Allison, are you ready for the circus?

Kids say the darndest things. I actually liked this episode much more than I thought I would. And oh the surprises! Jonathan threw a roll of toilet paper down the runway, Emilio tried to bore me to death, Mila busted out her one trick and Amy got... creative? The clown pants were shocking, no doubt, especially coming from her. But I can't bring myself to say anything bad about them because 1. she took a risk and 2. she handled herself impressively on the runway. No excuses, acknowledged the risk and poor decisions while standing firm on the choices she still believed in. Plus, take away the black and make it a skirt, and hey! it's actually not bad.

What wasn't so shocking? Bad ass Seth Aaron making two bad ass outfits (outfits?! Is that even a real fashion term? What is this, Garanimals?). Seriously, Seth Aaron brought.it. That jacket was amazing. And good on Michael Kors for giving him the props for tailoring. Good tailoring that made Jesse's well intentioned but horribly executed designs look all the more sad. Do they not teach basic construction in fashion school anymore? Is it like art school and all you have to do is declare it fashion to succeed. That and constantly tell your professors how genius they are. But I digress...

I did actually like Jesse's design and Jay Nicholas' was pretty chic, though honestly also a little boring to me. And not fair that his child model appeared a good 4 years older than some of the others. But maybe she's an early bloomer. You looked beautiful kid!

Janeane is finally gone. Girl is lucky she lasted this long. She seems nice and I may even buy a dress from her in Portland one day but high fashion, she is not.

Checklist of everything that's tacky

Poor Jesus. Some people are meant for the runway and some people are meant, well, for other stages. I think he could have a real career designing for some of the Real Housewives, but Fashion Week? Not so much.

Overall, there wasn't one dress that I'd call good. To their credit, it was a horrid challenge. Their intentions were noble, but making these women, whom they were supposedly honoring, a walking billboard for soup was downright shameful. Adding insult to injury, only giving the designers one day to design for non-model bodies was unnecessarily cruel to the guest models. So in the poor design/good fit category, props to Anthony, Seth Aaron, Jay Nicholas and Mila.

Was it just me, or did it feel like the judges were reaching for a top three. When you reward creativity in theory over actual fit, there's a problem. And yes, I'm looking at you Maya. You made the poor woman's boobs look weird and that's not something that should be overlooked. The best I can say for Amy's dress is it was nice enough. If Jesse had chosen better fabric, I think he would have been top 3 instead of bottom. All things as they are, if Amy's dress was considered a winner, then Emilio should have been in the top.

I'm heading over to facebook now to start a "Boycott Campbell's because they degrade women and insult fashion". One million strong!

A little help here?

You may not know it by looking at me, but I know a thing or two about fashion. Vintage fashion, classic chic fashion, fashion-forward fashion - you name it. OK, I'm not so into the retro 80's look, but that's because I lived through it and I hated it then so I'm really not inclined to live through it again. This is no breakup I'm talking about. No amount of space and time is going to soften my heart. I will not be "just friends" with pegged jeans and neon. But I digress.

What has me questioning myself and shaking the foundation of my very core? How thoughtful of you to ask. It's Mila's jacket. I don't get it. I don't hate it. But I don't see what the judges were all excited about. Sure, it was wonderfully constructed (it ought to be, poor Jonathon). But I don't get it. Someone please explain it to me. Seriously. But don't say it's because I'm old because I'm younger than Nina. Thank you.

I guess it should go without saying that I preferred Jay Nicholas and Maya's, though I did not prefer Jay Nicholas' attitude regarding his immunity. I think Maya's dress (I mean, for reals, let's be clear) would have been absolutely stunning with more time. But the total smack down their $50 look gave Janeane and Ben's $500 design had to hurt. You know Janeane was accumulating crying points for us behind that runway screen.

As for the losers, well, there's not a lot to say. Ping deserved to go. Jesse deserved to be the jerk he was for having to deal with Ping. And Anthony and Seth Aaron's designs deserved second-to-last place. But though their dresses were a mess, those two proved to be a class act, both on and off the runway. Team work and taking responsibility for your poor choices? Well done, sirs.

Is there a breeze in here?

