''Project Runway Korea'' () was the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n version of the American

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

show ''

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mate ...

''. It was Korean television's first localized franchise from a foreign-language reality competition, and the third ''Project Runway'' version in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

after

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. 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. The show's fifth and final season, an All Stars Season, concluded in May 2015.

Production

The show is hosted by Lee So-ra,

supermodel A supermodel, also spelled super-model or super model, is a highly paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in '' haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term ''supermodel'' became prominent in the ...

, 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 is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates c ...

professor Kan Ho-sup serves as mentor to the designers. Lee replaced Kang Ho-dong (

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

and

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a com ...

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 Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

(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 Uhm Jung-hwa (; born August 17, 1969) is a South Korean singer, actress and dancer. Uhm is considered to be one of the most influential women in the Korean entertainment industry, finding rare success in both music and film. Her legacy and car ...

, fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon, and designer from ''Project Runways fourth season Victorya Hong, who incidentally has Korean lineage. As of Season 4, the show has begun filming in a HDTV format.

Season 1

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. : 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. * : Kim Jae-min's team had one of the highest scores but because of his attitude, he was on the bottom 5.

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

: 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. * : In episode 1, Nam Bo-ra, Park Jung-sang, Back Ye-jin, Lee Kyung-hae, and Jung Yong-jin were the 5 designers who were eliminated before the final 15 were officially participants of the show.

All-STARS

: 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. * :Jung Jae-woong was eliminated at panel, but was saved. Because judges thought that he had potential, and stayed in the competition. * :Lee Myung-sin & Lim Je-yoon's design was considered good even though they are received a low score to lose the battle. * :Jung Mi-young's design was considered good even though her group received a low score.

References in popular culture

On March 28, 2009, ''

Muhan Dojeon ''Infinite Challenge'' (; abbreviated as ''Mudo'') is a South Korean television entertainment program, distributed and syndicated by MBC, that ran from 2005 to 2018. As of January 2013, it had the largest market share for its timeslot; with ...

'', the top-rating comic-variety programme in Korea, broadcast a special episode titled "Project RunAway" (프로젝트 런어웨이) (episode 147) 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-min's request, to design his comic dress to wear at the MBC's variety programme ''Happy-Time''. At last, surprisingly, the winner of this neck-and-neck competition is Park Myeong-su by the judges'

Rock-paper-scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each ...

decision. This free-to-air episode also marked the highest ratings of the series.Muhan Dojeon marked as the highest ratings with Project RunAway special edition
Korean), Artsnews.com, Retrieved on March 29th, 2009

External links

Official website

Official blog

Kye Han-hee website (Season 1)

References

{{Project_Runway South Korean reality television series Project Runway 2009 South Korean television series debuts 2015 South Korean television series endings 2010s South Korean television series South Korean television series based on American television series South Korean fashion