Seriously, why even have them if you aren't going to honor their opinions?

The Calendar

Team BPR has been privileged to attend six finale shows. Each one is unique but some are better than others.

The season three finale was our first show. Although filming for season three was over the summer, the very excellent editors and producers were able to premiere the show on July 12th and we watched ten episodes before the September finale show. The field was narrowed to four designers and all four showed their collections. There were no decoy shows, no secrecy, no speculation and no fear of spoilers.

The tent was packed and the crowd enthusiastically cheered on their favorites. There was lots of love for each designer. We had watched them triumph through the challenges. We had seen the bickering and the drama. We KNEW these designers. We even knew the models! (We wondered why Nazri was with Uli....)

Click here to continue.

"Crazy Judges!" Video From Justin Couture

Click here to watch this Dvolver film. Thank you Justin!

The Judging...

Dear BPRs,

We have read each and every one of your comments and suggestions for the future of Project Runway and I am going to try to re-articulate your thoughts in a couple of more posts. The first topic is JUDGING.

For the challenges we need clear and specific criteria. What exactly does "avant-garde" mean? Does a red-carpet dress have to be a gown? Do you mean what Jackie Kennedy would have worn if she were alive today, or do you want a modern interpretation of the Jackie Kennedy Style? Please make it clear and specific.

AND THEN USE THE SAME CRITERIA FOR JUDGING.

If a designer falters during a certain challenge and is clearly the loser, then eliminate that designer. If you say that you are keeping the designer "because you want to see more" from him or her, then you are playing favorites.

Click here to continue.