Heidi Klum returns with `Project Runway'

Panelists supermodel Heidi Klum, left, Tim Gunn and Nina Garcia pose for photographers following the presentation of fashions by fifteen designers competing for the top designer award on the 'Project Runway' TV reality show, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007, in New York. [Agencies]

"Project Runway" turns fashion's creative process into a high-stakes competition, waged under pressure-cooker conditions and unfolding in plain sight under the guidance of fashion guru Tim Gunn, whose by-now-famous catch phrase exhorts the contestants to "make it work."

Obviously, the concept for the show is inspired. But Klum says some serious tweaking was required to make THAT work. One early idea called for the contestants to find ordinary people to model their creations for the judges.

"We thought of having them run around and ask people on the street, `Hey, do you want to participate in this fashion show we're doing?'"

And, Klum adds, initially she didn't mean to be host. Not until Bravo asked.

What did it matter, she figured — one more thing for her to do? "I NEED to be doing different things," she declares. "I'm ALWAYS on the next thing already."

But everything isn't devoted to career. Klum makes it clear that her favorite roles reside in her private life: as wife (to the pop star Seal) and mother (to their two young sons and a daughter by former boyfriend Flavio Briatore).

A couple of days earlier, she and Seal had flown to New York from their Los Angeles home. But with TV writers on strike, her packed publicity schedule has been trimmed by one item: taping an appearance that afternoon on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

"I was like, `OK, "Conan" is not happening? Get me on an earlier flight!' My husband's still here, but I'm gonna go home and see the children. Usually, we don't leave them behind. When I did `Project Runway' we all moved to New York for five weeks."

Now, with the new season finally reaching the air, Klum can't help but marvel at her series' enduring success.

"We had no idea what we were gonna fall into when we started," she says. "But I go really open into things. I always try. We're here, we might as well make the most out of it. And that's what I tell the contestants: `This is your chance to show yourself. Show your talent to everybody. Do it!'"