History Series / ProjectRunway

** Austin Scarlett from Season 1, to the point that he makes ''Santino'' of all people look like the OnlySaneMan in [[OnTheRoadWithAustinAndSantino their show together.]]

The challenges are very diverse, testing different aspects of a designer's aesthetic and abilities. There is usually one challenge featuring unusual materials -- such as plants, edibles, apartment furnishings, and recycled goods -- per season. Occasionally, the designers must create an outfit for a celebrity (or quasi-celebrity), including Miss USA Tara O'Connor, actress Brooke Shields, entertainment reporter Nancy O'Dell, and figure skater Sasha Cohen. Most of the other challenges fall into one of three categories: provide new pieces for an already existing line (like Sarah Jessica Parker's "Bitten" or Diane von Furstenberg), work around a given theme (such as bridal, cocktail, or prom), or "Inspiration" basically either sending the designers out with cameras or assigning them a style icon, and having that be the inspiration for their designs.

* DressesTheSame: With the number of designers and challenges, it sometimes becomes unavoidable that two contestants pick similar (or even the same) fabric and may have a similar idea in their designs, which ultimately comes down to 'who executed their idea better' on the runway. There are other times this trope is actively averted when designers realize someone else is buying the same fabric at Mood or is constructing a similar garment and will quickly change their looks on the fly.

** In the fourth season finale of All Stars, we have Dmitry (technician) and Sonjia (performer). Dmitry has impeccable sewing skills but isn't always as "exciting" as some other designers, though he has come up with some ''gorgeous'' pieces that are also fashion-forward. Sonjia is the definition of the performer - she doesn't even ''sketch'' - but she tends to pull beautiful, exciting designs out of nowhere with surprising regularity.

The show has had twelve seasons and two ''All Stars'' seasons [[MyGreatestSecondChance made of eliminated designers from other seasons]]. Previous winners are Jay [=McCarroll=], Chloe Dao, Jeffrey Sebelia, Christian Siriano, Leanne Marshall, Irina Shabayeva, Seth Aaron Henderson, Gretchen Jones, Anya Ayoung-Chee, Dmitry Sholokhov, Michelle Lesniak Franklin and Dom Streater. Mondo Guerra won the first ''All Stars'' season, while Anthony Ryan Auld won the second, Seth Aaron Henderson won the 3rd, and [[spoiler: Dmitry Sholokhov won the 4th.]]

The show has had twelve seasons and two ''All Stars'' seasons [[MyGreatestSecondChance made of eliminated designers from other seasons]]. Previous winners are Jay [=McCarroll=], Chloe Dao, Jeffrey Sebelia, Christian Siriano, Leanne Marshall, Irina Shabayeva, Seth Aaron Henderson, Gretchen Jones, Anya Ayoung-Chee, Dmitry Sholokhov, Michelle Lesniak Franklin and Dom Streater. Mondo Guerra won the first ''All Stars'' season, while Anthony Ryan Auld won the second [[spoiler:and Seth Aaron Henderson won the 3rd season]].

* AccentuateTheNegative:
** Michael Kors tends toward hilarious descriptions such as "she looks like a pole dancer in Dubai" or "this looks like a Handi-Wipe gone wrong". Nina Garcia is prone to similar descriptions, but without the humor.
** The judges generally fall into this mode when judging the last challenge to amplify the drama going into the finals.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Happens sometimes. Most clearly in Season 8 with Michael C.
* {{Asexual}}: Though he defines his [[http://www.asexuality.org/wiki/index.php?title=Romantic_orientation romantic orientation]] as "homoromantic", Tim Gunn is a self-identified {{Asexual}}. He hasn't been in a relationship since the early 1980s and says he has no interest in being in another one.
* AuthorAppeal:

* BerserkButton: Don't touch Vincent's (Season 3) laundry! The deadpan expression of the guy he was yelling at is a classic.

* CrackDefeat: Mondo Guerra's loss to Gretchen in Season 8 is widely regarded as this. ''Tim Gunn'' of all people practically invoked the trope by name, having referred to Nina Garcia and Michael Kors as "crack-smoking" based on their support for Gretchen.

* DeadpanSnarker: Season 8's April was rather snarky. Season 10's Dmitry might be even more so.

* DragQueen: Chris March, season 4, as well as a design-for-drag-queens challenge
* DudeLooksLikeALady: A lot of them have this going on at some point, but the stand out example is Austin Scarlett from Season 1. According to his fellow designers, the most butch they had ever seen him was when he modeled a mail carrier uniform for ''women''.
* TheEeyore: Olivier Green, as highlighted by an exchange with his student partner during the avant-garde challenge.
--> '''Student:''' What kind of music do you listen to?
--> '''Olivier:''' Depressing.

