The End

Finale Part 2 was under way and I was prepared with salty popcorn and a martini, extra dirty. Even if this finale was a bust, I was at least going to have a good buzz.

The holy trinity was of course there for the final show, and the guest judge was not a random celebrity for once! It was Suzy Menkes, head fashion reporter and editor for the International Herald Tribune.

Of course the designers are stressed, but they have their helpers slaving away at the finishing touches. Irina is blessed to have Gordana helping her- what an amazing tailor she is. Carol Hannah has another nervous breakdown, but doesn't puke this time. Althea reads Irina's mind and steals the smudgy, messy dark eye look that Irina of course invented and was of course going to use for her show. Tim sends them away at 5:00 pm so they can get some much needed rest but I can guess that it wasn't wonderful sleep for any of them.

Backstage at Bryant Park is chaos, as usual, only this time, cool headed Tim loses it! Apparently things are running very behind. "It was looney kajooney land", he told LA Times about his "meltdown". For the full interview

I was nervous after seeing Part 1 that these collections were going to be weak, but I was pleasantly surprised at the end result.

Althea kicked off the show with an oversized sweater, which of course Irina invented, but Althea paired it with some leather style skinny pantsA great piece to start the show with.

Her "13th look" was the third piece in her show and the judges loved it

After I reminded myself that this was filmed a year ago, I was impressed with this piece too. I don't believe a year ago harem style pants were "in", and now they're in all the fashion magazines.

This was another one of my favorite pieces of the show
Althea had a great mix of pants, skirts and dresses. She did use some color and her line came out strong. I enjoyed her show. Althea's strong point is in her bold separates and not so much in gowns. I was surprised she put her PR model in this dress to be shown before the judges, it was my least favorite piece.
I'm not into the color or look of this gown. Her model is an amazing walker, and she really should have been in a short piece or pants, so she could really work it, instead of struggling in this long piece.

I was also not a fan of those headbands. Maybe Althea is a big idea stealer, because Irina did the big headband thing for her last challenge look. Hmmm.....

To see Althea's line in order of appearance

Moving on to a Miss Carol Hannah's line.

She opened with this amazing piece. Great from head to toe, love the styling, the shoes, the length, the color. Wow. I was ready for another after seeing this

And then the rest of her line came out, and each piece just seemed random from the last piece that came out.

I did like this gown a lot, the color is so rich and it moved beautifully

Carol Hannah makes pretty dresses. That's what she did all season long and it got her to Bryant Park. Unfortunately, she wasn't confident in her skills, and decided to incorporate every design trick; draping, braiding, embellishing, poofiness, ruffles, etc. It was just too much and it wasn't cohesive. And I'm not into this type of dress either, I wouldn't have put it for the PR model to go before the judges.Although I do like the top of the dress, like her final challenge piece, I'm not into the bottom part. I just think this could have been more of a fun piece, like her first one that came out.

To see all of Carol Hannah's line in order


Irina came out last but certainly not least

Her first piece really evoked the armor asthetic she was going for

Remember Season 4 when Rami was going for a Joan-of-Arc-thing and it didn't really work? Irina picked up on it and ran.

Irina was the only one I felt used her PR model correctly. She gave her this bold piece and honey worked it like a part time job! Ferosh!


Here's "T-shirt-Gate" look

Originally she had Coney Island images on it, which Tim informed her that she could not use. From my favorite blog Project Rungay I learned that the sentences on the shirt are most likely not allowed either, because they're ripped off from a New York magazine article "Reasons to Love New York". Of course, just like Jeffrey's leatha incident, this contreversy is for tv drama alone and didn't prevent her from winning.

Her last look that she had all in pins just a few days before is amazing. Simply beautiful. (I could have done without the hat on this one.)


Nina was right, this collection is a LOT of black. As a person who also wears a lot of black, I love the pieces and would have worn just about every one. Irina is a smart designer and really worked on fitting the pieces to the models. However, some of that detailing is lost when every single piece of fabric is black. She could have wowed even more with some color. Irina did stay true to herself, and I do agree with her as the winner. She put on a show. And although a lot of people call her Meana Irina and the "nice girl" Carol Hannah should have won, I don't agree. The competition is not Next Nice Designer, or Makes Nice Clothes. It's Project Runway!!

To see Irina's line in order


The judging went well and Michael Kors seemed very proud of the designers. Well it was great that the final 3 do have talent and there weren't so many decoys that sucked as there was last season! I thought it was great that the judge had fashion cred (thought I'm not sure about hair cred....), but she seemed surprised and impressed by every damn style thing they did. Oh well, it really is down to the Holy Trinity (ahem and producers) to decide Zee Winnah.

And how wonderful was it to see Irina's dad cry with her and Nina Garcia! Nina Garcia cried tears! It was cliche of Irina to say she wasn't there to make friends, but she wasn't. She was there to win and she did just that. Congratulations Irina.