‘Making the Cut’s’ Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn Tease Surprising Season 3: “Make No Assumptions”

In the ever-changing world of fashion, there are two icons who are always in style: Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn. With the return of Making the Cut on Prime Video, Klum and Gunn are ready and eager to guide a new wave of fashion designers to global greatness. Now in its third season, Making the Cut has made a place for itself in the world of not only fashion, but in reality TV as well. Can you think of another competition show that makes winning pieces available for purchase ASAP? Making the Cut’s been doing that from the start and the rest of TV is still trying to catch up.

But the real selling point of Making the Cut is and will always remain Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum. The reality genre’s original dynamic duo is still together after all these years, and they still have their fingers on the pulse of 21st century fashion. These two don’t often discourage designers from going too big or too weird, and that’s a good thing — because the designers in Season 3 have some concepts that surprise veterans like Heidi and Tim, as well as judges Jeremy Scott and Nicole Richie. You’ve gotta see Season 3 to believe it.

Decider caught up with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, reality TV’s premier tastemakers, who gave us a look ahead at Season 3 of Making the Cut.

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Decider: How has Making the Cut evolved over these three seasons?

Tim Gunn: Heidi and I say the same thing: it’s the designers. They’re different. They have different points of view, they’re from different backgrounds, and they really make the show.

Heidi Klum: Not to say our designers in the very beginning weren’t good. They were also good. Season 1 and 2 are good. But now people who maybe were like, “We don’t know what this Making the Cut is all about,” now they see what this has done to some of the previous designers. They’re [breaking] our door down for this last season. So many people come from all over the place that want to participate. Maybe before they were wary about it. I feel like we had even more to choose from this time around when we did the casting.

Gunn: Yeah, and that group was very self-selecting, because then they have seen the first two seasons of the show and know how stiff the competition is.

Klum: I love also that these designers really want to care more about our planet. They’re thinking about more gender fluidity in their designs, which I like. They’re a little bit more forward thinking. They don’t want to have a negative impact on our planet. They really are thinking about that, which I admire.

Gunn: They want to make the world a better place.

Season 2 was a quarantine season, and now you’re both out and about in Season 3. The elaborate runway shows are back. How do you think the pandemic changed fashion? Did you see the difference in Season 3?

Klum: Now we all want to go out and party again, so we don’t want sweat pants anymore. First year of the pandemic, I probably bought every sweat pant there is to buy in every color. Multicolored, you name it, tie-dyed — I have them all still in my closet. I feel like we’re all ready again. People want to look cute again. They want to put cute outfits on and we’re giving it to them. And what is great about [Making the Cut’s store] is we all keep it in the $100 mark for the winning look and for people to shop. And you see that in our designers too. They were like, “We’ve been sitting around at home for too long. We want to go out, people want to go out, and we’re gonna give it to them.”

Tim, did you see a change in how designers approached their craft work room?

Gunn: I’m reflecting on Season 2 when the designers brought work with them for the first assignment, and I’m remembering Heidi’s words about how everything is so dark, everything is so dreary. Let’s get out of that pandemic thinking and bring some joy and exuberance to the world. And they’ve been embracing that ever since. They know that that’s the, so to speak, the prod that we’re using as they push themselves forward. Let’s get up and out.

Klum: We’re a fashion show. This is not a show about clothes. We’re not just here to dress people so they don’t run around naked. We’re here to make an impact with our clothes. That’s why it’s called fashion, because it has something to it that makes it super special. Otherwise people could just wear a regular uniform every day and everyone would look the same. We’re trying to really find a fashion piece every week that people want to buy. Everyone is working very hard to get their money, so for them to spend it, you don’t just want to spend it on clothes. They want to spend on fashion, so we want to give them that.

Between Making the Cut and Project Runway, you’ve been doing this together for close to 20 seasons. What I love about this new season of Making the Cut is that there are still moments of surprise. You haven’t seen it all yet, somehow. Are you surprised that you’re still surprised?

Klum: The same way how [the audiences is] surprised, we are surprised. That’s why we’re still here, because [designers] keep surprising us! That’s what makes this a design show. If there was just regular stuff, we all will be snoozing and we will always be bored. We give them an assignment, show starts, music kicks in, the models walk around the corner and it’s like, “Whoa!” The eyes pop out of our head, our hearts start to flutter, and we’re like, “I have to have that.” That’s why we’re still here and that’s why we still love it.

You also sometimes have designers who have a very clear aesthetic coming into the show, like Yannik this season who only designs in white. And on Making the Cut, a designer may be more established and already have a brand built around that aesthetic. Tim — how do you guide designers with established points of view towards trying new things without breaking their brands?

Gunn: I approach it delicately and I usually invoke the judges. In a case like Yannik, I’ll just say, “You know, they’re looking to be surprised, Yannick. If you keep showing them the same palettes, where is the element of surprise here?” as opposed to saying, “You have to stop doing this.” But he does keep surprising us.

Lastly, how would you describe Making the Cut Season 3 in three words?

Klum: “Roller coaster ride.” Was that three words? Yeah. It is a roller coaster ride.

Gunn: It is. I echo that. I’ll also add “make no assumptions.”

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Making the Cut Season 3 is out now on Prime Video with new episodes added every Friday

Stream Making the Cut on Prime Video