IT IS impossible not to compare current reality shows based on fashion - The Fashion Show: Ultimate Collection and Launch My Line - to their predecessor, Project Runway.

After all, Runway, which wrapped its eighth season in the United States last September, was the mother of them all.

Runway has two big personalities: supermodel Heidi Klum as host, and designer- mentor Tim Gunn, whose name has become synonymous with the show.

The Fashion Show: Ultimate Collection is the second season of this Bravo TV series, and the unabashedly retooled Runway counters that project with American designer Isaac Mizrahi and supermodel Iman as hosts and judges.

Designers in Fashion Show are split into two "fashion houses", and must create individual looks that still cohere.

Each episode (the show is in its fifth episode this Sunday) culminates in a runway show, with a winner announced. One designer is then eliminated from the losing team.

While Mizrahi channels Gunn's empathy for designers, Somali-American model Iman is the one to watch.

The 55-year-old, who is married to rocker David Bowie, is all steel and ice.

Iman, who has been a muse for names like Halston, Gianni Versace, Donna Karan and Yves Saint-Laurent, is a true fashion veteran. And when she disapproves, she eyes the offending designer with the eyes of a lion sighting its kill.

At each elimination, she is no-nonsense, delivering her critique before telling designers individually whether they are safe.

Those staying are told: "You are safe. Please step aside." Those who are not safe are told in a growl: "You... Don't move."

When she announces who is going home, she goes for the throat. "I am sorry. You are out of fashion," she says coldly.

I wonder if the US$125,000 (S$158,000) prize money is worth weathering her glares.

Watch repeats on Saturdays.

Meanwhile, Bravo's Launch My Line is hosted by twins Dean and Dan Caten of the DSquared label. It twists the fashion reality formula by featuring contestants like fashion writers, marketing chief executives, and even DJs and record producers.

All have one dream: To start a fashion line. However, some don't know how to sew. Or pick fabrics. So, they are paired with experts who help them complete their lines.

Now, the Caten twins can finish each other's sentences, but there is no menace about them, no savage wit displayed.

In other words, Iman they are not.

Still, the show (which screens its fifth episode on Monday) was hot enough to draw one guest: Lady Gaga. Watch her in the finale.

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CABLE

THE FASHION SHOW: ULTIMATE COLLECTION

Diva Universal
(StarHub Ch 522)
Sundays, 7pm

LAUNCH MY LINE

Sony Entertainment Television
(SingTel mio TV Ch 20)
Mondays and Tuesdays, 9pm

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