Stream It or Skip It: ‘Next in Fashion’ on Netflix Comes for ‘Project Runway’s’ Crown

Next in Fashion is the next Netflix reality competition series, a series that the streaming giant really wants you to binge. More than a Project Runway knockoff, Next In Fashion features a few tweaks that make the format stand out on streaming and a pair of hosts—Tan France and Alexa Chung—that really know what they’re doing. But is Next In Fashion destined to be Netflix’s next reality hit, or is it already out of style?

NEXT IN FASHION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The show starts up with co-hosts Tan France and Alexa Chung walking through a backlot, arm-in-arm, on their way to the spacious Next In Fashion soundstage.

The Gist: Netflix continues ticking off items on the reality show checklist with its first foray into the fashion competition sub-genre. It’s a sub-genre of one, mind you, as no design show has been able to take off in the 15 years since Project Runway launched. That means that when it comes to format, Next In Fashion is essentially Project Runway on a streaming service, meaning no commercials and no week-to-week suspense. However, Next In Fashion distinguishes itself from Project Runway in one major way: the 18 contestants hail from all across the globe (Puerto Rico, Italy, Canada, the UK, South Korea, etc.) and, in a real twist, they’re paired into 9 teams. The teams are tasked with a challenge (Episode 1: Red Carpet) and they execute the look to the best of their ability. Then, as is tradition, one team is eliminated per episode until there’s a champion.

Our Take: It took long enough, but we’re entering into the age of the fashion competition show. Unlike singing and cooking competitions, which have dominated the reality genre for decades, no network has been able to compete with Project Runway. Some imitators popped up (NBC’s Fashion Star and Bravo’s Launch My Line and Styled to Rock), but none succeeded. No one’s even really tried to come for Project Runway’s crown in almost seven years.

Enter: Netflix—and later Prime Video, which will debut Making the Cut from ex-Project Runway stars Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn this March. But Netflix kicked down the door first.

Next In Fashion has an advantage over all of the network and basic cable imitators from almost a decade ago in that the show features Netflix superstar Tan France front and center, and in that the show is on a streaming service that millions of people just put on and leave on all day long. Odds are if you’ve watched Queer Eye or Nailed It! or even The Circle, Netflix is going to make sure you know that there’s hours of fashion competition just a click away. And this being on Netflix as opposed to basic cable, the viewing experience feels uncluttered by a barrage of product placements and numerous “coming up on” act break teases. Next In Fashion is meant to be binged.

This being a new reality show, it has to do double duty selling both the hosts and the contestants. Fortunately, Netflix viewers will already be familiar with Tan France from Queer Eye. He brings a heightened version of his low-key cool to Next In Fashion, and he has a natural rapport with UK TV mainstay Alexa Chung. She’s most likely the newbie for young American audiences who don’t remember her MTV talk show from (checks the date) 10 years ago, and Next In Fashion doesn’t really get into her resume (which would’ve helped, TBH, to know that she’s worked in fashion from walking the runways to designing her own line). But even people unfamiliar with Chung’s work across the pond will find her endlessly charismatic. Tan and Alexa host the show like two good judies who are thrilled to take their passion for fashion from the brunch table to a Netflix show. And in another twist on the formula, the episode includes a quick segment of tips from Alexa about how to rock a formal look.

The designers have dramatically different backgrounds, from streetwear to avant-garde, and have worked with celebs ranging from Beyonce to Stella McCartney. The catch: none of them are design stars under their own name, and they hope that $250,000 and a chance to be featured on luxury online store Net-A-Porter will change that. To get to that goal, they’ve teamed up with their collaborators, best friends, or total strangers. Since the first episode gives the teams two days to make one red carpet look, the resulting runway show is filled with gowns that are, for the most part, a step above the looks that a solo designer on Project Runway would cook up in half the time.

However, the most frustrating thing about the show is that very thing that differentiates the show from Project Runway. To be blunt, team challenges kinda suck. Look no further than RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 1 and Season 11 of Project Runway, two seasons where talented competitors and fan favorites were either dragged down or knocked out by the all-teams format. While teams definitely produce fantastic drama, they also muddy the intention of these kinds of shows: we want to see individuals do what they do best, and that gets messy when there’s compromise and personality clashes involved. Because of this structure, the teams consisting of (randomly assigned??) strangers suffer. Designers Julian (the fabulous army gay) and Hayley (the Scottish single mom) are dragged down because the average of their drastically different aesthetics doesn’t cut it. You are left wondering what they could pull off if left to their own devices.

Still, there’s a utilitarian need for the teams that’s subtle but clear. For one thing, you can’t whittle down a field of 18 designers in a shorter-than-average Netflix season (although they maybe could’ve had a field of 10 designers to begin with). The pairings also force all of the designers to interact with someone. Instead of them retreating to their stations (which is always the case in a Project Runway season premiere), the team structure forces the creatives out of their shells and into immediate cooperation or conflict with their partner.

The big question is, does Next In Fashion justify the existence of multiple fashion competition sows? The answer is yes, as long as the show’s hosted by a duo as dynamic as France and Chung and features looks as stunning as what these teams accomplish. There is room in this world for Next In Fashion to binge and a stellar season of Project Runway unfolding week-by-week.

Parting Shot: Tan and Alexa, still in the lewks they turned during the judges’ panel, plop down on Next In Fashion’s interview sofa and urge you to keep on bingeing, kinda like a YouTuber pointing to the subscribe button. Netflix wants you to watch all of this show as fast as possible, and the reality competition audience will eagerly oblige.

Sleeper Star: Oh, Angelo. Paired with the level-headed Canadian is Italian designer Angelo Cruciani, a man with a personality as bold as the head-to-toe leopard print ensemble he rocks.

He’s giddy, all over the place, and he’s in it to win it. Why? Because “to be Italian in fashion is like to be wow.” And the inspiration that finally gets him to focus after a scattered jaunt through the in-house fabric supply? “Sky is not only for the bird.”

Most Pilot-y Line: Tan’s final getting to know you question to the designers: “Okay, I’ve got one last question: who amongst you is a household name?” That really hammers home the point, sure, but I’m also desperate to see the first take of this where you just know someone (maybe Angelo?) raised their hand.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Netflix’s rapidly diversifying lineup of reality shows has another binge-worthy entry.

Stream Next In Fashion on Netflix