The second season of Bravo's Project Runway, a reality competition for fashion designers, premiered on December 7, 2005. Following a nationwide search earlier in the year, sixteen designers were chosen as semi-finalists and brought to New York City in June 2005. After the first challenge, called "Road To The Runway", fourteen went on to compete as finalists. The winning designer, Chloe Dao, received $100,000 in seed money to help launch her own line, a 2007 Saturn Sky, a spread in ELLE magazine, and a mentorship with the Banana Republic Design Team. Winning alongside Dao was her model, Grace Kelsey, who received the ELLE magazine spread. Michael Kors and Nina Garcia returned as judges for the second season. The fourth judging seat rotated each week, based on the challenge. Tim Gunn, fashion chair at Parsons The New School for Design, returned as a mentor for the designers.
Kara Janx later appeared in Project Runway: All Stars in 2012, where she finished 7th out of 13. Andrae Gonzalo, in the same year, competed in the second season of the All Stars edition placing 10th out of 13. In 2016, Daniel Franco competed in the fifth season of the All Stars edition, placing 12th out of 13. Third place contestant Santino Rice would later become one of the judges of another reality show, RuPaul's Drag Race.
Contents
Contestants
(ages listed are the designers' ages at the time the show was taped in the summer of 2005.)
Daniel F. had been a competitor in the first season and was eliminated in that season's first episode. Determined to show that the judges "made a mistake" in eliminating him so soon, he returned to the nationwide tryouts with samples from his own design line. The evaluation panel at the tryouts decided to give him one more chance and brought him back as a contestant for season two.
The 16 models competing for an ELLE spread in the second season were:
Designers
^Note 1: Although Daniel had one of the lowest scores for the challenge, he was automatically safe as he had immunity.
The designer won Project Runway season 2.
The designer won that challenge.
The designer had the second highest score for that challenge.
The designer had one of the highest scores for that challenge.
The designers had one of the lowest scores for that challenge.
The designer was in the bottom two, but was not eliminated.
The designer lost and was eliminated from the competition.
Models
The model was the winner of Project Runway season 2.
The model won the challenge.
The model wore the losing designers outfit.
The model was brought back into the competition.
The model withdrew from the competition.
The model was out of Project Runway season 2.
Allison was originally eliminated in episode 2, but then was brought back after Maria withdrew.
In episode 10, the models were not used in the challenge.
Designer legend
Andrae Gonzalo: AG
Chloe Dao: CD
Daniel Franco: DF
Daniel Vosovic: DV
Diana Eng: DE
Emmett McCarthy: EM
Guadalupe Vidal: GV
Heidi Standridge: HS
John Wade: JW
Kara Janx: KJ
Kirsten Ehrig: KE
Marla Duran: MD
Nick Verreos: NV
Raymundo Baltazar: RB
Santino Rice: SR
Episodes
Episode 1: Road to the Runway
Original Airdate: December 7, 2005
Before arriving in New York, the 16 contestants being considered for positions in this season's competing cast were given six yards of plain white muslin, $20, and one week to create an outfit that best represents who they are as a fashion designer. After arriving, the 16 contestants found that only 14 positions were available in the Parsons workroom and thus two would be eliminated at the runway judging.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
WINNER: Santino
ELIMINATED: Heidi & John
Episode 2: Clothes Off Your Back
Original Airdate: December 7, 2005
Designers made an outfit using only the clothes they were wearing at the moment the challenge was announced. They had one day to complete their designs.
This episode is best remembered for Andrae's tear-filled panic attack on the runway, and the judges relatively unfeeling response.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Diane von Fürstenberg
WINNER: Chloe
ELIMINATED: Kirsten
Episode 3: All Dolled Up
Original Airdate: December 14, 2005
Designers created a life-sized outfit for the My Scene collection. The winning designer's outfit would be duplicated for the My Scene collection. The designers had a budget of $150 and two days to complete the design.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Lily Martinez
WINNER: Nick
ELIMINATED: Raymundo
Episode 4: Team Lingerie
Original Airdate: December 21, 2005
Designers created a lingerie line consisting of three looks. A team event with four teams, each with a lead designer and two assistants. The designers had a budget of $200 and one day to complete the collection.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia
Guest Judges: Cynthia Rowley (sitting in for Michael Kors), Alessandra Ambrosio
WINNER: Daniel V.
ELIMINATED: Daniel F.
Episode 5: Social Scene
Original Airdate: January 4, 2006
Designers created a party dress for socialite Nicky Hilton. The designers had a budget of $150 and two days to complete the designs.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Nicky Hilton
WINNER: Santino
ELIMINATED: Guadalupe
Episode 6: Window Shopping
Original Airdate: January 11, 2006
Designers created a day-to-evening ensemble for Banana Republic. A team event with five teams of two. Both designers on the losing team were eliminated. Each team had to finish their garment in one day. After that, all teams went to Banana Republic and each had to make a window that showed the idea of the dress; they had 30 minutes to buy all the materials they needed for the display and an hour to finish. The winner was chosen by votes from Banana Republic clients.
