Entertainment

JUST FAUX FUN

ONCE, when I was in Venice buying a great knockoff purse for $10, a patrol boat rushed up, a bunch of copsjumped out with guns drawn and started yelling “arresti il ladro!”

It was one of those run-for-your-life or finish-buying-the-purse moments. I still have the purse.

The Italians, like our own garmento gurus on Seventh Ave., take their fashion and the knock-off theft very seriously.

Me? I think it’s criminal those designers get away with charging $4,000 for a purse made with three dollars worth of vinyl, but what do I know?

So I can’t help but get an enormous kick from Bravo’s new series, “The Fashion Show,” which is, ironically enough, a line-for-line knockoff of “Project Runway,” the hit show that was sold from under them to Lifetime. You gotta be tough, you gotta be fast, you gotta be ruthless in the garmento game, baby!

In the role of Tim Gunn on “The Fashion Show” is the iconic Isaac Mizrahi, who forgoes Gunn’s bespoke suits in favor of the always fashion-forward disgruntled gym teacher look.

As Heidi Klum, Kelly Rowland, a singer and actress, was chosen, well, maybe because she looks great in clothes.

Like on “Runway,” the fledgling designers on “Fashion Show” compete each week for the best design which they construct under grueling, sweatshop pressure. The winner gets $125,000 — or about enough to buy one Louis Vuitton purse.

There is the standard cast of characters: the bitchy, out-there queen; the serious no-nonsense woman; the “handsome” man; the straight guy who loves dressing women; the bratty girl; the inner-city guy and… well, you get it.

The two vying for most outrageous on “Fashion Show” are a guy named Merlin, who shows up in a red cape with a giant feather in his hat looking like Satan meets Pan, and another guy who dresses like he’s working the Ginsu knife concession.

The difference between this show and “Runway,” however, is that — after dividing into three teams — each team presents their creations each week at a fashion show for editors, designers and buyers who give written critiques. Nice twist. (Or braid, as they say in the fashion world.)

Joining Mizrahi and Rowland for the judging is the boss of the “7th on 6th” events and fashion insider, Fern Mallis who, incidentally, is instrumental in deciding who gets assigned those precious few tent shows during Fashion Week. Good move, Bravo!

Tonight, Mallis, Mizrahi and Rowland are shocked that when competitors have to design a “must have” wardrobe item (like a little black dress) one team makes it satin harem pants.

Must have? Where? On the set of “I Dream of Jeannie“?

What’s really fun is that Mizrahi takes no prisoners, and in those gym teacher duds, he looks like he could also give detention.

“The Fashion Show” Tonight at 10 on Bravo