By: Valerie Milano – Miami Beach, FL (Hollywood Today) 1/24/12

“Fashion Star”, which debuts on March 13 on NBC is the latest hybrid in fashion/reality shows.

What makes this show different than other reality shows is that Deutch and Johnston developed an idea so that the competition will not only launch the career of unknown designers by offering their clothes for sale in a major retail outlet, but it will create a new brand of clothing under the “Fashion Star” label.  What’s more intriguing is that Deutch and Johnston were able to secure the participation of competing retailers H&M, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s as buyers of the winning garments for the show.

The all-star cast of mentors include Nicole Richie, Jessica

HT Interviewing James Deutch NATPE 2012, Miami Beach

Simpson, John Varvatos and will be hosted by Elle Macpherson.

I caught up with executive producer James Deutch at NATPE for a quick chat, “I’ve been producing fashion shows since 95.”He told HT “I wasn’t a fashionista myself but I loved the fashion world and all the designers and the stylists and the photographers.” After producing the pilot and moving to New York, he realized “the real dream makers in the fashion world were the buyers. I was thinking back then, “how can I turn this into a show, a spectacle with entertainment.”   The buyers from all the big stores were the ones looking for the next stars.”

Host of “Fashion Star” Elle Macpherson explained to journalists at the Winter 2012 Press tour “I feel incredibly fortunate to be executive-producing and working on a show where we have such wonderful fashion icons as Jessica, John, and Nicole, who have build businesses over many years and have branded themselves in a very intelligent way in the industry, and for them to come and mentor these 14 contestants with grace and skill and experience, it’s been fantastic working with them.” And the compliments went all around.

Besides the huge grand prize, each week one of the 3 retailers bid for the winning fashion and each will be available in their respective stores the following day. Shot in July and August provided enough lead-time to allow production of the winning garments.

The retailers consist of buyers from Macy’s, Caprice Willard; from Saks Fifth Avenue, Terron Schaefer; and from H & M, Nicole Christie. As different as the 3 featured retailers are, it was exactly what the producers were hoping for, ” we were using H & M and Saks and Macy’s as the example, and we’re like, oh, we’re never going to get them, you know. That’s, like, the dream.” Said Jane Lipsitz.

Saks buyer Schaefer said “It is all about contemporary fashion. “Contemporary” is a category that we are all involved in.”

“And we were very committed to wanting to make sure everything would be available immediately, so making sure we backed into the production schedule to be able to deliver the expectations of the viewers was critical.” Macy’s Caprice Willard told HT.

‘Great design can exist all over the world at any store.  What is important about the show from this position is that we’re making peoples dreams come true and entertaining – combining those 2 things” explained Deutch.

“FS” offers 14 contestants every opportunity to design, shine and sell their wares while carving out a fabulous career for themselves. Ben Silverman, executive producer summed it up saying, “at its core, it’s the emotional journey of these designers and their incredible relationship with the mentors and the spectacle and glamour and joy of the presentations, which we haven’t seen.”