Added Perspective on the 'Runway'

Heidi Klum, above, and Tim Gunn, below left, with some of the young women featured on both “Project Runway” and a new spin-off show called “Models of the Runway.”

FOR five seasons the models of “Project Runway” were expected to keep quiet and walk the walk. This time around they’re being asked to talk the talk.

Appearing on a new cable network (Lifetime) and being filmed at a new location (the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles) the new season of “Project Runway” still pits designers in an elimination competition, but it has expanded its roster of telegenic infighters to include the models who showcase the clothes.

Once an afterthought, the models are now supporting players, selected not only for their spidery limbs and doe eyes but also for their ability to interact with their designers. And for viewers who want yet more, the models are appearing in their own spinoff, “Models of the Runway,” which is scheduled on Thursday nights directly after “Project Runway.”

It follows 16 women with names like Emarie, Kojii, Matar and Yosuzi as they squeeze into a loft in downtown Los Angeles, endure a shortage of bathrooms and partake in the kind of squabbling familiar to viewers of “America’s Next Top Model” and “Make Me a Supermodel.”

As a designer is eliminated, so is the model assigned to him or her. The goal is to be the last model standing alongside the winning designer after Heidi Klum has uttered her final “auf” on “Project Runway.” The model’s take: $25,000 from L’Oreal Skin Genesis and a fashion spread in Marie Claire magazine.

The living arrangements and prize packages are standard fare in the other model-centric series, but producers claim that that is where the similarities end.

“Our models are already working,” said Sara Rea, an executive producer of “Models of the Runway.” “They already have contracts. This is about what it’s like to see working models in the real fashion world, not women who are just starting out and trying to get signed.” (Winners of “Top Model,” on CW, and “Supermodel,” on Bravo, are awarded $100,000, management contracts and magazine layouts.)

Filmed as a backstage companion to “Project Runway,” “Models of the Runway” focuses on the symbiosis between designer and model. Producers say that it also addresses a curiosity about the models that “Project Runway” viewers had expressed through e-mail messages and chat rooms.

“Heidi says in ‘Project Runway’ that a model can make or break a look,” Ms. Rea said. “You might see a design that’s not so good but is saved on the runway, or one that is good but is taken down by the model who’s wearing it.”

Tanisha Harper, a “Project Runway” model who has worked for the photographer Patrick Demarchelier and the designers Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, saw her role, both on the show and in real life, as a kind of muse. “You give them that inspiration — the ‘that’s my girl’ thing that can mold their collection for the next season, or that may change their perspective of how they design that dress,” she said. “We give them their extra little oomph.”

Christopher Straub, a current contestant on “Project Runway,” said that he doesn’t rely on his model for inspiration — he already has his own muse in Victoria Beckham — but did admit that the model can be the final element in the designer’s success.

“For me it’s a very important relationship because you can make the prettiest design or the ugliest design, but it all comes down to how it’s presented,” he said. “That model has to be your best friend because she’s going to be the one who’s selling it.”

Over time, he said, some were christened “death models” by the contestants. “The word was, ‘Don’t go with her,’ “ Mr. Straub said of one.

And has the emphasis on hearing more from the models been helpful? “For the first time they were sharing the spotlight, and I think they felt they had the ability to control the designs a little bit more than in the past,” Mr. Straub said. “There were definitely times when the designers would get frustrated with the feedback.”

Mr. Straub might consider himself lucky. This season he is paired at least twice with Katie Sticksel, a model who insisted it wasn’t her place to influence anyone.

“I know what looks good on my body, so I would maybe give tips,” said Ms. Sticksel, who has worked for the designers Roberto Cavalli and Peter Som. “But as far as telling them what to do, I can barely zip a zipper correctly.”