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Fashion

Project Runway Finale: Tears, Fears and Arrears

This week on Project Runway: Anya drapes and flows her way to three new, last minute looks; Joshua makes women everywhere covet neoprene and molded plastic; Viktor stays cool, calm, and collected; Kimberly's urban girl wears beaded, backless gowns to the grocery store. Designer, and tall drink of water L'Wren Scott is the guest judge.

The final episode of Project Runway is so bittersweet; each season I look forward to it and dread it in equal measure. This year's final four--Viktor, Joshua, Kimberly, and Anya--brought us so much laughter, so many tears, so much drama! I think we all hate to see them go. It's hard to remember a more talented final bunch, which makes for an exciting finale.

So who will it be? Impeccable Viktor? Street-chic Kimberly? Caribbean-cool Anya? Or will Josh's edgy modernism take the prize?

Before the designers get to hit the runway at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week they have one last "challenge": Off to MOOD with a $500 budget and instructions from Tim to put the finishing touches on their collections. WHAT? No additional two-look collection sewed with the helping hands of contestants past? No strict instructions and minute budget to create a couture ball gown in 86 minutes? Project Runway is getting soft.

Anya, who has already re-worked almost the entire collection since Part I of the finale, decides to make several new looks in the limited time remaining. It's very interesting that, when Tim visits the work room for final consultations, Anya starts dissing herself and telling Tim this isn't her best work. Is she trying to calm her nerves, and is she starting to realize that her one-note aesthetic has to evolve for her to develop an enduring design career?

Finally all four collections hit the runway, where it's easier to see their flaws. Viktor's collection is disjointed--while all of the clothes are beautifully made, they veer back and forth between lovely, almost liquid prints and sheer pieces embellished with mirrors. While Kimberly didn't completely eliminate her urban-inspired jewelry she toned down the styling and cleaned up some details so that the overall effect is must more elegant (as opposed to '80s Queen Latifah). Anya's collection is beautiful and her prints are amazing but everything looks the same: prints, color, and pieces so flowy that I am seasick by the time the last model goes down the runway. There isn't a tailored pant leg or sleeve in the bunch, but do the judges like Anya enough to overlook it? Love him or hate him, Josh's collection is sleek and well-edited, and even the crazier pieces (neon green short-shorts that tie, corset-style, up the front) look amazing.

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Christina Uticone