Although we’re only going to see the first half of Project Runway’s loooong anticipated finale tonight — consisting mostly of Tim Gunn Visits the Designers in Their Natural Habitat — that still gives us a good week to wildly speculate as to who is going to walk away America’s Next Top Designer. Except I don’t think my speculation need be all with the wild. In fact, I think I’ve cracked it for sure.
Uli is going to win. My reasons are twofold.
(See Adam’s reasons after the jump.)
One, as EW’s style sheet mavens pointed outa few weeks ago, by far the two strongest showings at Olympus FashionWeek were made by Jeffrey and Uli. (You can clearly see for yourself here, here, here and here — and with American Idolfinalists singing underneath to boot! YouTube, will your pop-culturalwonders never cease?) Of the two, Jeffrey’s is the bigger surprise –feminine and delicate and very rarely punk rock. But when the equally,er, unconventional Santino Rice pulled the same sartorialbait-and-switch on last season’s finale, the judges responded with, ”Where’d Santino go?” (In fact, the change is so drastic that on tonight’s episode, it appears to lead Laura to accuse Jeffrey of cheating. Or it could just be that she finally caught wise to the highly suspect Italian inscriptiontattooed on his neck.) Uli, meanwhile, does some striking variations onher signature style, giving the judges a clear narrative of who she isand where she’s going.
And two, after Uli won the final regular challenge of the season, we didn’t then see her enjoy the reward: a photo shoot for Ellemagazine’s First Look page. At the end of previous episodes, we’d seenKayne go to his Miss Universe fitting, and Michael his TRESemme adphoto shoot after they’d won their respective week’s challenges. What’smore, after Daniel Vosovic won the final regular challenge of seasontwo, we saw him go to a fitting with Iman before the credits rolled.Not so, however, with Uli and her prize. Why? This gets into an issueof timing: The four finalists showed at Olympus Fashion Week September15, so by the time the episode in which Uli won the First Look rewardaired on September 20, the producers almost certainly knew who Season 3’s Chloe Dao or Jay McCarroll was going to be. But because Project Runway’s grand prize includes an entire photo spread in Ellemagazine, they didn’t want to give away that Uli’d won the wholeshebang by cutting to a photo shoot at the end of the 9/20 episode thatwould’ve seemed much more extensive than just a First Look page.
And, OK, two-and-a-half, Uli is so much more pleasant to be around than Jeffrey.
Q.E.D., Uli wins Season 3. Of course, this is just one man’scarefully considered and practically airtight opinion. Do you have abetter theory? Who do you want to win? Will Jeffrey weather Laura’saccusations? Do I seriously need a life? Do tell!
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Stylewise, if Uli won I wouldn’t have a problem with it. She seems very capable and has a clear point of view.
As for the show, I have a problem considering the judges poo-pooed her looks as being too similar over and over again. It shows how wildly inconsistent they have been in judging this entire (forever long) season.
I think if Elle had a First Look of the winner already on the newsstands, people would have known who was the winner of the challenge. It’s also very possible that they just hadn’t shot the First Look by the airing of that episode because they needed to schedule the actual printing for after that episode.
If Uli wins, I’d be surprised.
“Stylewise, if Uli won I wouldn’t have a problem with it. She seems very capable and has a clear point of view.”
That’s the problem in my opinion…it reeks of Chloe Dao winning last year’s finale, which itself reeked of boring. Not that I’m a masochist, but maybe I’d LIKE to have a problem with who won.
Michael turned into this year’s Daniel V. (young guy, who doesn’t really know what he has to say), Laura seems a bit too one-dimensional. So, as much of a turd he is (an entertaining turd, usually though), I’d rather see Jeffrey win…someone with a more “out-there” design aesthetic than Uli.
I think that the pregnant one is going to win it. She is multitalented, has bratty kids and is even an architect. If she can balance all that at once than she deserves to win. I think her cocktail dresses are to die, I would wear one on drag night.
The two that should win, the two guys, won’t because of course we all want them to win. Uli, I’m sorry but she is way too Florida tranny.
I can’t wait for tonight!
yeah Uli!!!
I would love to see Uli win….but I think you might just be a bit ahead of yourself with your second reason. There’s no way that they would do the full Elle photo shoot of the PR winner before it was revealed to the public. There’s too much risk of the deigner’s identity getting leaked! Remember, they never showed Chloe’s winning photo shoot at the end of season 2.
But still….go Uli!
I think Laura should win… she is one sexy mama with something to say about fashion!!
Can you say FASHION NITE BABY
i have a hard time believing that jeffrey cheated. personality quirks aside, he’s certainly creative, interesting, and talented. my theory is that laura was/is a super-pregnant mother of 5, and perhaps got overhwelmed getting her tired, boring old final collection together. so, she made one last desperate attempt to throw the odds in her favor. i mean, have you SEEN her final collection? *yawn*
First, yes Adam – you must get a life. PR is almost over. Do NOT get sucked into Top Chef….