* FollowTheLeader: In her final collection, Season 5's Kenley produced pieces that were very reminiscent of earlier designs from [[http://myitthings.com/Yuli/Post/fashion/It_Dress/Kenley_s__Alexander_McQueen__Wedding_Dress:_Did_she_or_Didn_t_she_/921092008134446302.htm McQueen]] and [[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmyitthings.com%2FYuli%2FPost%2Ffashion%2FIt_Designer%2FKenley_s__Balenciaga__Dress__Did_she_or_Didn_t_she__Take_Two_%2F8610152008231746671.htm&rct=j&q=kenley%20balenciaga&ei=i1-iTYP_DIHd0QHxzZjyDg&usg=AFQjCNGkrQgqjEY0XQhXqKPWXJwMCFzt9A&cad=rja Balenciaga]].

* FridgeLogic: Seth Aaron stated that his winning collection for Season 7 was inspired by 1930s German and Soviet aesthetics. After a lot of people went "Uhhhh... wait, doesn't that kind of include the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis?]]", he had to hurriedly explain that wasn't what he meant. [[invoked]]

* [[GenkiGirl Genki Boy]]: Andrae from Season 2, who would generally go through a door twirling and dancing.
* GenreSavvy: Joshua M has ridden the "be a drama-causing {{Jerkass}} for ratings" reality TV formula all the way to the top four. Lampshaded by Bert of all people, who responded to a Josh hissy fit with "Go back to central casting!"
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Bert talks about getting "a job" at Studio 54.
-->'''Laura:''' Is that where you got your Halston job?
-->'''Bert:''' No, I got it in a balcony, third row.

* GranolaGirl:
** Leanne from season 5 and Gretchen from season 8
** Santino described Kara Janx this way.
* GratuitousGerman: Uli in Season 3, and, of course Heidi Klum herself.
* GratuitousSpanish: Season 8, where Nina translates a question to Casanova in perfect Spanish pronunciation.

* HeroicFatigue: Laura Bennett was well into the big stages of her pregnancy towards the end of Season 3, so she was allowed to take breaks during work hours.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Michael Kors catch-all phrase for any particularly raunchy outfit. Sometimes couched in a film reference, as in "She looks like Creator/ShirleyMacLaine in ''Irma La Douce''".

* HurricaneOfExcuses: Gretchen Jones' infamous meltdown trying to defend Team Luxe on the runway, first declaring the team was proudly united even if the judges didn't like their work, and then when the judges didn't like their work she promptly started fumbling for reasons to blame everything on teammate Michael Costello.
* IndyPloy: Invoked by Tim Gunn to the contestants. Hence, ''[[CatchPhrase make it work]].''

* IntergenerationalFriendship:
** 57-year-old Bert appeared to get along best with the youngest designer of Season 9's group, 22-year-old Olivier.
** Mila Hermanovski and Maya Luz in Season 7.

* LastNameBasis: (Rodney) Epperson and (Carlos) Casanova
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: "Well since leaving you only a few hours ago I had an altercation with a set of subway stairs, a trip to the emergency room, and four stitches. But I'm here for you!" Says Tim in his usual Tim Gunn cheerfulness with three deep cuts on his face.

* ManipulativeEditing: Of course! Ven Budhu in particular venomously claimed that his controversial behavior in season 10 episode 6, in which he called his client "plus-size" and "big" and eventually leading her to tears, was subject to this. Tim Gunn, [[InvertedTrope on the other hand]], claims what the audience saw of Ven was the "nice version" of his atrocious behavior.
* MommasBoy: Michael Knight of Season 3 made it a point to call his loving mother every day.

* MistakenNationality: More than one recapper assumed Viktor Luna was from somewhere in Eastern Europe (perhaps due to the spelling of his first name?). He was born in Mexico.
* MrFanservice: Logan from season 6. The other designers, male and female alike, often commented on how gorgeous they thought he was, and he ''did'' make it surprisingly far in the season considering his designs were frequently in the bottom three.

* OneJudgeToRuleThemAll: Ostensibly averted, but Nina Garcia is widely regarded as the key to the judging panel. It's definitely ''not'' Heidi, as evinced by her passionate but ultimately futile advocacy for Mondo Guerra to win Season 8.

