Following in the format of Project Runway and Top Chef, Bravo brings Top Design, its newest reality competition series, premiering Jan. 31 at 11 p.m. ET/PT after Top Chef’s Season 2 finale. (Top Design moves to its regular 10 p.m. time slot on Feb. 7.)
Designer Todd Oldham hosts and plays mentor to 12 contestants who spend each week (for 10 episodes) coming up with a creative new plan for a space. Designer Jonathan Adler is lead judge, joined by Los Angeles-based designer Kelly Wearstler and Margaret Russell, editor in chief of Elle Decor magazine. “It was such fun,” says Russell, who describes the contestants as “incredibly creative and diverse.”
What is fascinating in the world of design, she says, is the level of taste. “There are some things you’ll see I think, ‘Oh, my God, that’s vile.’ But that’s what’s fun about it.” She adds, “There’s something about these shows that is very seductive.”
margaret russell: diverse? you are blind, white lady.