A flowing coat made entirely from an old quilt, its collar a shaggy pink boa, hung outside beneath the arches at the Westin Colonnade hotel in Coral Gables. Down the row, other surprising creations: A roomy silk brocade jacket in lime and red. A coral halter dress with ruffles to best a Dustbuster.

The Miami auditions for the fourth season of Project Runway on the Bravo! network, in which designers try to outdo each other by sewing the best outfits, drew more than 55 hopefuls Thursday, one from as far as Switzerland.

Reality shows lost their novelty eons ago, but Project Runway, with its hardscrabble challenges and razor-tongue rebukes, still draws a strong audience beyond the fashion-obsessed. Contestants last season had to make outfits for dogs, gowns with material that cost a pittance, even craft garments from items found at a recycling center.

Kymm Barnett, a designer who drove all night from Atlanta to make the audition, was asked about the outfit on her plus-size model: a leopard-print top with red rhinestones, skirt and a jacket with a tiger-pelt theme.

''The rough edge complements the wildness of the cat,'' Barnett told the judges -- Gunn, Kate Lanphear of Elle Magazine, Julia Brown of Gen Art and Uli Herzner, the Miami Beach-based designer who was last season's runner-up and who is credited with whipping up local interest in the series. Heidi Klum, the leggy host of the show, was nowhere to be found.

''We are looking for innovation. . . . Am I being overly -- '' he trailed off, looking at Lanphear, whose luxurious black leather jacket sharply offset her coifed blond tufts.

The show's producers will ultimately vet candidates based on which personalities will make for the best TV. Gunn's job was strictly to look for talent and know-how. Designers must sketch, sew and perform under pressure.

This was the second time Gordana Gehlhausen had auditioned. The Bosnia-born resident of Charlestown, S.C., said she was rejected last time simply because she resembled Herzner too much.

All told, the Miami crop was more talented than those in Chicago or even Los Angeles, Gunn said. One designer who made it to the next round of tryouts was Markus Ketty, a sometime-Miami resident who said he had just graduated from London's renowned Central Saint Martins College.

Others found inspiration in less-lofty places. One poly-satin gown had folksy, hand-painted blue flowers resembling icing. A vest made of panels was a study in dissonance, with red, orange and pink thrown into the mix. Lopsided, braided strands held together the back of one revealing dress.

'I hope that people looked at Season 3 and said, `the level of designers is so high and professional, I better not come to these auditions,' '' Gunn said at a midday news conference.

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