** Wendy from Season 1 counts. She believed that she had to scheme and strategise in order to win, forgetting that this is a [[TalentShow show where you're eliminated based on your designs]]. She was called out for it in the finale.
** Vanessa from season 1 also counts, although in a different form. Contestants on reality shows are required to sign contracts and forms that would clearly state what type of show it is, how it works and what the rules are. After her experience on Project Runway, she proceeded to bitch to a blog stating that it wasn't what she thought it was and assumed it would be "higher end".

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Averted by Uli from Season 3, who quite frequently designed dresses.

* ShockingElimination:

** The first season ends with multiple challenge winner Kara Saun being edged out by Jay [=McCarroll=], who often placed high, but never actually won any of the challenges.

*** One of the best example is in Season 2: Most fashion critics (including Fern Mallis) thought that Kara Janx (Who finished 4th) had it in the bag with her collection. She is also the reason why the show started to publicized decoy collections.

** Mondo Guerra's second-place loss to Gretchen Jones in Season 8 was perhaps the most shocking of these.

* ShutUpHannibal: After [[SmugSnake Josh M]] got reamed by the judges for his EpicFail 1970s outfits, he went on a rant to the other designers that he was suffering unfairly because he hadn't even been alive in the 1970s. (Implying the other designers somehow had it easier.) He went on and on with tension in the room mounting until finally Viktor cut him off, very calmly but bluntly explaining this was a lame excuse because a lot of the other designers were close to Josh in age. When Josh attempted his trademark WoundedGazelleGambit by accusing Viktor of being "aggressive," [[CoolOldGuy Bert]] and [[OnlySaneMan Kimberly]] jumped in to cut ''that'' off and say that Viktor was right.

* SoreLoser: Joshua M of season 9, who was ''very'' offended that he lost to Anya in the L'Oreal challenge, mostly because he said he needed the money more. On the ''After the Runway'' special following the episode, he got [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech thoroughly chewed out]] for acting like he was the only one with money problems. On the next episode he seemed very offended that he'd lost to a "beauty queen" with a tone that made it obvious that he did not think that was a good thing.

* StealthInsult: April Johnson infamously compared Gretchen to Hitler in Season 9
--> '''April:''' "Do you really want to hire Hitler? Seriously?"

** Wendy's candy bikini (Season 1) comes to mind.
** Wendy was also criticized for this over a sheer top in the finale.

* VerbalJudo: Korina towards Nina and Char. When Nina Garcia admitted she disliked Korina's outfit in season 13, [[BerserkButton let's just say Korina was less-than-pleased.]]
** But the drama [[FromBadToWorse would continue when Korina was sent back to await the judges decisions, and even after her elimination.]]

* WeWorkWellTogether: Surprisingly, Casanova and Ivy from All-Stars season 2. Until Casanova gets eliminated. Even after that she's seen Skyping with him as he tries to cheer her up.

** A retroactive example: Season 7's Jay Nicolas Sario was one of ''ten'' designers who showed Fashion Week collections, in an effort to avoid spoiling the outcome of seven episodes that had not yet aired. His collection was very well-received, causing many fashion journalists to peg him as the favorite to win the season. In reality, Jay Nicolas only finished in fourth place. He and fellow designer Mila Hermanovski both got to create collections, with the knowledge that a head-to-head competition would determine which of them would advance to the third spot in the finals. Jay Nicolas came up short, meaning that his collection was one of the seven decoys, and that he was already out of the running before it walked. The audience would not learn this fact until about two months later, when his elimination episode actually aired.

** Viktor Luna placing '''third''' in the Season 9 finale caused an uproar.

** Another retroactive example in Season 13, with Fade and Sandhaya collection, that turn out to be decoys, got the most praises with being respectively, casually fun & well constructed and being surprisingly fun.

** But the drama [[ItGotWorse would continue when Korina was sent back to await the judges decisions, and even after her elimination.]]

* TeamPet: Swatch, the infrequently seen canine resident of Mood. Swatch's agent seems to have negotiated a better deal, as he has now made at least one appearance in every episode of Season 12 to date.

** (Season 9) Designers who helped Anya finish her sewing, seeming to forget that ThisIsACompetition, and were outlasted by her.

** It's surprisingly often that in every season, there are some contestants do not learn how to sew quickly and precisely

--> '''Tim Gunn:''' "This makes me sick. We may as well have gone to Mood. [...] Have you ever ''seen'' Project Runway? Have you ''seen'' the unconventional challenges? Have you ''seen'' what the judges do when they're presented with a bunch of fabric?"

* [[RealWomenDontWearDresses Real Women Wear Dresses]]: Uli from Season 3 quite frequently designed dresses.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: happens sometimes. Most clearly in Season 8 with Michael C.

