Fourteen of the most talented PROJECT RUNWAY designers return to compete in the biggest and most competitive PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars season ever! In this cutthroat season, former standout designers come back to New York to compete for runway gold in the fourth season of Lifetime's PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars (#PRAllStars), premiering tonight, October 30, at 9pm ET/PT.
As the returning designers know, nothing is as it seems on PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars. Before revealing the first challenge, host Alyssa Milano reveals that two former PROJECT RUNWAY winners, Dmitry Sholokhov and Michelle Lesniak, are back, making the competition tougher than ever! TV fashion correspondent and Marie Claire's Senior Fashion Editor Zanna Roberts Rassi returns to mentor the designers as they are judged each week by Isaac Mizrahi and Marchesa's Georgina Chapman.
Some of the biggest names in fashion and entertainment make up this year's A-list celebrity guest judges including Emmy® Award nominee
Laverne Cox of Orange Is the New Black, Emmy winner
Debra Messing, Modern Family's
Ariel Winter, Academy Award® winner
Mira Sorvino, singer
Nicole Scherzinger, Emmy-nominated host
Cat Deeley, reality stars Snooki and JWoww, celebrity photographer
Nigel Barker, QVC® program host
Lisa Robertson and many others. Designers appearing this season include
Betsey Johnson, Michael Bastian,
Elie Tahari and
Ivanka Trump, and special appearances by
PROJECT RUNWAY judges
Nina Garcia and
Zac Posen.
This season's highlights include a surprise visit to London for a challenge featuring British royalty, a collaboration with Broadway's Wicked: The Musical and the first-ever wedding ceremony live on the runway.
Designers for
PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars Season 4 include:
Samantha Black (Brooklyn, NY) - Season 11, 7th place - Samantha has been working on her line Sammy B Designs and taking business classes at Macy's Business Program. Samantha was recently named "designer to watch" by both Essence and Ebony magazine.
Helen Castillo (Union City, NJ) - Season 12, 5th place - Helen has been struggling to make a name for herself, although she has had some success and celebrity interest. She designed a Grammy® dress for Mary Lambert and mainly makes custom dresses for the everyday woman.
Fabio Costa (New York, NY) - Season 10, Runner-up - Fabio narrowly missed his chance to win his season but was so inspired that he and his design partner went straight to work creating their own androgynous and minimalist line called NotEqual. He is ready to come back to the runway and this time isn't walking away without the win.
Gunnar Deatherage (Louisville, KY) - Season 10, 8th place - Recently the creative director of NFocus Magazine, Gunnar spends his days styling, overseeing photo shoots and working on his designs at night for his line, Deatherage Designs.
Justin LeBlanc (Raleigh, NC) - Season 12, 3rd place - Justin returned to being a full-time professor after Season 12 and recently completed his spring/summer collection, which will debut at the end of August at the Contemporary Art Museum. And on top of all of that, he is also working on a Fall/Winter 2014/2015 collection with a theme based on his definition of love without boundaries.
Michelle Lesniak (Portland, OR) - Season 11, Winner - Michelle returned to Portland after her successful run on Runway and is currently in the process of opening her own boutique. Dedicated to local manufacturing and ethical business practices, she is undoubtedly playing a key role in shaping and growing the Portland fashion industry.
Benjamin Mach (New York, NY/Sydney Australia) - Season 11, 11th place - His made-to-order Benjamin Mach label, merging luxurious fabrics with label launched February 2014, merging luxurious fabrics with a modern design.
Chris March (New York, NY) - Season 4, 4th place - Chris continues to build his business,
Chris March Designs, designing for stars like Madonna, Prince and
Lady Gaga. He recently formed an exclusive partnership with Target to design costumes and wigs for Halloween season.
Patricia Michaels (Albuquerque, NM) - Season 11, Runner-up - Patricia returned to Albuquerque where she has been building a new studio and working on a ready-to-wear collection. On the side, she booked back-to-back fashion shows all over the country and is working on a short film with her son.
Kate Pankoke (Chicago, IL) - Season 11, 9th Place/Season 12, 6th place - Third time's a charm for Kate, who will stop at nothing to be the next big designer. She now has her own bridal line and a new collection launching in October. Her fascination with princesses has led her to design wedding dresses that enable every woman to feel like royalty on their special day.
Jay Sario (New York, NY) - Season 7, 4th place - After his original season, Jay moved from Hawaii to New York, where he currently works as a full-time visual merchandiser for
Calvin Klein NORTH AMERICA and freelances on the side. His recent passion is bridal wear.
Dmitry Sholokhov (New York, NY) - Season 10, Winner - After winning Season 10 of Runway, Dmitry created his own brand,
Dmitry Sholokhov, and showed his collection in Moscow. He has an exclusive collection for Lord & Taylor. He believes that the greatest thing he took away from Runway was all of the accolades and critiques he received from the panel of expert judges.
Alexandria von Bromssen (San Mateo, CA) - Season 12, Runner-up - Last year, Alexandria returned to San Mateo, where she manages her own clothing line, owns a designer boutique and runs a sewing camp for kids called Camp Couture. She is most proud of designing a modern and edgy wedding dress made from recycled fabrics and vintage lace.
