Project Runway Returns on . . . Lifetime

Project Runway returns for its sixth season after a controversial process of switching hands from Bravo to Lifetime. The new season not only marks the change of networks but of its locale. The top designers now compete at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, moving away from Parsons School of Design in New York City. The show will still feature host Heidi Klum, as well as judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, and, of course, the ever-supportive Tim Gunn to weather the storm. Robin Givhan of the Washington Post reports that the eclectic new batch of designers promises a dramatic season. Contestants range from a 26-year-old mystic, Ari Fish, to a 50-year-old design veteran, Epperson, and everything in between, like 30-year self-taught Christopher Straub. The formula remains much the same as on Bravo. The first challenge is to design a dress for the red carpet.