‘Making the Cut’: Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn on Their New, ‘More Relevant’ Series
Q&A
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are back together for a new fashion show, Making the Cut, on Amazon Prime Video, and it’s the first instantly shoppable series.
“It’s a win-win situation for everyone,” Klum told TV Insider about that aspect. Limited editions of the winning look from each episode will be available for purchase on Amazon Fashion in the “Making the Cut” store, so you can watch the show and then add a new outfit to your wardrobe.
Here, Klum and Gunn talk about teaming up again, share what they particularly enjoyed about working together this time, and even come up with another idea for a show.
You two obviously work well together. Was there anything you wanted to do differently with this collaboration?
Tim Gunn: I wanted to spend more time with Heidi. Making the Cut allows that to happen. We had such different roles on Project Runway and we were barely together, and on Making the Cut, we’re together all the time. It was thrilling and a huge amount of fun.
(Amazon)
Heidi Klum: It was fun to travel with you, which reminds me — the video part where we’re packing [and] leaving to go home. They filmed my room, and then they filmed Tim’s room. It couldn’t be more polar opposite. I always say that Tim is the longest marriage I’ve ever been in, but boy, if we would actually live together, I think it would drive you nuts because I’m so the opposite. I have stuff everywhere. I’m visually different. I need a lot of stuff around me. I buy weird things, and I’m very eclectic. Tim couldn’t be neater.
Gunn: I do have a lot of stuff, but I’m very particular about where everything is.
Klum: Yeah, you’re very neat and it almost looks like, in your closet, everything is one inch apart. We wanted to make a show about fashion that is more relevant to our time.
We wanted to test these amazing individuals in all the criteria of being a designer, which is not just sewing. This is a real business that we’re trying to put together for this winner. We wanted to team up with a partner — Amazon — where you can watch it on Prime Video and then the designer gets to finally have people wear their clothes. The people who just watched the show and loved the clothes can buy the clothes. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, so we thought that was the perfect fit.
It’s not a sewing competition anymore. We have seamstresses for the designers because in real life, not every designer sews all of their clothes. It’s just not the way it really works, so yes, you have to have some sewing skills, but this is not anymore where we’re looking if the hem is crooked or if there’s a thread showing or did they staple this together or what. It’s more relevant of what fashion is today.
(Jessica Forde)
What do each of you see from the contestants in your roles on the show?
Gunn: I’m with them when the work is in process, so I bear witness to more of their struggles and try to help guide them through that. Heidi’s very fortunate that she gets to see the finished product. I’m there on that pathway from concept to finished product, and it’s a wonderful role to have, and I feel honored by it, frankly. I would say, Heidi, that you benefit from not having seen the struggle.
Klum: Tim gets to see what happens throughout. They know they have go into their workroom. They bought all their fabric. They’re in there, working, working, working, but that takes many hours. So when Tim stops by, he can see where this might go. Is it going to be a train wreck? Is it going to be good? He can get a little bit of a glimpse already, and also, sometimes, Tim you’re surprised because they scrap everything and then all of a sudden, in the last few hours, they whip up something else, but that rarely happens.
Gunn: And frankly it’s why I’m not a judge and shouldn’t be a judge because I am privy to that process, and it would certainly affect my judgement.
What do each of the judges bring to the table?
Klum: Their point of view and they’re not shy about speaking [it]. Naomi is a very honest person who is not afraid to speak her mind. So is Joseph, so is Nicole, so is Carine, so is Chiara. That’s why all these individuals are sitting there, because they all are very successful for many years in the field.
It was beautiful also for the designers. They did not know who was going to be sitting there. They were like, “wow.” And also they [reacted in the same way] when they heard that we are giving the winner $1 million. When we cast them, they had no idea that was going to be the prize. [The judges] bring their expertise and the experience of being in this industry for many years and can guide them [which] helps them in their journey for their next assignment.
(Amazon)
Gunn: The judging panel covers all the relevant bases, and the designers were extremely lucky to get to have that critical feedback and to be able to benefit from it. They took their experience with the judges very seriously, sometimes too seriously, and they used it, which was smart. [That] is not to say they ever lost who they are as much as they thought, “okay, I have to step this up. I have to bring more of my game into this.” You have to bring 1000% of your game into it.
Klum: Everyone did. The judges did, too. Everyone could recall looks that came down the runway weeks ago. When you go into a TV show like that, you go into this bubble where you learn about the designers, about what they’re doing, all their stories, everything, and you dive in there. There’s not much outside that anymore. You really were 100% invested in this — mentally, physically, all of it.
Gunn: No one’s sleepwalking.
Klum: Everyone really cared for these people to find the best person at the end.
You spoke about spending time together, and we see you two around the different cities while the designers were working. Did you have any favorite outings?
Gunn: Every outing was fun. I loved our cooking experiences, making the croissants and the sushi in Tokyo.
Klum: Me too. I kind of want to do a cooking show with you, Tim.
Gunn: I’d do it in a heartbeat. … In Tokyo, we had the saké, and we used that to disinfect the finger you almost cut off.
(Amazon)
Klum: I know! The first slice I did, I already almost chopped my finger off. It was gushing.
Gunn: There was blood everywhere.
Making the Cut, Series Premiere, Friday, March 27, Amazon Prime Video
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