Making the Cut Review (TV Series, 2020)
In 2004, Bravo debuted the reality TV series Project Runway. 12 fashion designers from across the United States competed in a variety of sewing challenges for the chance to show at New York Fashion Week. The grand prize winner took home a $100,000 cash prize. Heidi Klum acted as host and head judge, and Tim Gunn acted as the mentor to the designers. The formula worked brilliantly, leading to 18 regular seasons (season 19 put out a casting call in February), seven All Stars seasons, five spin-off series, and franchises all over the world.
Klum and Gunn both left the series after the 16th season, but they did not give up on working together. The result is the new Amazon Prime reality show Making the Cut. 12 designers from around the world compete in a globe-trotting competition for a $1,000,000 cash prize and a business partnership with Amazon. Each episode’s winner also has a version of their design produced for sale on Amazon’s Making the Cut store. The designers are challenged not on their sewing ability but on design skill, business acumen, and ability to adapt their runway designs into ready to wear clothing.
The sewing twist is the freshest part of the series. The designers don’t need to be expert tailors and sewers like on Project Runway. They need to know how to draft a pattern and write out instructions. Each designer is given a seamstress to work with. That seamstress gets a design pack (pattern pieces, fabric, cut outs, accessories, threads, notions, and instructions) and works overnight on piecing the designs together. The designers are allowed to sew their own garments if they choose, but having someone handle the foundation garments and fiddly bits frees them up to focus on styling and the more intricate details that often get ignored in favor of a finished garment on this kind of show.
That being said, there are several moments in the show where the design is overlooked to criticize the contestants for the poor quality of sewing in their garment. It’s one thing when someone literally safety pins fabric to a model and it looks like that; it’s quite another when they go in on someone for not perfectly tailoring a jacket or pants on the only challenge where the designers had to do everything themselves. The “you’re a designer and a business person, not a seamstress” angle should be pushed harder if Making the Cut gets a second season.
I can’t imagine it won’t. The winning designs sold out within hours of each pair of episodes being released on Amazon Prime. The merchandising angle is a hit and the budget has surely been recouped already.
The show is certainly expensive, with stays in NYC, Paris, Tokyo, and NYC again. Each city features an incredible design studio with heavy duty sewing machines, professional cutting tables, and mannequins of appropriate sizes for male and female models. The contestants also have no budget for their designs when shopping for fabric and can even return to the store if they need to get something else or pivot on their design choices.
Each contestant has to produce at least two outfits for each episode, meaning the show features 24 models on the first episode. They also do all of the runways on location, requiring union workers, production designers, lighting designers, riggers, sound engineers, etc. to work building sets from the ground up for each challenge. Add in a massive team of hair and makeup artists, the production team for the show, and a judging panel of four to five fashion experts per episode and you have a reality show with a budget closer to a narrative TV series. The show screams luxury in the best way possible. No corners are cut to create drama and no one is left wanting except for when they make a mistake.
The judges are the highlight of the series. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn have great chemistry and even get semi-scripted sketches to break up the sewing action inspired by the cities they are visiting. Joining them in every episode are fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra and supermodel/fashion editor Naomi Campbell. These two bring the goods each time. Altuzarra knows how to take high concept runways and sell them to stores around the world, and Naomi Campbell works with all the top designers and knows the industry inside and out. The core team is balanced out by fashion designer Nicole Richie, fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, and fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni. These three come from very different corners of the fashion world and always bring a unique perspective on the mechanics of the fashion industry.
Making the Cut is at its best when the judges are onscreen. We get to see and hear their live reactions to the runways. Tim Gunn has the designers backstage watching the runway on a monitor, doing his Tim Gunn best to gently encourage them and boost their confidence about their work. Meanwhile, Naomi Campbell is in the front row point blank saying “no, I hate it, and here’s why” while the model walks past her on the runway. She’s not the only one speaking the truth, but she is the most vocal. Frankly, Naomi Campbell is the breakout star of the show and clearly fights like hell for the contestants she thinks actually have the goods to make a name in the industry. That kind of passion is good TV.
The contestants never know how many people are going to talk to the judges or who might be going home. Any number of contestants could be sent home in an episode and they really milk the drama of who is going home. The contestant has to defend their design, their brand, their ability to take critique, and what they would do in hypothetical situations as the judges grill them in front of everyone else in the contest. They even ask Tim Gunn for another perspective if they still aren’t sure what to think; he gets to stay with the contestants and watch the critiques as they happen. The contestants who do not make the cut get one last chance to plead their case for the judges. If enough judges change their mind, a contestant can be saved; they are not easily swayed, but they do change their minds during the show. Remember, the top designers also have to talk to the judges and the wrong answers can hand the prize to another contestant.
The problem with any talent-based reality show is the focus of the judges. It’s very clear that certain contestants are instantly loved by the judges, and some are not. Making the Cut is no more guilty of this than other shows, though the disparity of experience in the talent pool makes it pretty rough in this regard.
The fact is that the contestants who do well on this show have more experience designing for their own fashion lines and working with professional seamstresses. The contestants with less experience doing it on their own struggle more to get it done at the same level as the favored contestants. It can be frustrating, especially when the contest claims to be about design not sewing, but it’s the reality of the show. Managing employees is part of running a business and this show forces the contestants to adjust to having staff from episode one.
I don’t disagree with any of the elimination decisions during the season (a rarity, for sure) and mostly agree with the winners. I actually think one of the favored contestants is cheated out of some clear wins, though I respect the judges for rewarding contestants who step up and take critiques well. Making the Cut is looking for a winner who can grow a fashion brand with Amazon, and good businesspeople know how to adjust their approach to work with anyone they need to.
It’s inevitable that Making the Cut is going to be compared to Netflix’s own fashion reality show Next in Fashion. I personally don’t think it’s a fair comparison. It’s like saying The Office must be evaluated against Mad Men because they’re both ensemble shows set in an office environment. Making the Cut is a business competition where designers have to sell their garments to the judges, who act as buyers for Amazon. Next in Fashion is a design competition where contestants have to construct garments in a wide variety of styles to earn the chance to show off their own style with a final runway collection. If I have to compare them, I’ll say Making the Cut has better production design and judging, while Next in Fashion has more exciting contestants and runway shows.
Making the Cut is a solid reality show. Amazon releases the show two episodes at a time and I think that’s a good choice. There are pretty consistent storytelling beats in each episode that are harder to pick up on when you watch two episodes at a time. Spreading out the release makes it feel fresher as the season goes on. I recommend taking your time and not watching the complete season straight through in one sitting. I imagine future seasons are going to be a bit more dynamic with the contestants and storytelling beats. Just seeing the judges really start to open up and go at it about halfway through the season shows me how exciting this program can be.
Making the Cut season one is streaming on Amazon Prime.
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