The teams were:
Chloe and Emmett
Daniel V. and Andrae
Kara and Zulema
Santino and Nick
Diana and Marla
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Deborah Lloyd
WINNERS: Andrae & Daniel V.
ELIMINATED: Diana & Marla
Episode 7: On Thin Ice
Original Airdate: January 18, 2006
Designers created a figure skating outfit for 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen. The designers had a budget of $150 and two days to complete the design.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Michael Kors
Guest Judges: Anne Slowey (sitting in for Nina Garcia), Sasha Cohen
WINNER: Zulema
ELIMINATED: Emmett
Episode 8: Inspiration
Original Airdate: January 25, 2006
Designers took photos around New York and picked one to be an inspiration for an outfit. The designers had a budget of $100 and one day to complete the outfit.
This episode is most notable for Zulema's "Model Walk Off." Prior to this episode, all the winning designers stuck with their original models when given the chance to change by Heidi. Zulema stunned everyone when she not only announced she was changing models, but also making this decision by picking three girls to have a "walk off." She chose the eliminated Emmett's model Shannon, Andrae's model Danyelle, and Nick's model Tarah for consideration. She switched to Tarah, which left Rachael with Nick and eliminated Shannon.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Jay McCarroll
WINNER: Daniel V.
ELIMINATED: Zulema
Episode 9: Flower Power
Original Airdate: February 1, 2006
Designers created a dress using only natural materials purchased in the New York Flower District. The designers had a budget of $100 and one hour for the purchases.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judges: Mark Badgley and James Mischka.
WINNER: Daniel V.
ELIMINATED: Andrae
Episode 10: Makeover
Original Airdate: February 8, 2006
Designers created a new look to make over a fellow contestant, who then modeled the new look on the runway.
Chloe designed for Nick, Nick designed for Daniel V., Daniel V. designed for Chloe, Kara designed for Santino, and Santino designed for Kara.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Freddie Leiba
WINNER: Chloe
ELIMINATED: Nick
Episode 11: What's Your Line?
Original Airdate: February 15, 2006
Designers made an evening dress for supermodel Iman. The evening dress also reflected the line which the designers will show at Olympus Fashion Week.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Iman
WINNER: Daniel V.
ELIMINATED: Kara
Episode 12: Reunion
Original Airdate: February 22, 2006
All of the designers gathered for a reunion hosted by Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum on the eve of New York Fashion Week at which the final three designers will display their collections.
Episode 13: Finale – Part 1
Original Airdate: March 1, 2006
The three final designers were shown at home when Tim Gunn visited them, and then returned to New York to prepare their collections for showing at New York Olympus Fashion Week. Back in New York, they were surprised to find out that they had to complete one final challenge: an additional garment that they each had to design with the aid of one eliminated designer of their choice. Nick, Andrae, and Diana returned to help Daniel V., Santino, and Chloe, respectively.
Episode 14: Finale – Part 2
Original Airdate: March 8, 2006
Chloe, Daniel V., and Santino displayed their final collections of thirteen pieces at New York Olympus Fashion Week.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Debra Messing
WINNER: Chloe
ELIMINATED: Daniel V. (first runner-up) & Santino (second runner-up)
Reception
Joy Press of The Village Voice called this season "a letdown" from, i.e. liked it less than, the previous one "both in terms of the talent (minor) and the drama (again, minor)". Before the Fashion Week, the very first winner of the series Jay McCarroll found the finalists of the season (in addition to the fourth-placed Kara Janx) "kind of boring" but personally enjoyed Rice's "arrogant and funny" personality and his somewhat "weird" works as the only works of the season with "a clear point of view." Jen Chung of Gothamist found the eliminated Kara Janx "not that impressive as a designer throughout the process" and was "pleased" to see the remaining three become finalists of the season.
Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times favored Chloe Dao as someone Zoren would hire to design clothes for him and "liked the styling of Daniel Vesovic". Zoren noted Santino Rice's "obvious wit, fashion sense, and creativity" but found Rice's works "never classic enough".
Timothy Gunatilaka of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Rice should have been crowned and was more deserving than Dao. Gunatilaka further praised Rice's "elegant" finale collection, found Dao's "sleek and sexy" collection "safe", and wrote about Dao's win that "corporate-speak beat out true creativity." Gunatilaka also criticized Vosovic's "serviceable but uninspiring" collection and was "glad Daniel didn't win."
In 2011, Vicky Hyman of The Star-Ledger criticized finale collections by "standout" finalists as "[m]ost underwhelming" of the first eight seasons to date and thought that eliminated Kara Janx's collection "would have stolen the show."