5 reasons to watch Project Runway’s new rival

After 14 years as a producer, judge and host on Project Runway, supermodel Heidi Klum has launched Making The Cut, a rival fashion-competition show on Amazon Prime Video.

And she has poached Project Runway fan favourite Tim Gunn to be her co-creator and co-host.

Klum executive-produced and hosted Project Runway (2004 to present) for 16 seasons from 2004 to 2017.

Both she and Gunn – who acted as a design mentor – were beloved by fans and contestants for their kind but tough-love approach to critiquing the designs.

The two shared the 2013 Emmy for Outstanding Host of a Reality or Reality-Competition Programme.

Unlike the American-centric Project Runway, the 12 contestants on the new show will be a diverse group of designers from around the world, says Klum, 46.

"Some of the designers we have are very established, others are not, and we have young and old."

As the group competes for a chance to become the next big global fashion brand, the show will travel much more than Project Runway, with episodes filmed in New York, Paris and Tokyo and fashion shows staged in each.

The judges include supermodel Naomi Campbell and reality star Nicole Richie.

With Project Runway, there was no easy way for fans of the show to track down and buy the clothes made by contestants.

With Making The Cut, "finally, our audience can shop", says Klum.

"It was important for me to go with a company such as Amazon in order to have that component because that was never possible before – you saw something, you wanted it, but you couldn't have it.

"Here, you have a winning look every week and people can buy it around the world," says the German model.

For each fashion show, designers will each craft a "really wearable" look that will be sold on Amazon's Making The Cut store for about US$100 (S$142) or less.