On paper, Michael Drummond and A.J. Thouvenot appear to be similar: Both are St. Louis designers, both will compete on the upcoming season of "Project Runway" and both are comfortable outfitting drag queens.

But on the runway, their fashions are radically different.

Drummond, 31, uses words like "organic," "minimalist" and "intricate" to describe his styled knit pieces; Thouvenot, 26, talks about his party dresses as being "wacky," "glam" and "trashy."

The two are among 17 designers vying for $150,000 in cash and prizes — plus a feature in Marie Claire magazine — on Season 8 of Lifetime's hit fashion-reality show, which premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday. This season, the episodes are 90 minutes each, up from the previous one-hour format.

Drummond and Thouvenot returned home last week after six weeks of filming in New York. Drummond said winning St. Louis Fashion Week's Project Design competition last year helped prepare him for the pressure of being judged by Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors and other top fashion names.

"That was sort of a condensed, less-intense version of 'Project Runway,'" Drummond said of the local showcase that earned him $30,000 to promote his line, the Exquisite Corpse. "Of course, it wasn't televised in front of a national audience, so it wasn't quite the same."

Thouvenot also has St. Louis Fashion Week honors under his belt (which in his design aesthetic would likely include embellished birds or cupcakes or roses). Post-Dispatch fashion editor Debra D. Bass picked Thouvenot's women's collection as most outrageous of the fall 2008 show.

"What makes Thouvenot's line fun is that it lacks pretension," Bass wrote at the time in her best-of-show roundup. "It's certainly not for everyone. … This little gold number with pistol bra cups reminds me a bit of what a Sean Connery-era James Bond villainess might wear."

Although the two men had crossed paths only a few times before going on the show, they said they were proud to have the opportunity to represent St. Louis together.

"In a strange situation with strange people, having a familiar face there helps put you at ease," Thouvenot said. "People from St. Louis are proud of our city, so it was a confidence boost for me."

Their appearance on the show won't be St. Louis' first brush with "Project Runway" fame — but one of them could be the first person from here to win. Former St. Charles resident Santino Rice finished in third place on Season 2, and former St. Louisan Qristyl Frazier was the fourth contestant eliminated on Season 6.

Thouvenot and Drummond both grew up in the area — Thouvenot graduated from Francis Howell North High in St. Peters, Drummond from McCluer North High in Florissant — and live in the city. Their fashion careers have taken different paths.

Thouvenot received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Lindenwood University in 2008, interned in New York and started a line called TrashBiscuit with partner Ryan Coyne from their South City home.

Drummond found a knack for knitting during half a semester at the Academy of Art University (formerly Academy of Art College) in San Francisco. Besides on-the-job training in theater costume departments, he is mostly self-taught and says he has designed pieces for 16-year-olds to 70-year-olds.

"The hardest thing for me was not having my knitting machine," Drummond said of the "Project Runway" experience.

When not working on their clothing lines, the designers like to find inspiration around town. Both cited City Museum as one of their favorite St. Louis hangouts, and Thouvenot said he's often hunting on Cherokee Street for hidden treasures.

"That's where I go to find vintage pieces or those little one-of-a-kind things to mix with stuff I might find at the mall," he said.

And although Thouvenot's look may be described as club punk to Drummond's metropolitan casual, both styles apparently can work well on female impersonators.

Drummond told Lifetime producers that the "Project Runway" challenge he'd most like to see reprised this season is the "Dress a Drag Queen" episode from Season 5. And Thouvenot credits his design confidence to the success he had making costumes for St. Louis drag queens such as Siren and Madison Elise.

"Madison is very classy but still likes to show it all off," Thouvenot said with a laugh. "She's fabulous to work with."