Project Runway Korea
Encyclopedia
Project Runway Korea is the Korea
n version of the American reality
show Project Runway
. It is Korean television's first localized franchise from a foreign-language reality competition, and the third Project Runway version in Asia
after Malaysia
and the Philippines
.
The winner of Project Runway Koreas first season received ₩
50 million in prize money, along with a car and a fashion spread in Elle Korea
; the second season increased the prize money to ₩70 million.
, together with Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Korea Shin Yoo-jin and ANDY & DEBB designer Kim Seok-won completing the judging panel. Meanwhile, fashion design
professor Kan Ho-sup serves as mentor to the designers. Lee replaced Kang Ho-dong (comedian
and variety show
host), who was the choice to host Project Runway Korea, as FremantleMedia (international distributor of the Project Runway franchise) found it inappropriate to have a comedian in a fashion-related program. Over 500 designers auditioned, and 14 of them were chosen as finalists. The final three designers will get the chance to show their collection in the 2009 Fall/ Winter Seoul Collection, with the winner receiving 50 million won
(roughly US$
34,200), a 2009 GM Daewoo Lacetti
and a fashion spread in ELLE Korea. The show premiered on cable network OnStyle on February 7, 2009.
News reports stated that the production company of Project Runway Korea paid 100 million won (roughly US$71,900) to purchase the franchise, which included a 700-page "bible" that details the program's format, production notes, and casting procedures. The whole season is said to have been produced at a budget of 700 million won (roughly US$506,100) for all of its 10 episodes, compared to Project Runway that has a production budget of 500 million won (roughly US$361,500) for every episode.
During the promotion of the program, the staff of Project Runway Korea stated that "everything about (Project Runway and its Korean version) is the same except for the color of the contestants' skin."
The first season will feature appearances from celebrity Uhm Jung-hwa
, fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon
, and designer from Project Runways fourth season
Victorya Hong, who incidentally has Korean lineage.
, the top-rating comic-variety programme in Korea, had taken this show as a one-episode of Project RunAway(프로젝트 런어웨이) to test each of the member's commercial design ability, with the host of PRK Lee So-ra. The main challenge given to each member was made by comedian Kim Gyeong-jin's request, to design his comic dress to wear at the MBC
's comedy programme Gag-ya. At last, surprisingly, the winner of this neck-and-neck competition is Park Myeong-su
by the judges' Rock-paper-scissors
decision. This free-to-air edition was also marked the highest ratings.
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n version of the American reality
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...
. It is Korean television's first localized franchise from a foreign-language reality competition, and the third Project Runway version in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
after Malaysia
Project Runway Malaysia
Project Runway Malaysia is a Malaysian reality television series on 8TV that focuses on fashion design. Its contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are usually restricted in their time, materials, and theme. Their designs are judged and one or more designers are...
and the Philippines
Project Runway Philippines
Project Runway Philippines is a Philippine adaptation of Project Runway. This reality television series, which aims to find "the next big Filipino fashion designer," is produced by Solar Entertainment Corporation and Unitel Productions. It is shown on ETC Entertainment Central...
.
The winner of Project Runway Koreas first season received ₩
South Korean won
The won is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. The jeon is no longer used for everyday transactions, and appears only in foreign exchange rates...
50 million in prize money, along with a car and a fashion spread in Elle Korea
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
; the second season increased the prize money to ₩70 million.
Production
The show is hosted by Lee So-ra, supermodelSupermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
, together with Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Korea Shin Yoo-jin and ANDY & DEBB designer Kim Seok-won completing the judging panel. Meanwhile, fashion design
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
professor Kan Ho-sup serves as mentor to the designers. Lee replaced Kang Ho-dong (comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
host), who was the choice to host Project Runway Korea, as FremantleMedia (international distributor of the Project Runway franchise) found it inappropriate to have a comedian in a fashion-related program. Over 500 designers auditioned, and 14 of them were chosen as finalists. The final three designers will get the chance to show their collection in the 2009 Fall/ Winter Seoul Collection, with the winner receiving 50 million won
Korean won
The won was the currency of Korea between 1902 and 1910. It was subdivided into 100 chon .-Etymology:Won is a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.-History:...
(roughly US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
34,200), a 2009 GM Daewoo Lacetti
Daewoo Lacetti
The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car made by the South Korean automaker GM Daewoo since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan, a five-door hatchback or a five-door station wagon. The sedan and wagon were designed by Pininfarina, and the hatchback by Giorgetto Giugiaro...
and a fashion spread in ELLE Korea. The show premiered on cable network OnStyle on February 7, 2009.
News reports stated that the production company of Project Runway Korea paid 100 million won (roughly US$71,900) to purchase the franchise, which included a 700-page "bible" that details the program's format, production notes, and casting procedures. The whole season is said to have been produced at a budget of 700 million won (roughly US$506,100) for all of its 10 episodes, compared to Project Runway that has a production budget of 500 million won (roughly US$361,500) for every episode.
During the promotion of the program, the staff of Project Runway Korea stated that "everything about (Project Runway and its Korean version) is the same except for the color of the contestants' skin."