Second – we’ve all seen the fashion week photos and know Michael went all hootchie-mama on us. 4th place. Laura (my favorite!) was dull – 3rd place. Uli – same old FL stuff – 2nd place. Jeffrey “The Neck” pulls it together and wins. F.
But with the erratic judging – yeah, who really knows?
I think Laura wins. Her designs are elegant and rich looking. Michael’s showing was disappointing. He’s been my favorite thus far.
Uli is a one-trick pony. Would it kill her to give us a sleeve? I live in Georgia and I still need a long sleeved shirt every now and then.
Jeffrey (aka Neck of Darkness – props to whomever came up with that) needs to pick a point of view and stick with it. If N.O.D. is going to be rock and roll, then go with it – be rock and roll. What’s with the flirty, girly stuff we saw on the runway?!
I am looking forward to lots of Tim Gunn tonight!
To the person who said “Florida tranny”, too funny!!
I didn’t read anything after the jump, but was disappointed that who you thought would win also wasn’t after the jump. If she wins, I’ll never forgive you for ruining the surprise Adam, so I hope you’re wrong. And next time, please say, “Find out who Popwatch thinks will win after the jump.”
It will be the worst injustice since Bill Clinton was found “not guilty” in his impeachment hearing. That or his election in the first place. God Bless the USA!!!
I have to say, I don’t understand why people are saying Michael’s collection is boring! It seemed to me to be the most wearable. The only reason I would like to see Uli win is the model affiliated with the winner gets rewarded as well; and I have felt all along that Nazri (sp) is the absolute best of the models! I actually hated Uli for stealing her away from Michael.
yeah, Ceballos, maybe you’re right… I did yawn while I was writing that sentence…
i think that jeffery will be disqualified, that’s what it seemed like to me as i was watching the previews for next week. i really hope not cus he’s my fav. him and laura. i think if i was in laura’s place i would have done the same thing but…idk, it’s kind of hard to tell what’s gonna happen at this point.
Kitty – Top Chef isn’t something to be afraid of! Top Chef is to love! Top Chef is what got me into Project Runway
I hope Adam love it just as much as he does PR cuz I know I wanna read more about it, so there =PPPPPP
na k – The trailer went almost TOO far in making it seem like Jeffery gets eliminated, so I’m thinking that he gets to stay, but who knows. They’re always trying to out-psych us, no?
As for the winner, I’d rather see Uli win, I think – there’s just something about her I like. Laura’s ok, but I dunno, something about her dresses just doesn’t work for me. And Michael is great, but I think he just needs a bit more time. Jeffery? Well, he’s Jeffery. Not sure what else I can say…
You know I have been saying for a while that Uli would be the dark horse to win it all. NOBODY is believing me because they are too in love with anything Michael or Jeffrey does…hopefully, we are right…
Michael’s collection was very disappointing (what’s with all the belts? sheesh. and most of it looked like Uli rip-offs), and Laura tweaked her style to be more “edgy” and it didn’t work (i.e. it was a bit ugly).
So it is between Jeffrey and Uli. I wasn’t floored by eithers, but Uli’s was more consistent while Jeffrey’s, while solid, was maybe too bland.
anyhoo, Uli is a laugh riot and isn’t a total dick so here’s hoping for an Uli victory!
Am watching the replay of the reunion show as I write this and I have to say, Jeffrey does not give away anything about what happened at Fashion Week. Of course, we know he showed; we’ve seen his collection and if you watched Style network the week of the show, you saw all four collections actually presented. Now, that could mean that they let Jeff show as a decoy but he seems not to be at all upset in this (the reunion) show. At the same time, he may just have been thrilled to be allowed to show his line at Bryant Park. Either way, his line was beautifully done! So, in conclusion, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WEEK!!!
I’d rather see Michael win, but it is looking like he’s this season’s Daniel V. Jeffrey and Laura need to stop bickering like an old married couple and “make it work”, turtle poop and all. Uli still looks like a one-trick pony so far.
My prediction: 1. Jeffrey, 2. Laura, 3. Uli, 4. Michael. Btw, love the use of Q.E.D. at the end. I haven’t seen that since analyzing theorems and writing proofs in geometry and calculus!
kriselda jarnsaxa – No
needed; I also love Top Chef. I was just concerned for Adam obtaining a balance in life. 
Also – I concur the “Jeffrey gets kicked off for cheating” is a Bravo psyche out. We all know he showed at Fashion Week. I think he won. F.
And I commend Laura for bringng it up her suspicions instead of letting it stick in her craw. Doing so also messed with Jeffrey’s head – yea!
Anybody else out there think little Harrison Detroit will need massive amounts of counseling when older?
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