NBC’s ‘Fashion Star’ To Feature Department Store Employees As Judges

by Verena von Pfetten | 1:19 pm, July 22nd, 2011

Ever since it was first announced, NBC’s Fashion Star has faced consistent comparisons to that other fashion designer competition show, Project Runway. But while the general premise is the same, host Elle Macpherson has maintained that “Fashion Star” was focusing much more on mass appeal than artistic design — and nothing makes that more clear than the choice of judges.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, NBC has lined up employees from retailers Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, and H&M to be the judges, while the star trio of Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie, and John Varvatos will only act as mentors. In other words, Fashion Star is NBC’s sartorial counterpart to The Voice.

Appropriately, the prize is a multimillion-dollar contract to launch collections at those same three retailers but, as always, our question remains the same: will a show about mass market fashion really be that interesting?

[WWD.]