'Fashion Star' Secures Asian Remake Deals

HONG KONG – Fashion Star, the U.S. reality show featuring Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos as mentors of young designers seeking to launch a clothing line in a high-end New York retailer, is to be remade in South Korea, Vietnam and India.

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Part of Electus International’s slate at the Asia Television Forum, which begins this week in Singapore, Fashion Star has been snapped up for local series commitments by SBS E! in South Korea, VTV3 in Vietbam and Endemol in India. The original show has already been signed up to be shown in 20 countries in Asia through DIVA Universal.

“Asia is an incredibly important market for Electus International, so I’m thrilled to announce that we're kicking off our push into local productions through series commitments of Fashion Star in Korea and Vietnam,” said Electus International president John Pollak in a press release. “Fashion Star is a unique and compelling format that resonates universally as it fuses entertainment with commerce to build the next big fashion brand.”

The show revolves around a competition in which as-yet unknown designers were put through a variety of tests, while buyers from Macy’s, H&M and Saks Fifth Avenue judge the contestant’s work by bidding to purchase their work. Winning designs were made available online and in retail stores in the U.S. the night after each episode. The top prize, meanwhile, will be the opportunity to place an exclusive capsule line in each of the three stores.

Filming of the second season -- which will air on NBC next year -- was temporarily put to a halt in October because of an IATSE-backed picket, brought about by demands from the non-union show's crew for union pension and health benefits. The problem was resolved when the producers agreed to the demands.