[Project Runway - 'Finale, Part 1']

With only a week to go before the finale of 'Project Runway' the contestants fought for positions. Heidi announced that they had $9,000 and six weeks to create a ten-piece collection. Clearly it was not enough time or money for these contestants to create anything breathtaking or amazing.

While Season Six had the same budget, those designers had a lot more time to think about their collections. These contestants needed time to go back and think about things longer. Andy had the biggest handicap because the fabrics he ordered arrived three weeks into his six-week process. Some of Tim's visits seemed too last-minute, where you couldn't save a sinking ship.

I finally appreciated the evolution of Gretchen throughout the season. While her clothes maintained the hippy/granola aesthetic, her bitchy and aggressive nature covered up the fact that she was having trouble at home. She looked like she was closer to the other finalists than she did in the first few episodes, and she was all hugs at the end of the episode.

(S07E14) It's the final episode of 'Project Runway' Season 7 and I'm more excited this season than last season. The collections of Irina, Carol Hannah, and Althea pale in comparison to this season, which actually had some original colors, shapes, and concepts. This season was apparently more important because they sacrificed an episode of 'Models of the Runway' for a reunion episode that didn't say much.

(S06E13) Project Runway's part one of their finale episodes are always boring. This episode was no exception. We learn more about the hopefuls' backgrounds, peek at their final collection, Tim critiques them, they come to New York, and get some bombshell in one form or another.

This year's bomb is recycled from season two: a last minute thirteenth piece with the help of an eliminated contestant. This time, the muse model picks their final model.

The first half of the show was all about watching Tim in awkward situations: struggling to use a freight elevator, baking biscuits, and interacting with dogs.

John Oliver, Senior Entertainalist reported on this year's Oscars ceremony. Well... not really. He was really reporting on how much he didn't like Jon's hosting performance from the previous year. This was a beautiful act of self-deprecation, I must say. I loved it when John Oliver called Jon "the iceberg responsible for sinking SS Last Year's Oscars."

"Cinema Politico": At the Oscars, Al Gore was a big hit (Jon had a message for him: "Here's an inconvenient truth: Cake isn't a food group!"), as were the shadow-y silhouette people (lobsters and penguin-people!). John Oliver returned again to talk about how the ceremony was "green" this year. They chose an interesting image to use for the endangered species picture... You can clearly see former TDS correspondents Steve Carell and wife Nancy Walls sitting next to a giant panda.

(S01E14) Next week's episode is called "Brothers," but we'll go ahead and call this one the unofficial sibling episode. Anyone who's had to live in the shadow of a brother, sister or post-op transsexual knows Betty and Daniel's pain. Ugly Betty is proof positive that if you can keep the emotions real, even in the midst of over-the-top farce, then you're liable to have a hit on your hands. As a matter of fact it's because we buy Daniel's emotional reaction to finding out Alex is still alive and a woman that keeps the show from becoming a outright cartoon that we can't invest in beyond the laughs. But, yes, there were laughs, and everyone was on hand.

With the exception of Santino's homemade soundtrack in Season Two, I always wondered whether or not we were hearing the music the Project Runway designers actually chose for their Fashion Week outings.

I just don't believe that punk rocker Jeff Sebelia or hip-hop head Michael Knight would willingly send their models down the runway to the innocuous, down-tempo soundscape we heard on Bravo.

I figured copyright issues got in the way of us figuring out whether Sebelia would drop a Stooges track on us.

(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.

Today at NY Fashion Week, the top four designers of Project Runway (the real top three and a decoy to throw off the press) presented their collections. Quite a few interesting things to mention... Of course, if you want to wait until next month to see the collections, do not read any further! However, if you want to be really naughty and take a sneak peek, come along.

You have been warned!

Bravo has officially decided to start airing the third season of Project Runway this summer in order to use September's Fall Fashion Week for the finale (where the three finalists -- and one other designer who's just there to throw off spectators and will not be aired -- compete with collections instead of individual garments). An hour-long casting special will air July 12 at 9PM ET/PT, with the first episode premiering at 10PM.

If you've never seen the program before, I suggest you jump on the bandwagon with the first episode. It really is the classiest reality show on television.

[Thanks, orimental!]

Chloe wins! Chloe? Chloe. I didn't really want Chloe to win. I really liked her stuff in the beginning, but I absolutely hated her collection for Fashion Week. I know the judges kept saying how much she "knows women" and understands a "woman's body", but my body doesn't look like a couch. I'm not a La-Z-Boy recliner and no way would I want to be covered with half of that dreadful stuff she used. Everything was so heavy and overdone. I know that fashion shows are supposed to be about drama and "the show", but I found her stuff borderline laughable. It looked like the 1980s barfed all over her collection. And I thought her 13th outfit was stupid, especially those pockets that Diana slaved over. I just have so many mixed feelings about Chloe winning because while I like her, I don't love her.  

And Santino...  

Project Runway has been winding down, leaving only four designers to go (Chloe Dao, Kara Janx, Santino Rice, and Daniel Vosovic), but the big finale of Project Runway is the actual runway show at Olympus Fashion Week, which took place between the 3rd and the 10th. What they did at Fashion Week was have all four contenders present collections so that none of the spectators could give away who had been booted (they did the same thing last season when poor Austin Scarlett was Auf Wiedersehen-ed)... The actual top three finalists of Runway will not be announced until next week's episode, and only those three collections will be televised.

Do you like spoilers? C'mon. I bet you're dying to see what the designers have created... If you'd prefer to find out on your own, look away. If you'd like to be sneaky, check out this brief recap from Yahoo! (thanks, Martha!). Or, you can come look at some pictures I dug up from Fashion Week and take a real peek at the collections that they presented...