Twelve designers are facing off for the title of Canada’s “Next Great Designer,” as Project Runway Canada launches with a $100,000 prize.
The iconic series returns to Canada with three judges: supermodel Coco Rocha, fashion icon Jeanne Beker, and CAFA award-winning designer Spencer Badu.
“It’s an incredible privilege,” Beker said, when I asked her how she felt about being a judge for this next generation of talents. “It’s an honour. I just want to help inspire the next generation and, for my own selfish purposes, I want to be inspired, too.”
“I think that it’s a beautiful cast and relationship because we have Jeanne here, who has done it all,” Rocha said. “She’s seen the greats of the greats, and then I came in the mid generation where I got to work with the greats, but also get to work with the new generation.”
“And then we have Spencer Badu, who’s going to be really speaking on behalf of a younger generation,” Rocha said.
Rocha also thinks that fans are going to love what they’re going to see in the series.
“We want people to actually be so inspired and be like, ‘when’s season two, three, four?’ because we have so many talented people here and I just think sometimes we feel we have to go to another country in order to find success and we don’t need to do that. So we’re going to highlight that and educate people to understand that there’s fantastic designers here.”
“We’re certainly in a moment of great Canadian pride,” Beker said, “that I hope continues strongly and fiercely into the future. So I think now, more than ever, we need a show like Project Runway Canada.”
“I’ve always been waving the flag for Canadian designers,” she added. “I always felt it was my mission to do that. So for many years–the 27 years that I was on Fashion Television–I wore Canadian designs almost exclusively. And I think people are going to have some wonderful surprises on this season. There’s great designers really putting out a great amount of creativity.”
Project Runway Canada premieres on November 14 on CTV, and streams on Crave. Watch the full interview above for more on what Rocha and Beker had to say about Canadian fashion, and what they consider is overlooked in the industry.
