Making The Cut, Amazon’s first reality TV show, pits 10 entrepreneurial fashion designers from around the world against each other for a prize of one million dollars and a mentorship from Amazon to help them become the next global brand. Many of the designers have tasted success already in their careers. The standard of design therefore is elevated beyond that of the fashion reality show that originally united Making The Cut presenters, Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Project Runway. In Making the Cut there are no challenges to make garments out of car parts or licorice or Venetian blinds; these are real clothes, not projects.
Each week one of the winning looks is sold on the Amazon website. Their formula of “Watch it. Wear it.” echoes the now-familiar fast fashion model, “See Now, Buy Now,” appealing to the impatience of the modern shopper who wants instant gratification. It might also funnel to the online retailer a more fashion-hungry consumer who has so far remained elusive to Amazon. But, as I discovered myself, after catching the first episode of Series 2 which is…
