<P> Project Runway is an American reality television series that focuses on fashion design . The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, materials and theme . Their designs are judged by a panel, and one or more designers are typically eliminated from the show each week . During each season, contestants are progressively eliminated until only a few contestants remain . These finalists prepare a complete fashion collection for New York Fashion Week, which determines the winner . </P> <P> Project Runway was created by Eli Holzman and is hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum . It has a varied airing history, with Bravo originating the first five seasons, followed by Lifetime for eleven more, before it was announced on May 14 the series is tentatively returning to Bravo for the seventeenth season in the wake of The Weinstein Company's bankruptcy, pending TWC asset winner Lantern Entertainment's acquisition of the former TWC assets . The show won a Peabody Award in 2008 "for using the' television reality contest' genre to engage, inform, enlighten and entertain ." </P> <P> Project Runway uses progressive elimination to reduce the initial field of 12 or more fashion designers down to three or four before the final challenge . Each non-finale challenge (the scope of one episode) requires the designers to develop one or more pieces of new clothing to be presented at a runway show . The challenges range in creative diversity to test the designers' ingenuity while maintaining their personal fashion design aesthetic . These challenges may include creating a garment from non-traditional materials, such as: apartment furnishings (Season 3), recyclable materials (Season 3), items from a grocery store (Seasons 1 & 5), edible food items (Seasons 1, 4 & 10), plants and flowers (Season 2), using their own clothes that they happened to be wearing (Season 2 & 9), designing clothing with materials from a party store (season 8); or designing for a certain high - profile person (such as actress Brooke Shields, figure skater Sasha Cohen or Miss USA Tara Conner); or designing for a corporate fashion line (e.g., Banana Republic; Diane von Fürstenberg; Macy's; or Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten); or centered on a specialized theme (such as "cocktail party", "wedding gown", "female wrestling outfit", or "prom dress"). </P> <P> The first several seasons were filmed in New York City, at The New School University's Parsons The New School for Design . They shop for materials at a fabric store in New York's Garment District (usually at MOOD Designer Fabrics)--unless the challenge requires otherwise (e.g., denim jackets and jeans from Levi's, confectionery and souvenirs at the Hershey's Store in Times Square, or fabric at Spandex House in Season 4). The designers live together, grouped by gender, at Atlas New York (an apartment building near Parsons) during Seasons 1--3 (back again at Season 5) and at New Gotham during Season 4 . Along with the network change to Lifetime, the location changed from New York to Los Angeles for Season 6 only (permanently returning to New York for Season 7 .) While on the show, the designers are prohibited from leaving the apartments without authorization, making unauthorized communication with family or friends, or using the Internet to research designs . Designers are also forbidden to bring pattern books or similar how - to materials with them during the show, or risk being disqualified from the competition (as was the case of Keith Michael in Season 3 and of Claire Buitendorp in Season 16). </P>

Who has won the most challenges on project runway