Project Runway: What the ELLE?

(S03E11) Final challenge before Fashion Week, kids. The heat is on!

The designers met with a very orange Nina Garcia at ELLE to talk about their final challenge. She introduced them to ELLE's feature "First Look" and instructed the final four to create an outfit to convey their point of view as designers. They were also told to choose three words to describe and accompany their imaginary collections. Later, there was a not-so-surprising "twist" when Tim told the designers that the winning outfit would be featured in "First Look". O RLY? The designers were given a shortened deadline (six hours short!) and the task of photographing their models to go with their three words. Goodness.

The guest judge was Teri Agins from the Wall Street Journal. Follow along by checking out the designs on "Rate the Runway".

Uli: [WINNER; OFF TO FASHION WEEK] "Fun, Life, Adventure" -- Ha! The Project Runway viewer poll overwhelmingly voted Uli to be the next Auf'd person. I guess her fan base isn't as strong as those of the other three (I haven't seen many Uli avatars on the message boards...). Despite panicking over the new deadline, Uli really pulled through and dominated this challenge. The final product still had Uli's usual fun use of prints, but it wasn't the flowy gown thing that we've seen so many times. It was short and flirty and fun and it looked totally amazing on Nazri (Uli, in the most unbitchy way possible, swiped Nazri away from Michael... I probably would have done the same. Nazri makes everything look hot). The pressure's high, but Uli's still going strong.

Laura: [OFF TO FASHION WEEK] "Glamour, Confidence, Elegance" -- Right after doing a youthful, different dress last week, Laura went straight back into her old rut. This dress was still beautifully tailored, but it was the same old, plunging neckline cocktail dress. The judges talked about how they wanted to see Laura do something a little different and maybe roughin' up a bit... but I think that's kind of like asking Austin Scarlett to deconstruct. That wasn't pretty.

Michael: [ALMOST OUT; OFF TO FASHION WEEK] "Sensuality, Sultry, Sexiness" -- Michael's dress was unimpressive. What a disappointment. On paper, I thought it looked lovely, but I guess the sped-up deadline did a number on his work schedule. The straps across the top and waist looked like they were going to be amazing, but they didn't pop on the final outfit as much as I previously thought. Bottom line, the judges didn't like his take on eveningwear. Sigh. I didn't make a big deal out of Michael's poor performance because I was fully confident that he was going to round out the Top Three, making it the most solid Project Runway Fashion Week line-up I've ever seen (I wasn't crazy about Santino last year). But no. The producers had to make everything crazy and have a Top FOUR this year. Crazy bitches.

Jeffrey: [ALMOST OUT; OFF TO FASHION WEEK] "Provocative, Irreverent, Romantic" -- So, yeah... Jeffrey's in. After being naughty and looking through the Fashion Week photos a few weeks ago, I was almost 100% sure that Jeffrey was the decoy. His work was unpolished and messy (but not in a sexy, rock-star way), so I'm still having some trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that he's still in. I thought that this hideous milk-maid dress was enough to get him Auf'd, but I guess the producers were desperate for one final twist. God, if he wins after Fashion Week, I'll to eat my hat. Actually, I think I forgot to pack a hat during my move. Alright, if Jeffrey wins after Fashion Week, I will design a hat, buy the appropriate fabric, sew it together, work it on the runway, and then eat it. Really.

Reunion show next week! I'm excited to hear Malan Breton and his creepy laugh once more. I'm also looking forward to the pudding-in-a-kiddie-pool wrestling between Keith and Tim Gunn (still pissed about the Episode 3 scandal). Said wrestling match may only take place in a sketchy corner of some notebook paper I have on hand during a boring class.