One, Althea Harper, was accused by season 6 winner Irina Shabayeva of copying her looks. The other, Carol Hannah Whitfield, had to battle a wicked flu to complete her collection and compete in the Fashion Week finale. Both designers, the second and third-place finishers, respectively, in last night's 'Project Runway' season finale, talked to AOL TV about their experiences on the show, the dramas of the copycat accusations and the flu and what they've been up to post-'Project.'One, Althea Harper, was accused by season 6 winner Irina Shabayeva of copying her looks. The other, Carol Hannah Whitfield, had to battle a wicked flu to complete her collection and compete in the Fashion Week finale. Both designers, the second and third-place finishers, respectively, in last night's 'Project Runway' season finale, talked to AOL TV about their experiences on the show, the dramas of the copycat accusations and the flu and what they've been up to post-'Project.'

It must be a relief to finally get to talk about the show, and not have to be hush-hush about everything to everyone you know.
CHW: For sure! One of my best friends texted me early this morning, and she said, 'Hey, Happy No More Secrets Day!' (Laughing). But I think we both feel pretty happy and relieved, and it's gratifying to finally have everybody see our work. It's been so long, and we've both moved on a lot since [the finale], but it's fun to revisit it. You kinda forget a lot of things about that time.

AH: It just seems so long ago. I started the show when I was 23 and had just graduated from college, and now, I've had a professional job for a while, and I've shown a couple of seasons of my own line.

You finished second and third this season ... any regrets?
AH: I have no regrets. Looking back, I feel like [the season finale collection] totally represents me as a designer and where I was then ... I think my flaw with my collection was that I tried to do too much. I tried to show all my range, with so many knitwear pieces, but I also wanted to show my tailoring [skills], and sometimes you try to do too much.

Everyone, from the designers to viewers, was talking about the judging this season, with the rotating list of judges instead of the usual steady lineup. Did that make it a tougher season to be on the show?
CHW: It's a good point that the judging wasn't consistent, but at the same time, that really keeps you on your toes, because you don't have your past history of work to rely on. If you botch something in a challenge, and you did really well in all the others, but [the judges] don't know that, then you're going home. It kept you on your toes, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

Carol Hannah, it was obvious you were sick in the finale, but we didn't really know how bad it was along the way ... how much did it really affect you?
CHW: Yeah, it felt pretty bad, but I'm not usually one to sit and wallow in things like that. It's kinda funny, I had a similar situation a few years ago when I was working on this big wedding project. I had the flu, and I actually had mono, and I ended up being able to work through it, so I knew it was something I could handle. But in that last situation, I ended up having to go to the hospital afterwards, so ... I knew I could push myself and get through it, but I didn't know what would happen afterwards.

And what did happen after the finale?
CHW: It took me like a month to feel completely better. I think it was just because it was so intense that week. And I lost seven pounds, which is a lot for me. So I took it easy afterwards, and I ate a lot [laughing].

Althea, one of the recurring themes with you throughout the season was the suggestion that you were copying Irina's designs, and then in the finale, her make-up styling suggestions. How did you feel about all that?
AH: Well, it was kind of annoying, actually, because, to me, I think it was evident that I [wasn't]. It's still not clear to me what [Irina] was accusing me of ... she was competitive almost to a fault sometimes. I mean, I don't know, I'm not her, but I think it's ironic, since now there's that story in New York magazine about her and the copyright issues with the t-shirt. In the end, I think you just have to realize that [in these situations] it's more about the other person than [about] you, because it was so out of left field.

What have you been up to since the competition wrapped?
CHW: I'm in the middle of launching a bridal line. And I've been wholesaling for awhile now. Actually, right after Fashion Week, I was so broke, because I'd been out of work for six months, so I started selling stuff on Etsy.com. I started the Etsy shop out of desperation, and it took off! So I've been doing that, selling in some stores, doing some custom work, and then I'm really launching the bridal line, taking it back home to Charleston, in March.

AH: I work at Tory Birch now, I do design for them, in knitwear, and I also do their t-shirts, their embellishment tees, and things like that, and I also have my own line. I showed in Fashion Week this past September for the second time, and I'm going to show again in February. And my lines are available at my website.

CH: One of the other things that's going on is that Logan, Epperson and I are opening a studio in [New York City]. We're not doing a group [collection] ... it's more like a shared, collaborative space. I think we probably are going to do a few products that we'll do together to help support that, but it's like a space where people can come and shop, and it'll be a showroom, but we actually work there as well. We're going to have a lot of trunk shows and events and party stuff. We just moved in about three days ago, so we're giving ourselves a month to redecorate and pull things together, and then we'll have a big launch, grand opening-type thing.