Overview
- Project Runway Season 22 premiered Thursday, July 9 on Freeform with a two-episode event and will stream the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
- Producers began the season with an unprecedented 22 designers while keeping the series to 10 episodes, a structure that creates a fast-elimination pace and was reported in live-results coverage to have cut six designers in the premiere.
- Heidi Klum returns as host and head judge alongside Nina Garcia and Law Roach, Tyra Banks appears as a recurring judge, and Christian Siriano returns as mentor in the role long associated with Tim Gunn.
- The season intentionally uses a 'blind runway' process in which judges evaluate looks without knowing which designer made them and do not view workroom footage to limit preconceptions.
- A high-profile guest lineup that includes Ciara, Ice Spice, Kiernan Shipka, Nina Dobrev and Winnie Harlow plus crossover cameos from Dancing With the Stars and reality-series figures gives designers early exposure that can feed into the cash and industry mentorship prizes referenced from prior seasons.