NBC PRESS RELEASE:

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – NBC announced that musician, entertainer and fashion designer Jessica Simpson will serve as a celebrity mentor on “Fashion Star,” the new reality competition series that will search for the next big brand in fashion with host Elle Macpherson, world-famous super-model icon, actress and businesswoman. The announcement was made by Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios

“Jessica Simpson has built an incredible fashion business and is a perfect mentor to our aspiring designers,” said Ben Silverman, CEO and founder of Electus. “She will complement the buyers, Elle Macpherson and amazing format.”

The series is designed not only to groom and discover America’s next popular brand. It will allow viewers at home to buy the winning designs each week. The show will target real-time consumer feedback and interactivity and will span all categories of fashion from suits and dresses to lingerie, denim, bathing suits, accessories and more

The series will give 14 unknown designers the chance to win a multi-million dollar contract to launch their lines in three of America’s largest retailers. Each week, the show will open with a fashion show featuring musical performances, dancers, and models in front of a live studio audience. Every fashion show will be built around a weekly challenge that is designed to further develop and expand the designer’s brand.

Buyers from each of the retailers will serve as the judges, making on-the-spot decisions as they bid against each other, dipping into their own wallets to purchase the work of these up-and-coming designers each week. These items will shape the future of their respective stores and create the next big trends for consumers. At the end of each episode, America will have the chance to immediately purchase the winning designs showcased on the episode that week. What viewers see on TV that night will be on the streets and in stores the very next day.

Fashion designers featured on the show will include everyone from the stay-at-home mom who makes her own clothes to sell at the local flea market, to the recent Parsons School of Design graduate. top experts serve as their guides and mentors.

In the end, one designer will successfully combine fashion and business to become the next “Fashion Star” and will receive the grand prize of an exclusive capsule line in each of the three largest retailers in the country.