Every now and then I get excited about a television show. Usually it means it has to do with either travel, food, housewives fighting or FASHION. This one fits comfortably into the last category and with the celebrity mentors, I have the sneaking suspicion that not only will “Fashion Star” have me glued to my television, but it will be sending me to stores like Macy’s, H&M and Saks Fifth Avenue in search of the winners’ designs. I’m thrilled to see a variety of stores with different price points participating! That means that we may finding the hottest style for under $25 (or digging into our wallets for $2500).
The series will feature clothes designed for America to buy and has enlisted three of the world’s top retailers to help in the decision making process. Caprice Willard (Macy’s), Terron E. Schaefer (Saks Fifth Avenue) and Nicole Christie (H&M) will serve as the judges who make on-the-spot decisions as they vie for the right to purchase and exclusively carry the work of the up-and-coming designers each week.
Hosted by fashion icon Elle Macpherson along with a panel of great fashion mentors that include Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos who know first hand what it takes to bring designs to market, we’ll get to watch 14 contestants compete weekly. With such a varied panel of design styles, this could prove to be very interesting.
At the end of each episode, America will have the chance to immediately purchase the winning designs showcased on the episode that week. What viewers see on TV that night will be on the streets and in stores immediately. With just a single trip down the runway, “Fashion Star” will change the lives and fortunes of these aspiring designers forever.
That’s the part that I’m most excited about, because as viewers we could be the FIRST to grab some of these great fashions. The diversity of the contestants will be key, and I’m looking forward to being able to see raw talent along with those with a trained eye, because you NEVER know which one will reign.
The fashion designers featured on the show will include everyone from the stay-at-home mom who makes her own clothes to sell at the local community market to the recent design school graduate who has held jobs with major design houses to an engineer who became a self-taught designer. Many of the contestants will come to the competition with their own existing lines and will be challenged to take their brand to the next level. All the contestants will be put to the test to see how they react in a variety of real-world scenarios to determine who has the vision and desire to build a fashion empire and achieve his/her dream. With top experts as their guides and mentors throughout the process, designers will have to be as adept in the business of fashion as they are in their creativity as it’s up to them to make their brand a national reality.
In the end, one designer will successfully combine fashion and business to become the next “Fashion Star” and will receive the prize of a lifetime –$6,000,000 in orders for capsule collections in Macy’s, H&M and Saks Fifth Avenue stores.
Fashion Star premieres March 13th at 9:30 EST on your NBC affiliate station. I’m setting the DVR NOW!
