Ever wish you could know more about the designer’s models on Project Runway? Lifetime thinks you do. USA Today reports that Lifetime is planning to pair its newly acquired Project Runway with a half-hour spin-off called Models of the Runway which will focus on them as people, not just living clothes hangers. (The model paired up with the winning designer on Project Runway also wins a modeling contract and a spread in Elle magazine.)

Project Runway is expected to move over to the top-rated women’s cable network, Lifetime, in November. Bravo will air its fifth and probably final Project Runway season in July, though the move is being contested in court by Bravo parent company NBC. Project Runway has been Bravo’s top hit.

Harvey Weinstein, whose production company owns the hit show, has not commented on the suit but did say putting Project Runway on Lifetime offers it the chance to be bigger and better. Lifetime reaches more homes and has double the prime-time audience of Bravo.

The good news for fanatics is that Project Runway’s format is not expected to change much with the move. Fashion guru Tim Gunn and host Heidi Klum are still on board. Current or former Elle fashion director (her status there is still murky) is expected to be back as a judge as well.

Gunn says he’s excited about the switch telling USA Today, “If anything, our viewership will increase because we’re on Lifetime,” he says. “If you love the show, it’s only a matter of pushing another button.”

Lifetime is working hard to shed its image as a musty, tea and sympathy stop for middle-aged women. The network will still pursue its popular movie and fictional drama series programming such as Army Wives (that show returns for another season on June 8.) But it also wants to be known as a younger, hipper and more upscale destination for women with the help of a new reality TV focus.

In 2009 the network is expected to air a few new reality shows like Project Pygmalion. That show has 10 contestants coached on etiquette to help them attain their potential. Hmmn, that sounds like WE TV’s American Princess, the current headline-maker Pauper to Princess or VH1’s Charm School. Oh the options available to anyone who wants to watch a woman of ill-manners and low prospects improve herself!

New dramas in the works for Lifetime include a show called Trump Tower which is described as a Desperate Housewives type soap with Donald Trump as the narrator. (Ahh, the creepy, monotone sounds of a billionaire with bad hair talking about lady issues.)

Lifetime also has 40 movies in the works for next year. Last weekend’s airing of the popular book to film, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter garnered 5.8 million viewers. That is the biggest audience for a Lifetime movie since 1995.