The seventh season of Project Runway premiered on January 14, 2010, on Lifetime.mylifetime.com Accessed on December 17, 2009
Season 7 featured the return of the show to New York City, following a move to Los Angeles for season 6. Returning as judges are supermodel Heidi Klum, fashion designer Michael Kors, and Marie Claire fashion director Nina Garcia. Tim Gunn returned as a mentor to the aspiring designers.
The winner of this season, Seth Aaron Henderson received an editorial feature in an issue of Marie Claire magazine, a cash prize of $100,000 to start a personal line line, an opportunity to sell the line on Bluefly.com, and a $50,000 technology suite from Hewlett-Packard to create, design, and run a business. The winning model of this season will receive a $25,000 cash prize and take part in the winning designer's fashion spread in Marie Claire.
In 2012, Anthony Williams and Mila Hermanovski competed on Project Runway All Stars (season 1), with Anthony placing 9th and Mila placing 6th of 13.
Also in 2012, Emilio Sosa competed on Project Runway All Stars (season 2) and was the runner-up.
In 2013, Seth Aaron Henderson competed in Project Runway All Stars (season 3) and won the competition.
In 2014, Jay Sario competed in Project Runway All Stars (season 4) placing 6th of 14.
In 2018, Anthony Williams once again competed on Project Runway All Stars (season 6) and won the competition.
In 2019, Seth Aaron Henderson returned for a third time to compete on Project Runway All Stars (season 7) against worldwide Project Runway winners. Seth Aaron placed 13th of 14.
In 2023, Mila Hermanovski competed on Project Runway (season 20), placing 13th of 14.
In 2025, Jesus Estrada competed on Project Runway (season 21), alongside his twin brother Antonio. Jesus was a runner-up, while Antonio finished in 4th place.
Contestants
+Christiane KingEpisode 116th placePamela PtakEpisode 215th placePing WuEpisode 314th placeJesus EstradaEpisode 413th placeAnna Marie LynettEpisode 512th placeJaneane Marie CeccantiEpisode 611th placeJesse LeNoirEpisode 710th placeBen ChmuraEpisode 89th placeAmy SarabiEpisode 98th placeMaya LuzEpisode 117th placeJonathan Peters6th placeAnthony Williams *Episode 125th placeJay Nicolas SarioEpisode 134th placeMila HermanovskiEpisode 143rd placeEmilio SosaSeth Aaron Henderson38 Anthony was originally eliminated after Amy, but returned to the competition following Maya's withdrawal
Models Model Hometown Age Place Finished Kelly Gervais Livingston, New Jersey 1916th Elizaveta Melnitchenko Salzburg, Austria 1915th Sophia Lee Taipei, Taiwan 2614th Sarah Bell Cincinnati, Ohio 2213th Kasey Ashcraft Salisbury, Maryland 2412th Megan Davis Des Moines, Iowa 1911th Alexis Broker Denver, Colorado 2510th Alison Gingerich Leesburg, Ohio 239th Holly Ridings Roscoe, Illinois 248th Valeria Leonova Tula, Russia 237th (Quit) Cerri McQuillan Dublin, Ireland 236th Monique Darton Brainerd, Minnesota 245th Brittany Oldehoff Fort Lauderdale, Florida 204th Brandise Danesewich Saskatchewan, Canada 323rd Lorena Angjeli Tirana, Albania 20Runner-up Kristina Sajko Zagreb, Croatia 29Winner
Challenges
+Designer Elimination Table Designers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Eliminated EpisodeHIGH IN LOW IN IN WIN IN HIGH WIN HIGH LOW HIGHADV WINNER 14 – Finale, Part 2 Emilio WIN IN IN IN HIGH INLOW IN WIN WIN WINWINADV IN HIGH WIN HIGH LOW IN HIGHLOW INLOW LOW LOWADV IN WIN HIGH IN IN HIGH WIN IN LOW IN LOW LOW OUT 13 – Finale, Part 1 Anthony LOW IN LOW IN WIN INLOW IN HIGH OUT WIN OUT Jonathan IN IN HIGH IN IN LOW IN WIN LOWLOW OUT 11 – Sew Much Pressure Maya IN IN HIGH HIGH IN IN HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH WD Amy IN HIGH IN WIN IN LOW IN LOW OUT 9 – Takin' It To The Streets Ben IN IN IN IN HIGH IN INOUT 8 – The Elements of Fashion Jesse IN IN LOW LOW IN HIGH OUT 7 – Hard Wear Janeane IN IN IN IN LOW OUT 6 – A Little Bit of Fashion Anna IN IN IN LOW OUT 5 – Run For Cover Jesus LOW LOW IN OUT 4 – Design Your Heart Out Ping HIGH LOW OUT Pamela IN OUT 2 – The Fashion Farm Christiane OUT 1 – Back to New York
