Based on the premiere - Lifetime sent critics a copy, but clipped off the judges’ comments - the new network has barely changed a thing, from the makeup of the judging panel (Klum, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, and assorted guests) to the silhouette screen that’s used for dramatic effect in the runway show. Instead, the women’s network is working to expand the franchise; at 11 p.m. comes a spinoff called “Models of the Runway,’’ which extrapolates from the horrified looks that cross some models’ faces when they try on their designers’ work.
One positive change: The new “Runway’’ seems determined to make use of its new setting, milking Los Angeles for its self-perceived glamour. (There’s a bit of defensiveness involved; the cameras catch one contestant announcing that “LA’s garment district is, like, seven times bigger than New York’s.’’) At the start of tonight’s challenge, the designers step on the red carpet laid out for the Emmys - last year’s Emmys - and are tasked with designing gowns for the stars.
Starting off with ball gowns gives us a good chance to see what these designers are made of, even if too many of them are made of shimmery fabric in washed-out colors. We still get the range of self-made designers and pedigreed Vivienne Westwood interns, the proud guys who make declarations like “I don’t differentiate between different colored carpets,’’ the train-wreck contestants who are sewing their garments onto their models moments before the runway show.
This year’s standouts include a crowd-pleasing older man named Epperson who might or might not have the chops, and a woman named Ari who wears wildly patterned unitards and constructs a hooded halter dress from silver hexagons. To this, the inimitable Tim Gunn says, “I’m worried that it’s going to look like a halter diaper.’’
