ATTENTION: PROJECT RUNWAY SPOILER ALERT WARNING

At long last and after what seemed like a LIFETIME, Bravo finally aired the season 4 finale of Project Runway last night which showcased the complete collections of the final 3 contestants -- Jillian Lewis, Rami Kashou and Christian Siriano -- culminating in the selection of a singular winner for this season's Project Runway top prize. I have to say, I was so much looking forward to last night's finale that I think I built it up way too much in my head ... because the first part of the season finale aired last week, this week's ep seemed entirely too short. I vote that the PR air the 2-hour season finale intact from here on out ... it makes for a much more satisfying TV watching event. BUT, to clarify, the show did not disappoint ... I think it's safe to say that each designer showed really amazing collections -- but as we all know, there can only be one winner ... and that winner is ...


... Christian Siriano, natch. I think Christian really showed his amazing talent thruout the entire show and seemed poised to win the whole competition from very early on. Yes, his persona may have been off-putting at times but there was never any denying his insane talent. It was quite charming seeing Christian act humble and, dare I say, a little bit nervous and scared (which I suspect was masking that he was a lotta bit nervous and scared) ... seeing the vulnerable side of him like that made him all the more endearing (and was a nice respite from his usual cocky confidence). I really liked the ep over all but, as I said, it felt way too short and seemed very light on the process that led up to the big day. In previous seasons, the model casting portion was expounded on a lot more (I liked watching the designers fight over the models) ... and I really thought we'd get some of that this season. After all, this season's finale runway show featured a few models from America's Next Top Model. I was sure there was going to be some discussion about that ... but nothing. Granted, Chris March was the one who featured two ANTM models (and his finale show was not aired since he got Auf'ed just before the final competition last week) ... but Jillian featured ANTM Jaslene in her show. In any regard, I missed the model selection portion of the show. I loved Tim Gunn's final pep talk ... and I absolutely agree that this season ended up with an amazing batch of the most talented designers of all the PR seasons -- in the end, any one of the final 3 could've won the top prize. I was so impressed with all of the collections that showed at Fashion Week last month ... including the collections that didn't make it to air (Sweet P and Chris's). The final 3 designers, tho, really kicked ass I thought ... here are some of my fave selections from each of the final 3 collections:


Click HERE to watch my vid of Jillian's entire collection final catwalk


Click HERE to watch my vid of Rami's entire collection final catwalk


Click HERE to watch my vid of Christian's entire collection final catwalk

I remember really responding to Jillian's collection when I saw it come down the runway and I have to say, I really loved what she designed. I must also admit that I wasn't all that impressed with Rami's collection ... so clearly I don't know shizz about fashion. To me, all the looks were too similar. I get that the collection has to be accessible but I really feel that for a show like this, there has to be an element of playful exorbitance ... Christian brought it and so did Jillian (with her cute hats). I just responded the the flare in their collections more than to the similarity (some might say, cohesiveness) of Rami's. Additionally, I got to chat for a bit with PR Season 3 winner Jeffery Sebilia at the show (you may recall I wore an outfit from his Cosa Nostra '08 Spring/Summer Collection) and he revealed to me that he really loved both Sweet P's and Rami's collections. Either of them were his choice to win.

It was really cool seeing the designers wake up on Fashion Week day and make their entrance into The Tent at Bryant Park before anyone else was there ... because I was able to attend this year's show, I kept screaming out, OMG, I was there! I remember walking in that door! My seat was right there! I was surprised to learn that there were 2,000 people packed into that room! I knew there were a lot of folks there that morning but that's a damn lot of folks. Here are a few pics of some of those folks who were in attendance at the Finale Fashion Show last month that you might recognize:


Photo credit: Wireimage
It was like Project Runway heaven ... almost every one of my fave PR designers was there. Of course I could not meet them all because A.) it was a madhouse in there and B.) there wasn't a lot of time to meet them all -- before the show began the organizers with microphone headpieces kept pushing us to our seats and then after the show they tried to throw us all out (celeb and commoner alike) because they had another show in The Tent to prepare for immediately after.

On the Vicki B. tip, I thought she came across a bit more personable than we're used to seeing (if a bit shiny in the forehead region, I feel compelled to add). I thought it was hilarious that she told Christian that his designs made her smile, which is no small feat. I think that has to be the best compliment that she could have given him. She publically said that she would love to wear one of Christian's designs ... we'll see if that day ever actually comes. One more thing ... you couldn't really tell from the ep last night, but VB was really digging the music that accompanied Christian's show. The song, Control Me, was entirely created by Christian's boyfriend (and my friend) Brad Walsh and it can be heard again and again and again at Brad's My Space profile HERE.

And so to wrap up ... here are a few pics from the TRESemmé Project Runway Finale Party which was hosted by PR's own Tim Gunn and TRESemmé celebrity stylist Nathaniel Hawkins at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in NYC last night:


Photo credit: Wireimage
The party was also attended by PR Season 4 designers Chris March, Sweet P (who's real name, I am shocked to know, is Kathleen Vaughn!), Jack Makenroth, Victorya Hong, Kevin Christiana, Ricky Lizalde and Carmen Webber among other designers from previous seasons (and a couple of Top Chef folks) -- OY! Sounds like a fun party. This morning, Christian was up bright and early to appear on The Today Show in NYC ... click HERE to watch his interview.

I have to say, there were a lot of eps this season that I wasn't all that excited about (as opposed to previous seasons) but when it came right down to it, the finale was superb -- and in my mind, was the best Project Runway Finale Fashion Show of all. Each designer really shined with their final collections ... David thought Rami was gonna win, I was hoping Jillian might pull out a surprise win but I think we all knew that Christian really had it in the bag all along. Looking back, this was a great season ... and I CANNOT WAIT until they do it all again :)

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