Sonjia Williams (Woodside, NY) - Season 10, 5th place -
PROJECT RUNWAY really helped Sonjia understand more about the fashion business and what it takes to succeed. She currently has a collection with Anabelle NY, and her clothes are available in Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. She is also working on her own solo line, Something by Sonjia.
The winner of
PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars will be given the ultimate in prize packaging, which includes the chance to create their own capsule collection with QVC and appear during QVC's Spring Fashion Week programming; a fashion spread in Marie Claire and a position at the magazine as Contributing Editor for one year; CHI Haircare will send the winner to stay in a luxury spa resort as a special guest at their International conference in Cancun, Mexico, plus product and staff for entire year of runway shows; from
Mary Kay, an entire year's worth of beauty products for their fashion shows and professional makeup artist services for their debut show; a cash prize of $150,000 and a complete custom sewing studio to launch the winning line from Brother Sewing and Embroidery.
Last season,
PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars posted significant jumps among the key demographics
Versus season two, including a +13% increase in Total Viewers and Woman 18-49, +9% with Woman 25-54 and +3% in both Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49. Season three also the number unscripted series in its Thursday 9-10p time period among Woman 25-54
Project Runway All Stars is produced by
The Weinstein Company and Bunim/Murray Productions. Executive producers are
Harvey Weinstein and
Bob Weinstein (co-chairmen of
The Weinstein Company), Meryl Poster and Barbara Schneeweiss of
The Weinstein Company, Jonathan Murray and Gil Goldschein of Bunim/Murray Productions,
Rob Bagshaw (Top Chef Masters, Paradise Hotel,
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge) and Rob Sharenow, Eli Lehrer,
Mary Donahue and
David Hillman of Lifetime.
ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
TWC boasts an active television production division led by former
Miramax Films Co-President of Production Meryl Poster. TWC garnered nine Emmy nominations in 2013 and has five Emmy nominations for 2014. Weinstein TV produces the reality powerhouse Project Runway, currently airing its 13th season on Lifetime; along with its spin-off series the critically-acclaimed
PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars, hosted by
Alyssa Milano, and Project Runway: Under the Gunn, hosted by
Tim Gunn.
PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars' fourth season will air Fall 2014 on Lifetime, along with a new TWC TV series, Project Runway: Threads. Weinstein TV is also excited to announce the series premiere of Cement Heads, which began airing this month on A&E®. TWC series that were produced in 2013 include
MOB WIVES Season 4, which
VH1 has picked up for Season 5,
MILLION DOLLAR SHOPPERS for Lifetime,
RODEO GIRLS for A&E and Trailer Park:
WELCOME TO MYRTLE MANOR Season 2 for TLC. Announced scripted projects in development include John Fusco's historical action-adventure epic, Marco Polo, for Netflix; Ten Commandments, a 10-part event series with each episode to be helmed by a different A-list director and focusing on one commandment and an adaptation of Daniel Stashower's best-selling Civil War-era spy thriller,
THE HOUR of Peril. TWC also developed Amy Sherman Palladino's The Nanny Diaries for
ABC and produced the Peabody Award-winning
HBO series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, directed by Anthony Minghella.
ABOUT BUNIM/MURRAY PRODUCTIONS
Bunim/Murray Productions is the leading producer of innovative entertainment content. The Emmy Award-winning company is widely credited with creating the reality television genre with its hit series The Real World (renewed for Season 30 on MTV). BMP continued to innovate with the first reality game show, Road Rules (MTV), in 1995; the first reality sitcom, The Simple Life (E!), in 2003; and the first reality soap opera, Starting Over in 2003. Bunim-Murray's programming also includes Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kourtney and Khloe Take the Hamptons and
TOTAL DIVAS (E!); The Real World and
THE CHALLENGE (MTV); Project Runway,
PROJECT RUNWAY All Stars and Project Runway:
UNDER THE GUNN (Lifetime);
MOTOR CITY MASTERS (truTV); Love Thy Sister (WE tv) and Bad Girls Club,
BAD GIRLS ALL STAR BATTLE and
BEST INK (Oxygen). Bunim/Murray Productions has also produced films, including Valentine Road (HBO), Pedro (MTV) and the Emmy Award-winning Autism: The Musical (HBO). Bunim/Murray Productions has launched additional entities including BMP Films, BMP Digital and BMP Latin. Based in Van Nuys, California, Bunim/Murray Productions was founded in 1987 by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim, who were inducted into the Television Academy of Arts & Science's Hall of Fame in 2012. The company joined Banijay Group in 2010.
ABOUT LIFETIME
Lifetime is a premier female-focused entertainment destination dedicated to offering the highest-quality original programming spanning scripted series, nonfiction series and movies. As a result of the network's aggressive programming strategy that has doubled the hours of its original programming, 2013 marked Lifetime's second straight year of growth among Total Viewers. Lifetime® Television, LMN®, Lifetime Real Women® and Lifetime®Digital are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A+E Networks. A+E Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst Corpor
Photo courtesy of Lifetime
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