-->'''Tim Gunn:''' [The zipper on these men's pants]... it really draws your eye to the crotch.
-->'''Josh M:''' ''[[CampGay Right.]]'' [smiles]

--> “Oh, boy. I’m going to get in trouble for this. Michael [Kors] was campaigning for Gretchen. He said, ‘We need a sportswear designer to win one of these seasons.’ “I thought, ‘Well, Mr. Kors, you just want to validate yourself. But do you want to validate yourself with Gretchen?’ I wouldn't. Nina [Garcia] was very much in favor of Mondo, and then Michael nudges her and he says, ‘You know, Gretchen listened to every word of advice that you gave her. Mondo didn't listen to you at all.’ So suddenly, Nina is, like ‘That’s right! He didn’t! I’m going with Gretchen.’ So that’s how it all happened.”

* GenderEqualEnsemble
** Averted for All-Stars 3, where we have 11 contestants: 6 men, 5 women (from which one is a {{Transsexual}}).

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold:
** Michael Kors catch-all phrase for any particularly raunchy outfit. Sometimes couched in a film reference, as in "She looks like Creator/ShirleyMacLaine in ''Irma La Douce''".

* ManipulativeEditing: Of course!
** Ven Budhu in particular venomously claimed that his controversial behavior in season 10 episode 6, in which he called his client "plus-size" and "big" and eventually leading her to tears, was subject to this. Tim Gunn, [[InvertedTrope on the other hand]], claims what the audience saw of Ven was the "nice version" of his atrocious behavior.

** Season 2 had Daniel Vosovic and Daniel Franco (seasons 1 and 2)
*** And overall if we also count Daniel Feld (season 5)
** Season 8 had Michael Costello and Michael Drummond
*** In addition to Season 3's [[MyNaymeIs Mychael Knight]]

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Man/Only Sane Woman]]: Tim Gunn. Come on. In a show where the designers are steeped in drama and the judges eating more and more slices of JerkAss Cake, Tim Gunn is our rock.

---> '''April:''' "Do you really want to hire Hitler? Seriously?"

* TeamPet: Swatch, the infrequently seen canine resident of Mood.
** Swatch's agent seems to have negotiated a better deal, as he has now made at least one appearance in every episode of Season 12 to date.

--->'''Laura:''' "Keith...what an asshole."

* RomanceOnTheSet:
** For Daniel Feld and Wesley Nault in season 5.
** Logan Neitzel and Carol Hannah Whitfield from season 6 also qualify.

* FanNickname:
** The elimination catchphrase itself has a fan nickname, as fans have come to use the term "auf'd" when referring to elimination in general, be it who was eliminated or might be eliminated.
** As for contestants, Ivy from season 8 has rapidly become known to fans as both Poison Ivy and Hivy, whereas Gretchen is now commonly called Wretchen.
** Sourpuss judge Nina Garcia told a story about a fan who saw her in the street and called her "Mean-a Gar-zilla".
** Recappers Tom & Lorenzo nicknamed the overly-delicate Olivier "Precious Moments."
** They also refer to season 10's Sonjia as "Tootie"
** In season 10, following Dmitry's MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels moment, many fans have taken to calling Ven the "one way monkey".
** And Dmitry himself has been nicknamed "Loki" by much of tumblr; others refer to him as "Professor Snape" or "Comrade Snape."
** Tom and Lorenzo quickly dubbed season 12's Timothy "Sustainicorn" after his self-proclaimed eco-friendly philosophy and self-proclaimed love of unicorns.
** Alexandria of season 12 has been called Not!Uli by some fans due to them looking very similar and both being from Germany, to the point that you can confuse the two.

* ChannelHop: From Bravo to Lifetime.

The show has had twelve seasons and two ''All Stars'' seasons [[MyGreatestSecondChance made of eliminated designers from other seasons]]. Previous winners are Jay McCarroll, Chloe Dao, Jeffrey Sebelia, Christian Siriano, Leanne Marshall, Irina Shabayeva, Seth Aaron Henderson, Gretchen Jones, Anya Ayoung-Chee, Dmitry Sholokhov, Michelle Lesniak Franklin and Dom Streater. Mondo Guerra won the first ''All Stars'' season, while Anthony Ryan Auld won the second [[spoiler:and Seth Aaron Henderson won the 3rd season]].

** Rami's elimination in the All-Stars season.

** Michael Kors catch-all phrase for any particularly raunchy outfit. Sometimes couched in a film reference, as in "She looks like ShirleyMacLaine in ''Irma La Douce''".