Whoa! Ping, you are officially on my list. I was willing to go with your cuckoo designs as an honest expression of your aesthetic. But being a little cuckoo is no excuse for stupidity. You need to use the fit model the good lord (or Tim Gunn) gave you. Because the only place you could sell that booty-bearing dress is Las Vegas on Halloween (the sexiest day of the year, yo). But what has set me off, is your sudden inability to understand the English language. Really, you didn't understand the challenge? What a crock. Michael Kors isn't having any of it and neither am I. Lady, I am watching you...

I thought the challenge itself was pretty brilliant and one of my favorite ones yet. It was clever and allowed some real creativity. Pamela's losing dress was pretty horribly executed but at least she had good intentions. Personally, I would have given Jesus the heave-ho for arrogantly disregarding Tim's advice two weeks in a row. Foolish mortals, when will they learn.

As for the top three, the judges could have picked any one of them and I wouldn't have argued. At the time, I preferred Mila's dress but now that it's been a few days, I agree Jay Nicolas' ability to spin potato sack into a luxurious, feathery dream is pretty amazing.

While neither made top 3, Seth Aaron and Emilio are quickly become my favorites.

See all the dresses on the Lifetime Project Runway site.

Globe glamour

Oh how I love Mad Men. And boy do I love Jane. Did you see her on the red carpet? Beautiful. But did you notice who designed her dress? Our favorite fierce little designer elf Christian Siriano, that's who!

StyleList has the scoop. Thanks to Schmitty for the tip!

photo by Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

Game on!

I'm afraid I'm a little low on blogging energy at the moment but suffice it to say, I am quite hopeful for this season. Michael and Nina are back and the talent level appears significantly higher. Overall, I can't really disagree with the judges decisions though I personally may have liked a few others better, had I been able to see more of them.

One thing's for sure, we've got one sure-bet weeper and one aspiring pageant gown designer who may or may not have been chosen for his ghetto fabulousness over actual talent. Sure, we're laughing with you now, but dear, you are treading on lamé-covered ice.

See all the dresses here.

Scoring

After a few years of companionship, all relationships can get a little... routine. We here at PR Central thought we'd try and spice things up with a few scoring changes. Ooh la la! We welcome your comments and are open to persuasion and bribery, but only before the season starts. After that, we will politely pretend like we are listening and thank you for your passionate engagement.

How to win
Each week you will pick your favorite 3 designers and earn points based on the scoring system below. At the end of the season, the person with the most points wins! Easy!

The fine print
Every Monday around lunch time the moderator (Kelly, aka lady librarian, with Lora as a back-up) will send you an email with the previous week's updated scores and a reminder to send in your picks for the next episode. You have until 5:00pm on Thursday, day of show, to send your picks. If you do not send an email, your picks from the previous week will roll over.

When the season gets down to 7 designers, you will pick only 2.
When we get down to the final 3, pick only 1 designer.

If your picks from the previous week are rolled over and one of your designers was eliminated, you will automatically get -1 for that eliminated designer.

If you rolled over 3 picks after we went down to only 2 picks, you lose one point and you do not get to get any points for that week.

The Bryant Park Fashion Week finale will have its very own special scoring (TBD).

The Scoring:
6 points
Winning a Challenge

-6 points
Eliminated

2 points
Runner-up for winning challenge

-2 points
Lands in the bottom 2 (except for the one who is eliminated; see Eliminated)

1 point
First one saved from Elimination in the bottom three

3 points
Crying (tears or the wiping away of tears must be visible. A designer can only earn points for crying once per episode, not per scene)

4 points
Verbal Fight (w/ another Designer, per episode for same fight. Designer(s) can earn additional points for a totally different fight with another designer)

3 points
Model Trouble: No Show / Ruins garment / Late to show / Fight w/ designer

1 point
Any judge except for Nina says they want to own/buy your designer’s garment

2 points
Nina says she wants to own/buy your designer’s garment

-2 points
Nina uses some version of the word “bore” about your designer’s garment

-1 Point
Tim says he's "concerned" or "worried" about your designer's garment (to group of 3 designers or less)

1 Point
Tim says “Make It Work” (to group of 3 designers or less)