Top Designer

Top Designer is an American reality competition television series which premiered on March 8, 2012, on VH1. The show features chefs competing against each other in various fashion design challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional designers and other notables from the fashion industry with one or more contestants eliminated in each episode. The show is produced by Magical Elves Productions, the same company that created Top Chef.

Basic format
Top Designer is a reality show that uses a progressive elimination format. The beginning of each season starts with twelve to twenty aspiring fashion designers selected through auditions. The designers are brought to the season's host city or state, which typically inspires themes throughout the season. The chefs live in a provided apartment or house during the course of the season, and normally do not have access to outside communication. Each episode, the chefs participate in a Quickstitch Challenge and an Elimination Challenge (described below). The winner of the Quickstitch Challenge is typically granted immunity from elimination, a prize, or another benefit for the following Elimination Challenge. The loser of the Elimination Challenge, as the name suggests, is eliminated from the competition. This format continues until two, three or four chefs remain. Each finalist is challenged to create a fashion collection; the chef with the best collection as determined by the judges is declared the "Top Designer" of the season. Towards the end of the season, when only four or five designer remain, the show moves to another host city to finish out the competition.

In the Quickstitch Challenge, designers must design an outfit that meets certain requirements or participate in a fashion-related challenge. They are usually given an hour or less to complete these tasks. A guest judge selects one or more designers as the best in the challenge. Early in the season, the winning designer(s) are granted immunity from the episode's Elimination Challenge. As the number of contestants dwindle, immunity is withdrawn and instead the winner receives an advantage (such as being the team leader for a team challenge or getting first pick of materials) or a prize.

In the Elimination Challenge, the chefs prepare one or more outfits to meet the challenge requirements, which are usually more complex and require more time to execute than a Quickstitch Challenge. Elimination Challenges may be individual challenges or require designers to work in teams; some may require the contestants to produce several outfits. Teams may be selected by the remaining designers, but are more often determined by a random process. The time limit for an Elimination Challenge may range from a few hours to a few days, which typically includes sketching and construction time. Materials for Elimination Challenges generally allow chefs access to both the Top Designer Textile Room and the materials they previously purchased at a textile store, within a specified budget and shopping time limit. However, certain challenges may provide specific materials or limit the type or number of textiles that can be used, while others require non-traditional methods for obtaining materials.

After the Elimination Challenge, the chefs report to the Judges' Showroom, where the judges will deliberate on their choices for the best and worst designs. The judges may also consider guests' comments, if available. The top individuals or teams are called in, and may be asked questions about their designs or preparation before they are notified of their placement. One or more designers are named the winner of the challenge and may be awarded an additional prize by the guest judge. The same procedure is repeated with the poorest performing designers or teams, after which similar discussion takes place. From this group, one or more designers are chosen for elimination. This is usually followed by a packing sequence for the eliminated designer(s), with a voice-over of their final thoughts about their performance, at the close of the episode. According to the credits, some elimination decisions are made in consultation with the show's producers.