"Project Runway": The rundown

Shamberg: How much do you think personality played in picking a winner? Joy, maybe Jillian overcame her Ralph Lauren bent, but she's just so whiny! And I'm just not so sure that that Christian deserved to win. I do think he's the most talented -- a brilliant, young, formidable, Posh Spice-approved genius. But he didn't need the win, even if he was living out of a closet in a tiny New York City apartment and could use $100,000. He's only 21 and he knows he will be a designer. He's plucky and confident. I like him, but he is at the very beginning of his career. The kid has time to grow a label (and to learn how to drive a Saturn Astra).

Out of all the contestants this season, giddy Chris was the only one I'd invite to my birthday party, even if he came dressed in human hair. Christian would hog the iPod and complain when I didn't have "Escapade" on my playlist. Jillian would dig around in my medicine cabinet for Advil, and Rami would bum smokes off the cool kids. He totally smokes. Fire up your TiVo, watch the penultimate episode -- there's a cigarette and lighter clutched between his fingers while the four of them are hanging out on the sofa.

But I dug the smoker! Why did he have to lose? He had those dimples and his humility (he "celebrates women")! He has that cute giggle, and felt it was his calling at age 5 to be a designer! At age 5! (Even Obama didn't know he wanted to be president in kindergarten, or did he?) Rami rocks. His clothes are classy and tailored. He has exquisite taste and meticulous craftsmanship. So what if he chose "Brady Bunch" colors. His gowns were pure magic and he was robbed!

Jillian needed this the most. Her designs are "marketable" and kind of ugly. Although she grew more confident as the show progressed and made some pretty coats, she also crafted that hideous gray sweater with the oval cutouts -- so very Nordstrom.

James, you're right. The editors did a brilliant job, cutting, trimming and fitting the show. I witnessed the uncut "Runway" show at Fashion Week back in February. In order to maintain the suspense of the last two episodes, five designers were there -- the three finalists, plus Sweet P and Chris. For the sake of television, I think that's OK. Everybody knows reality television isn't real anymore. It's still awesome. The real-life experience was much more lo-fi than the Bravo production, but the crowd's joy was palpable.

Schone: Caitlin, Rami does not "rock." He has never "rocked." That would be too spontaneous. Nothing he does is spontaneous. Everything he designs makes me think of Vanna White in that Greek goddess movie. And Jillian is not whiny. She is vulnerable, and adorable. And they just edited the show to make it look like she was always late. Over and over. Every week. I think.

At my house, the weekly viewing party includes a "Project Runway" reject, a talented would-be designer who failed her audition and got yelled at (!) by Saint Tim Gunn for not wanting it badly enough, but still feels blessed just to have been in the Presence. As soon as Christian's first model tottered through Posh Spice's glassy gaze our house reject called the match in Christian's favor. "Posh is going to love it," she said. "It's so her." She meant theatrical, costume-y, otherworldly, cut for an alien with no waist and Barbie tits. Not so many minutes later, Posh told Christian, "Because it was so me, I loved every minute of it!"

We were, I confess, a Jillian-positive crew here in Brooklyn, especially after the exposure of her echt Lawn Guyland roots last week. She was more self-invented, and thus more laudably driven, than I would have supposed. But we had to admit her collection was scattershot, a wan departure from her own '70s meets '40s, narrow-waisted aesthetic. Rami, meanwhile, was as dull and colorblind (if precise and cohesive) as ever. In truth, calling it for Christian was easy. He was always that kind of hinterland phenom that the show loves, a born oddball who fled to the nonjudgmental safety of the local hairdresser, the Bubbles salon, at age 13. I wasn't rooting for him, thinking of him as a Supercuts refugee with a limited vocabulary, but he got to me when the producers edited some self-doubt into his shtick in the opening minutes of the episode, and then, at the end, when he dissolved in a puddle of tears. I was reminded he's just a kid. And though the women in the house agreed they'd be most likely to wear Jillian's clothes, Christian's clothes were art, even if the art looked like it tortured the wearer. With his talent and his persona he has a shot at becoming an instant, recognizable brand. Or at becoming Jay McCarroll. But either way, he'll be fine.

Havrilesky: It's true, sister Christian was made to rule "Project Runway" with a wink and flirtatious pout. I always sort of wanted him to win, too, even though I couldn't tolerate those awful '80s ruffled, cropped jackets he kept churning out in the first few weeks and I found his sniping a little tiresome. I really admired his low-key, make-it-work efficiency most of all, particularly when Jillian was mincing and moaning and just generally being a great, big, wishy-washy bore.

But I loved poor, anemic Jillian's clothes! The odd shapes were interesting and fun, the palette was a million times more sophisticated than either Christian's black and brown parade or Rami's queasy, shiny mess, and there were so many little well-crafted touches that caught my eye and made me think, "That's odd, but I would wear it in a heartbeat."

Whereas only Posh Spice would dare to wear Christian's fierceness. "You really made me smile," she told Christian, "and I'm not easy to make smile." Did she mean that it's physically impossible for her to smile? Because all I've ever seen is that same expressionless mannequin face that Katie Holmes is starting to imitate so well. Of course this odd bird in her signal-orange poncho-dress adores Christian's ruffled, witchy-poo designs!

And I don't understand why anyone liked Rami. I thought he was the Chloe Dao of Season 4, with his terrible mall fashions. When all of his teal and raspberry satin-clad models crowded onto the runway at once, I felt like I was 15 again, drank a bad Orange Julius and wandered into the Merry-Go-Round by accident.

Ultimately, I agree that it boiled down to personality. Who wants no-nonsense Rami or drippy, dreary, destined-for-greatness Jillian when we can have saucy, demented Christian instead? Take his departing words: "I'm, like, really excited, but let me tell you, I am taking, like, a vacay. I need a breaky break!" We might need a little breaky break, too, before we get more of the so-called fierceness, but it's clear that sound-bite-friendly, overconfident whippersnappers are the winning predators of the reality ecosystem.

Hepola: You know how I knew Christian was going to win? Because I hated his collection. And because every damn season, when I watch the runway show, I say to myself with a smug confidence, "Wow, so-and-so kinda blew it, and this other person kicked ass!" And I'm always wrong. I'm like an Opposite Day predictor.

I find this weirdly comforting about "Project Runway." Not that it reminds me I know little about fashion -- because no one who wears so many hoodies needs to be reminded of that -- but how it reminds me of the subjectivity of art and taste, because one man's jaw-dropping feather gown is this woman's weird chicken costume. For the record: I thought Jillian's collection was a mishmash and a snooze. The only clothes I really responded to were Rami's intricate, woven gowns. As I read through these posts, there was part of me saying, "No, no, that's wrong!" And yet, there was a part of each item that made me recalibrate my own judgment, made me see each collection in a new light. Truth is, I'm never much into the finales anyway; I like "Project Runway" better when they make dresses out of tissue paper and licorice. I'm in this for the razzle-dazzle. On second thought, bring on the chicken costumes!

We all understand why Christian won. Even though I preferred Rami's collection, I also thought, "Oh, but he can't win. He's so boring!" Christian owned the season. He's a classic "Project Runway" character; somewhere, Santino is twiddling his handlebar mustache in envy. I've always liked Christian -- because throughout the season, I found his clothing, and his banter, the most interesting -- but like Mark, I also appreciated that underneath all the bluster and the brattiness there was a little boy wanting to be liked sooo bad. And dang, he won that fan-favorite prize money, too, huh? Well, somebody's got to pay for all those flat irons.

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