: Team Emilio and Seth Aaron co-won Episode 9, for the first time since Season 2. : Maya withdrew for personal reasons at the beginning of Episode 11. Anthony, who was originally eliminated in Episode 10, was brought back to take her place. Also, two winners were chosen for this challenge: Emilio and Anthony. Each of their dresses will be worn on the red carpet by Heidi Klum and Jessica Alba. This is the first time two designers won a single challenge yet were not a team. : Emilio was advanced to fashion week first during the judging session. Seth Aaron was also advanced to fashion week. Jay and Mila will both create collections for fashion week, however only one will advance to compete at Bryant Park with Emilio and Seth Aaron. : Jay and Mila each presented three looks to the judges. After much deliberation, they concluded that Mila was more ready to show at fashion week than Jay. She advanced to the finale, and Jay was consequently eliminated.
The designer won Project Runway Season 7. The designer was advanced to Fashion Week. The designer won the challenge. The designer came in second but did not win the challenge. The designer had one of the highest scores for that challenge, but did not win. The designer had one of the lowest scores for that challenge, but was not eliminated. The designer was in the bottom two, but was not eliminated. The designer lost and was out of the competition. The designer withdrew from the competition.
Models of the Runway
+Model Elimination Table Model 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Episode Kristina SH SH AW SH AW AW AW AW MH AW MH SH SH WINNER (SH)14 – Finale, part 2 Lorena JC MH MH MH BC BC ML ML ML ES ES ES ES ES Brandise JP JP PW ML MH JP MH MH ES MH JP MH MH MH Brittany JE JE JC JE ES JC JS JS JS JS JS JS JS OUT13 – Finale, part 1 Monique ML ML JP JS JS JS AS ES AW ML AW AW OUT Cerri AL AL AL AL AL MH JP JP JP JP SH OUT 11 – Second Chances Valeria AS JC ML JC SH SH SH SH SH SH WD 10 – Should I Stay or Should I Go? HollyES ES AS ES AS ES ES AS AS OUT 9 – To Pick Me or Not to Pick Me Alison AW AS ES JP JP AS BC BC OUT 8 – It’s a Hairy Situation Alexis MH AW BC BC JL JL JL OUT 7 – Hard to Wear Megan JL JL JL JL ML ML OUT 6 – Role Models Kasey JS JS JS AS JC OUT 5 – I'm Ready for My Close-Up Sarah PP PP SH AW OUT 4 – Heart to Heart Sophia BC BC JE OUT 3 – Modeling Difficulties Elizaveta PW PW OUT 2 – Excuse Me, Is My Butt Showing Kelly CK OUT 1 – Walk This Way
: The aftershow "Models of the Runway" fully reveals the eliminated model of a future challenge. : The table does not show the results of the designers' model pick, in which everyone kept the same model, but the start of Project Runway episode 2, in which the models chose the designers. Alexis switched from Mila to Anthony, causing Alison and Valeria to have to switch and leaving Lorena with Mila : In place of the models, a group of women with heart disease modeled the designs. Colored boxes in this column refer to the models assigned to the winning and losing designers. : In this episode the models walk the runway with 5- to 9-year-old girls. : Cerri was originally eliminated in Episode 10; however, she was brought back after Valeria, Seth Aaron's model, voluntarily withdrew to accept a job at Donna Karan. : Only Brandise and Brittany walked the runway because their designers Mila and Jay had to compete for the final slot at Fashion Week. : In this challenge designers worked in pairs, and some models wore looks designed by their designers' teammate. :Holly was paired with eliminated designer Amy, but it was actually Cerri who wore the losing design.