The first season will feature appearances from celebrity Uhm Jung-hwa
Uhm Jung-hwa
Uhm Jung-hwa is a South Korean female Korean pop artist and actress. Uhm began her career as a chorus member of MBC, one of the three major South Korean broadcasting companies, in 1989...
, fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon
Gilles Bensimon
Gilles Bensimon is a fashion photographer and the former International Creative Director of Elle magazine. He has also been the photographer on the reality television series America's Next Top Model....
, and designer from Project Runways fourth season
Project Runway (season 4)
Project Runway Season 4 was the fourth season of Project Runway, Bravo's reality competition for fashion designers. The season premiered November 14, 2007. Returning as judges were supermodel Heidi Klum; fashion designer Michael Kors; and Nina Garcia, Elle magazine fashion director...
Victorya Hong, who incidentally has Korean lineage.
Season 1 Contestants
Names of the designers are arranged in "Romanized" order, while the ages listed are the designers' ages at the time the show was taped in late 2008.- Lee Woo-kyung, 27 years old, studied fashion design in FIT- Winner, April 18
- Nam Yong-seop, 30 years old, patternPattern (sewing)In sewing and fashion design, a pattern is an original garment from which other garments of a similar style are copied, or the paper or cardboard templates from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric before cutting out and assembling .Patternmaking, pattern making or pattern cutting is...
maker- Eliminated, April 18 (1st Runner-up) - Choi Hye-jung, 29 years old, multi-shop manager who studied in Parsons The New School for DesignParsons The New School for DesignParsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
- Eliminated, April 18 (2nd Runner-up) - Lee Seung-hee, 34 years old, studied fashion in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and runs a fashion design academy- Eliminated, April 4 - Chung Jae-woong, 26 years old, engineering student from Sungkyunkwan UniversitySungkyunkwan UniversitySungkyunkwan University is a private university in Seoul and Suwon, South Korea. The university has two campuses: the Humanities and Social Sciences campus in Myeongnyun Dong, Jongno-gu in central Seoul, and the Natural Sciences Campus in Cheoncheon Dong, Jangan Gu, Suwon...
- Eliminated, April 4 - Lee Myung-sin, 23 years old, fashion design student- Eliminated, March 28
- Kim Jae-min, 22 years old, graduate of Fashion Institute of TechnologyFashion Institute of TechnologyThe Fashion Institute of Technology, generally known as FIT, is a State University of New York college of art, business, design, and technology connected to the fashion industry, with an urban campus located on West 27th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of...
(FIT) in New York City- Eliminated, March 21 - Shin Jae-eun, 42 years old, owner of Costume Garden boutique - Eliminated, March 14
- Kyung Cho-rong, 29 years old, studied fashion design in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- Eliminated, March 7 - Yoo Sang-uk, 28 years old, designer for Daimaroo t-shirts - Eliminated, February 28
- So Ye-in, 26 years old, graduate of a fashion school in Paris - Eliminated, February 21
- Kim Hong-bum, 31 years old, DongdaemunDongdaemun MarketDongdaemun Market or Tongdaemun is the large commercial district comprising traditional markets and shopping centers in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea...
clothing store manager - Eliminated, February 21 - Lee Eun-jeong, 38 years old, former teacher turned interior designer - Eliminated, February 14
- Kye Han-hee, 22 years old, student of Central Saint Martins College of Art and DesignCentral Saint Martins College of Art and DesignCentral Saint Martins College of Art and Design is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. The school has an outstanding international reputation, and is considered one of the world's leading art and design institutions...
in London - Eliminated, February 7
Season 1 Designer Competition
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Woo-kyung | WIN | IN | IN | IN | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | WIN | IN | WIN |
| Nam Yong-seop | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOW | HIGH | LOW | WIN | HIGH | IN | OUT |
| Choi Hye-jung | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | LOW | HIGH | LOW | LOW | IN | OUT |
| Lee Seung-hee | HIGH | LOW | LOW | HIGH | LOW | IN | WIN | HIGH | OUT | ||
| Chung Jae-woong | IN | HIGH | HIGH | IN | HIGH | WIN | HIGH | LOW | OUT | ||
| Lee Myung-sin | IN | IN | LOW | WIN | WIN | IN | HIGH | OUT | |||
| Kim Jae-min | LOW | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | HIGH | OUT | ||||
| Shin Jae-eun | IN | IN | IN | LOW | IN | OUT | |||||
| Kyung Cho-rong | IN | LOW | HIGH | IN | OUT | ||||||
| Yoo Sang-uk | LOW | WIN | IN | OUT | |||||||
| So Ye-in | IN | IN | OUT | ||||||||
| Kim Hong-bum | HIGH | LOW | OUT | ||||||||
| Lee Eun-jeong | LOW | OUT | |||||||||
| Kye Han-hee | OUT | ||||||||||
- The designer won Project Runway Korea.
- The designer won that challenge.
- The designer was in the top two, but did not win.
- The designer had one of the highest scores for that challenge, but did not win.
- The designer had one of the lowest scores for that challenge, but was not eliminated.
- The designer was in the bottom two, but was not eliminated.
