Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn on Leaving ‘Project Runway,’ Starting New Show on Amazon

By Kirsten Chuba

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Earlier this week, the dynamic fashion duo of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn announced that they would be leaving their hit show “Project Runway” after 16 seasons to develop a new project for Amazon Studios .

At the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday, the pair elaborated on what spurred the move to streaming and what to expect from the new fashion-oriented reality show.

Describing her relationship with Gunn as like husband and wife, Klum said that “” “was our baby, and our baby is 16 years old now, our baby can walk and it’s going to walk by itself. We love our baby, we love our baby and we wish our baby good luck, but now we’re ready to pop out a new one.”

Gunn added that although the two are onto their next project, they end on good terms with their former bosses at Lifetime, where “Project Runway” has been for the last 11 seasons.

“We have only the deepest affection for Lifetime,” he said. “They’ve been such a wonderful, wonderful partner and collaborator, and that makes us sad, leaving Lifetime.”

The duo says that the exit from “Project Runway” started immediately, with next week’s Primetime Emmy Awards, where the show is nominated for best reality competition program, “our second foot out the door.”

As for the currently untitled show coming on Amazon , Klum said the new venture will feature global fashion and designers, rather than focusing on just the United States. Additionally, it will feature an interactive element where viewers will be able to buy the clothes designed on the show through the Amazon fashion store.

“On Amazon, you lay in bed and watch your favorite show — hopefully that will be ours — and then you click to the fashion and can possibly have that in your closet,” Klum said. “I think that’s amazing not only for the buyers but for our designers, because our designers never had that opportunity before and that’s really what you want, you want people to wear your clothes, and now you have that opportunity.”

Gunn chimed in, “Where else can you have Amazon Prime video for us and then the Amazon fashion platform for the designers and that full integration?”

When that new show will be available on Amazon has yet to be announced, but Klum said, “we’re working very hard right now to get it off the ground as soon as possible. Obviously there’s so much involved because it’s huge, so we want to get it right.”

Producers are not yet attached. The deal with Klum and Gunn is the most recent with high-profile talent for Amazon under Jenifer Salke, the former NBC exec who became head of the tech giant’s entertainment division earlier this year. Amazon has in recent months set deals with Nicole Kidman, Jordan Peele, and Barry Jenkins.