{alltv} Big-city designers go small-town on new TV show

CHICAGO – Small-town America get ready, one-time "Project Runway" designers Santino Rice and Austin Scarlett are equipped with a station wagon and visions of special-occasion gowns — and they're headed your way.

Scarlett and Rice launched a half-hour television show earlier this year that's one-part buddy comedy and one-part makeover show. "On the Road with Austin & Santino" casts the big-city pair into small-town sewing shops and tasks them with making dream dresses for deserving ladies.

"I could see ourselves as mini ambassadors of creativity and fashion," Scarlett says. The series of 14 episodes airs after "Project Runway" on the Lifetime network.

So far the pair have designed gowns for a Louisiana Army captain's graduation, an Oklahoma mother's 30th birthday and an Arkansas mother and daughter's appearance in a pageant.

It sounds easy enough, but the designers say there are two major crunches: the availability of fabric and supplies in the rural areas and time constraints. They usually have about 48 hours to create a wearable, attractive garment — that's along with their TV show hosting duties.

"It's definitely the most challenging job or project I've been involved in," Scarlett says. "Much, much, much harder than 'Project Runway.'" Rice agrees.

By buying local materials and designing with what's available nearby, Rice says the hope is to prove everyone can have a taste of high fashion — no matter where they live.

"You might think you have to fly to Paris to get this look, but no you don't," Rice says. "It is available."

Between fittings and client consultations, the duo find themselves immersed in local culture, from trick-riding on rodeo horses in Texas to racing go-carts in Arkansas.

The show plays up the differences among Rice and Scarlett and the locals in the towns they visit. In one scene a beret-wearing Scarlett enters an Antlers, Okla., department store, earning a confused look from a young boy behind the counter.

"They would have been less surprised if an alien beamed into their store," executive producer Rich Bye says. "They just kept staring. They didn't say a word."

But overshadowing the country-versus-city theme is the designers' seemingly sincere interest in creating a dress their clients will love and a welcoming attitude from the small towns.

"A lot of clients have said to us, 'This is the most amazing thing that's happened to our family,'" Rice says. "And that brings tears to my eyes."

The truly reality-television aspect of the show comes when the designers reveal the dress to their client and she debuts her new look to a gathering of friends of family. The moment is usually accompanied by cheers and teary eyes.

Production for the show started by first choosing the towns, which span ten states across the southern and western United States. A prerequisite was that a town had to be near some sort of fabric store.

Once the towns were slated, producers called local beauty shops or chambers of commerce to find women who may need a special gown. Finding the perfect candidates happened through word of mouth.

Bye, a former executive producer of "Project Runway," says the goal was to create a makeover show that's "not someone coming into another person's home and riffling through the closet and throwing everything away and imposing their vision of what the client should be wearing."

Another aim is to demonstrate that the fashion world, with its aloof reputation, is achievable for all sorts of women, Scarlett says.

"I'm hoping that if we can bridge the gap between big city and country and just help the two worlds understand each other a little more, that's wonderful," Scarlett says.