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'Project Runway' slammed for highlighting race, fans say 'FASHION DOESNT SEE RACE'

'Nice job @ProjectRunway!! You made the show about race instead of fashion.@BravoTV EVERYTHING WOKE TURNS TO SH*T. #ProjectRunway,' commented a fan

Week after week 'Project Runway' fans tune in to their favorite show to watch aspiring designers create stunning outfits with limited resources and stringent deadlines. The drama and chaos that goes behind creating the beautiful final piece keeps the audience captivated while rooting for their favorite designer to win the competition! The Bravo show's emphasis on fashion and designing is one of the highlights of the popular show.

However, the recently aired episode of the popular show saw the contestants fighting amongst themselves over the race of their models, which unfortunately put off many fans. For the second challenge of 'Project Runway' Season 19, the designers were tasked with the challenge of creating an impactful streetwear look with three peices within two days. This left the designers scrambling to come up with their design ideas and then proceeding to create it. The designers also got a wide array of models to be their muse. Everything seemed to be going well, until Prajje Jean Baptiste felt that the model who would be walking down the runway wearing his Haitian-inspired design should be a person of color and not some White model. This led to Meg Ferguson giving a passionate speech about everything that's wrong within the fashion industry and world. From 'white-washing' to excluding plus-sized model and fashion, the designer began her long rant. 

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Prajje revealed in his confession about how Meg's speech made him uncomfortable. Although Meg was trying to potray herself as an ally to minorities, Prajje felt that as a White person she would never understand a person of color's struggles and story. He also didn't appreciate that she hijacked the whole conversation and made it about herself, when he was simply pointing out that he would have liked a Black model for his design. Later, with the help of the show's mentor- Christian Sirriano, Prajje got to switch his model for a Black model with another fellow contestant.

Kenneth Barlis, a designer of Filipino descent who was designing an Asian inspired streetwear look felt that his design too would be better suited on an Asian model instead of the White model assigned to him. So, Kenneth approached Meg and asked her if she would be open to switching models with him. Although Meg eventually traded models, she made the entire situation extremely uncomfortable for everyone by talking down to Kenneth and calling him out for requesting for a switch at the last minute. Despite Kenneth's attempts at explaining to Meg that she didn't have to make the switch if she wasn't comfortable the Oklahoma-based deisgner felt that it would be hypocritical of her if she didn't do it after her passionate speech about being an ally to the minorities. 

Things escalated when Prajje declared that he lost respect for Meg due to her behavior towards Kenneth. A very hurt and upset Meg decided to quit the show after none of the designers took her side against Prajje and Kenneth. The show's fans didn't enjoy watching the excessive emphasis on race of the models, and called out the show for it. A fan tweeted, "#ProjectRunway is racist as F. This is stupid. Not about design. About race. BS. I miss the kind classiness of Tim Gunn. Bye." Another fan wrote, "Nice job @ProjectRunway!! You made the show about race instead of fashion.@BravoTV EVERYTHING WOKE TURNS TO SH*T. #ProjectRunway." "I really wish people would stop ruining every tv program with race. My God why can't people just stop looking for reasons to start shit. There is enough shit out there already. Project runway isn't about color it's about fashion. #ProjectRunway," expressed a fan.

Fans also called out the designers for picking models based on their race for their designs. A fan commented, "I think if ur assigned a MODEL thats ur MODEL no trading no nothing UR there to show ur talent not to pick models FASHION DOESNT SEE RACE!!!!!! #ProjectRunway." Another fan added, "These designers picking models based on race is NOT fashion! South African can represent Haiti better than an American??? That's not culture that's racism! Then they ganged up on Meg after she took a hit to respect Kenneth's culture...#racism #ProjectRunway." "#ProjectRunway not feeling the shade, if you are a designer, then design. This mess about what race I want is crap. A designer is a designer, if you can't go home. Too much chi chi foo foo and not enough talent!" seconded a fan.

'Project Runway' Season 19 airs every Thursday at 9/8c on Bravo.