Project Runway (season 1)

Project Runway Season 1 was the first season of Project Runway series. The season aired first on December 1, 2004. The winner was Jay McCaroll. He won several prizes including an Elle spread, a $100,000 cash prize to start his own line and more. Austin Scarlett later appeared in Project Runway: All Stars in 2012, where he finished runner-up. Wendy Pepper, in the same year, competed in the second season of the All Stars edition placing 12th out of 13.

Contestants

(In order of elimination)

Contestant Age Hometown Place Finished
Daniel Franco 32 Los Angeles, California 12th
Mario Cadenas 23 Pembroke Pines, Florida 11th
Starr Ilzhoefer 27 Charlotte, North Carolina 10th
Vanessa Riley 34 London, England 9th
Nora Caliguri 21 Cheshire, Connecticut 8th
Alexandra Vidal 21 Miami, Florida 7th
Kevin Johnn 37 New York, New York 6th
Robert Plotkin 28 New York, New York 5th
Austin Scarlett 22 New York, New York 4th
Wendy Pepper 39 Middleburg, Virginia 3rd
Kara Saun 37 Los Angeles, California Runner-up
Jay McCarroll 29 Dallas, Pennsylvania Winner

(ages listed are the designers' ages at the time the show was taped in the summer of 2004.)

The 12 models competing for an ELLE spread in the first season were:

Model Age Hometown Place Finished
Mary Henderson 19 Texas 12th
Alison Zebelian 19 Michigan 11th
Josiane Barboza 21 Brazil 10th
Audrey Chihocky 18 Virginia 9th
Joy Pursell 21 Texas 8th
Morgan Quinn 21 Iowa 7th
Erin Denardo 21 New Jersey 6th
Olga Kononova 18 Czech Republic 5th
Martinique Mitchell 21 California 4th
Melissa Haro 17 California 3rd
Jenny Toth 22 Ohio Runner-up
Julia Beynon 20 California Winner