Philip Treacy stars in Project Runway, but is there a race problem?

Philip Treacy 

Philip Treacy, arguably the UK's most famous hat maker, and who works are more like giant sculptures, took the spotlight in Project Runway Episode 4. Unfortunately, so did a race problem that some African American fans of the show pointed to after the elimination of a black competitor, Kristin Haskins Simms from Philadelphia.

But before we go a step further, Project Runway Season 8 is this according to its website:

Project Runway premiered on Thursday, July 29 at a new time, 9 pm et/pt, supersized as 90 - minute episodes. Hosted by supermodel and fashion maven Heidi Klum, the hit series provides 17 talented designers – the most in series history – with an opportunity to launch their careers in fashion, under the watchful eye of mentor and Liz Claiborne Chief Creative Officer Tim Gunn. Judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia weigh in on the best and worst of the runway. Project Runway is 2010’s number one rated and most watched competitive reality program on ad-supported cable among Women 18-49, Women 25-54, Women 18+, Adults 18-49, Adults 18+ and Households.

Kristen Haskins Simms

Sunday night's episode featured Philip Treacy. The 17 designer were asked to come up with a design to go with one of Philip Treacy's famous hats. But in so doing, Philip Treacy's work was catapulted out of the New York / London Fashion Culture and into mainstream American homes. On Twitter, Project Runway fans tweeted their delight with what they saw:

_elizabethriley: New life goal: own a Philip Treacy hat. That man is fabulous. #projectrunway
about 3 hours ago via HootSuite

But the raves over Philip Treacy's hats were overshadowed online by complaints on the mamin Project Runway Fan Site that the show does not give black contestants a fair shot.

Over at The Original Project Runway Fan Blog, some of the the comments went this way:

I am not surprised that Kristen was elimnited, this sh-- happens every year with AA designers , there is no way in hell that Michael and Koto weren't great designers, season after season it is the same ### different season, what is it about this show ,they don't have the balls to select an AA to be the winner, April design looked like panties with a zipper, GMAB, this show is turning into a joke, why have AA contestants on the show at all? knowing they will not be the winner, there are a lot of designers in this season with crappy attitude, so don't single out Kristen, it's all a bunch of bull

Philip Treacy worked with Project Runway Judges Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia to crit the runway, which saw competitors Mondo, Peach, Gretchen, Andy, AJ and Ivy advance to the next round, while Christopher, Michael C, Kristin, Michael D, April and Valerie fell into the top three and into the bottom three.

Now this blogger is not a frequent watcher of Project Runway, and so can't make a definitive judgement on the show's racial culture. It's does seem that Project Runway makes an effort to have black designers on its shows; that one person doesn't work out who happens to be black seems more like just the luck of the draw.

That aside, there's a real concern among not a few African American fans of the show that there's a problem. It's not enough as a counter to say "Well, Heidi Klum's married to Seal and he's black." Heidi's but one producer and one judge on the show; if in total the culture's unfriendly to black designers, that's a problem.

But it's also something best determined by the shows fans.