The model won Project Runway Season 7. The model wore the winning design that challenge. The model wore the losing design that challenge. The model was eliminated. The model was brought back into the competition. The model withdrew from the competition.
Designer legend Amy Sarabi: AS Anna Lynett: AL Anthony Williams: AW Ben Chmura: BC Christiane King: CK Emilio Sosa: ES Janeane Marie Ceccanti: JC Jay Nicolas Sario: JS Jesse LeNoir: JL Jesus Estrada: JE Jonathan Peters: JP Maya Luz: ML Mila Hermanovski: MH Pamela Ptak: PP Ping Wu: PW Seth Aaron Henderson: SH
Episodes
Episode 1: Back to New York Original Airdate: January 14, 2010
The designers were asked to create a garment that represents who they are as a designer. They selected five fabrics each from a wide selection provided by Mood. The designers were preassigned models for their challenge and given one day to complete their design.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors Guest Judge: Nicole Richie WINNER: Emilio BOTTOM TWO: Christiane King & Jesus Estrada ELIMINATED: Christiane
Episode 2: The Fashion Farm Original Airdate: January 21, 2010
The designers were asked to create a party look from a burlap potato sack for their models to wear to an industry event. As the clients for this round, the models were allowed to choose their designers.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors Guest Judge: Lauren Hutton WINNER: Jay BOTTOM TWO: Pamela Ptak & Jesus Estrada ELIMINATED: Pamela
Episode 3: The Highs and Lows of Fashion Original Airdate: January 28, 2010
The designers were taken to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and shown ten iconic looks by famous designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Madame Grès, and Cristóbal Balenciaga. They were then asked to create a high-end signature look worthy of a master collection. The designers were placed in teams of two and given $500 per team to create their looks. As the winner of the last challenge, Jay was automatically a team leader. Tim drew the names of the other team leaders via a random lottery; those team leaders then selected their partners in the order they were chosen, as indicated in the table below.
On the second day of the challenge, the teams were asked to create a second "look for less", using only 10% of the budget for the first look and inspired by the signature look of one of the other teams. Heidi mentioned, when about to eliminate one of the bottom four designers, that two of them might be out.
TeamTeam MembersSecond Look Inspired by1Jay and MayaJaneane and Ben2Jesus and AmyPing and Jesse3Anthony and Seth AaronJesus and Amy4Janeane and BenMila and Jonathan5Mila and JonathanAnthony and Seth Aaron6Ping and JesseEmilio and Anna7Emilio and AnnaJay and Maya
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors Guest Judge: Matthew Williamson WINNER: Mila BOTTOM TWO: Anthony Willams & Ping Wu ELIMINATED: Ping
Episode 4: Design Your Heart Out Original Airdate: February 4, 2010
The designers were asked to design a look for a Fashion Week gala. The looks were required to feature the color red and elements with Campbell's branding, and were modeled by women who had been impacted by heart disease. Designers had a budget of $100 to purchase fabrics and other elements and one day of time to finish the design. The winning garment was produced and sold on projectrunway.com, with proceeds going to the American Heart Association.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors Guest Judge: Georgina Chapman WINNER: Amy BOTTOM TWO: Anna Lynett& Jesus Estrada ELIMINATED: Jesus
Episode 5: Run for Cover Original Airdate: February 11, 2010
The designers were asked to design an outfit for the cover of Marie Claire magazine. The winning design was worn by Heidi Klum on the cover of the April 2010 issue.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors Guest Judge: Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Marie Claire WINNER: Anthony ELIMINATED: Anna
Episode 6: A Little Bit of Fashion Original Airdate: February 18, 2010
The designers were asked to create a fashionable children's look to be modeled by a group of girls aged 5–9. Later the designers were asked to create an additional companion look for their adult models.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors Guest Judge: Tory Burch WINNER: Seth Aaron ELIMINATED: Janeane