Project Runaway

Project Runway Philippines is a Philippine adaptation of Project Runway. This reality television series, which aims to find "the next big Filipino fashion designer," is produced by Solar Entertainment Corporation and Unitel Productions. It premiered on July 30, 2008 on cable through ETC Entertainment Central and on free TV through SBN 21. The show is hosted by model and actress Teresa Herrera, with fashion designer and faculty member of School of Fashion and the Arts Jojie Lloren serving as mentor. Filipino top model and lifestyle feature writer Apples Aberin-Sahdwani and fashion designer Rajo Laurel complete the judging panel. The winner will receive P500,000 (roughly US$11,000) in cash, a start-up business package, an editorial spread in Mega magazine, and an opportunity to show their collection in Philippine Fashion Week. The Final Runway show was held on October 23, 2008, at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, with New York-based handbag and accessories designer Rafé Totengco and notable shoe designer Cesar Gaupo as guest judges.

Project Runway Philippines held its auditions from January 14 through January 16, 2008 in School of Fashion and the Arts (SoFA) in Makati City, Metro Manila. Casting call was also held on March 10, 2008 in Crown Regency Hotel and Towers in Cebu City for fashion designers in Visayas and Mindanao island groups. Over 200 designers auditioned during the course of the casting calls.

Television and film critic Nestor Torre of Philippine Daily Inquirer wrote that he liked the show's "stylish approximation of the original American franchise, with Teresa Herrera ranking high among (his) list of the show's plus points." However, he criticized the subjectivity of judges' verdicts, adding that "their personal preferences sometimes clouded their judgment." He also expressed his hopes that the judges and mentors of the show go soft on their "tough love" approach, stating that the designers are "young and vulnerable." Opinion columnist Rina Jimenez-David, also from Philippine Daily Inquirer, wrote that Project Runway Philippines is "many times more interesting (than the American original), with more complex intrigues, better clothes, and more outspoken judges." She described Aberin-Sahdwani and Laurel as "unblinkingly honest," adding that the female judge's "insistence on quality, workmanship and attention to detail" was admirable.

Meanwhile, Mindy Baldemor of Manila Bulletin stated that Project Runway Philippines did not suffer from poor editing and general lack of personality and attitude that plagued Philippines' Next Top Model, which was also produced by Solar Entertainment. She added that the show "captured the essence of Project Runway: panic-inducing, competitive, semi-dramatic, but overall still chic."