- The designer lost and was out of the competition.
- : Kyung Cho-rong & Kim Jae-min was on the high. But Kim Jae-min because of attitude, he was on the bottom 5.
- : This episode is reunion.
Season 2 Designer Competition
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jung Go-woun | WIN | WIN | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | WIN | LOW | HIGH | LOW | IN | WIN |
| Choi Hyoung-ook | HIGH | IN | IN | LOW | WIN | WIN | IN | LOW | LOW | LOW | IN | OUT |
| Chung Mi-young | IN | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | LOW | IN | IN | WIN | LOW | WIN | IN | OUT |
| Kim Ji-hye | IN | HIGH | IN | HIGH | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | HIGH | OUT | ||
| Yoon Choon-ho | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOW | LOW | IN | HIGH | WIN | OUT | ||
| An Song-eun | IN | IN | IN | LOW | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | OUT | |||
| Choi Chang-sook | IN | IN | LOW | HIGH | HIGH | IN | LOW | OUT | ||||
| Chung Hyun-joo | LOW | IN | IN | HIGH | HIGH | IN | OUT | |||||
| Bang Ji-eun | IN | LOW | IN | IN | IN | OUT | ||||||
| Jung Ga-young | LOW | IN | LOW | IN | OUT | |||||||
| Lee Dong-jun | IN | IN | IN | OUT | ||||||||
| Yoon Se-na | HIGH | LOW | HIGH | OUT | ||||||||
| Hyun Sung-sig | IN | IN | OUT | |||||||||
| Lee Jae-hoon | IN | OUT | ||||||||||
| Lee Hyun-shik | OUT | |||||||||||
- The designer won Project Runway Korea.
- The designer won that challenge.
- The designer was in the top two, but did not win.
- The designer had one of the highest scores for that challenge, but did not win.
- The designer had one of the lowest scores for that challenge, but was not eliminated.
- The designer was in the bottom two, but was not eliminated.
- The designer lost and was out of the competition.
- : This episode is reunion.
Season 3 Designer Competition
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shin Joo-yeon | WIN | LOW | IN | IN | HIGH | HIGH | IN | WIN | LOW | HIGH | IN | WIN |
| Gwon Soon-soo | IN | HIGH | WIN | IN | IN | LOW | WIN | IN | LOW | WIN | IN | OUT |
| Lee Se-jin | IN | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | IN | OUT |
| Kim Jin | HIGH | IN | HIGH | HIGH | IN | WIN | LOW | LOW | LOW | OUT | ||
| Jung Hee-jin | IN | LOW | IN | IN | IN | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | OUT | ||
| Kim Won-sik | IN | IN | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | OUT | ||
| Hwang Jae-geun | HIGH | LOW | IN | WIN | HIGH | IN | LOW | OUT | ||||
| Jo Han-yong | IN | LOW | LOW | LOW | WIN | LOW | OUT | |||||
| Jo Seo-young | IN | IN | IN | IN | LOW | OUT | ||||||
| Gwon Bo-mi | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |||||||
| Hong Ji-seon | IN | WIN | LOW | OUT | ||||||||
| Jung Nok-young | LOW | HIGH | OUT | |||||||||
| Jeon Joo-hyun | IN | OUT | ||||||||||
| Lee Tae-Kyung | LOW | OUT | ||||||||||
| Lee Hak-rim | OUT | |||||||||||
- The designer won Project Runway Korea.
- The designer won that challenge.
- The designer was in the top two, but did not win.
- The designer had one of the highest scores for that challenge, but did not win.
- The designer had one of the lowest scores for that challenge, but was not eliminated.
- The designer was in the bottom two, but was not eliminated.
- The designer lost and was out of the competition.
- : No contestants were eliminated.
- : This episode is reunion.
Reference in popular culture
Aired on March 28, 2009, Muhan DojeonInfinite Challenge
Infinite Challenge is a Korean television entertainment program, distributed and syndicated by MBC. As of June and July 2009, it still has the largest market share for its timeslot, between 13.8 percent and 19.7 percent of Korean television viewers watched Muhan Dojeon at 6:40 PM every Saturday...
, the top-rating comic-variety programme in Korea, had taken this show as a one-episode of Project RunAway(프로젝트 런어웨이) to test each of the member's commercial design ability, with the host of PRK Lee So-ra. The main challenge given to each member was made by comedian Kim Gyeong-jin's request, to design his comic dress to wear at the MBC
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC (Hangul : 문화방송주식회사, Munhwa Bangsong Jushikoesa) is one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. Munhwa is the Korean word for "culture". Its flagship terrestrial television...
's comedy programme Gag-ya. At last, surprisingly, the winner of this neck-and-neck competition is Park Myeong-su
Park Myeong-su
Park Myung-soo is a Korean comedian, MC and singer who debuted on television in 1993, appearing on the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Network. He is in the top-rated comic variety programme Muhan Dojeon and on the Date at 2 O'Clock radio show...
by the judges' Rock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors
Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game played by two people. The game is also known as roshambo, or another ordering of the three items ....
decision. This free-to-air edition was also marked the highest ratings.