Well folks, the votes are in and Barack Obama is our new President Elect. Haley Eber of the Daily Beast couldn’t help but ask Project Runway alums, including  Season 5 winner Leanne , to weigh in on what they would design for the Inaugural gown if only given recycled and low cost materials. These materials include  Laura Bush’s 2005 Inaugural Ball dress, an American flag, burlap sacks, and $10 worth of trims of their choosing.

The dresses were created before the election so the designs were made for both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama in mind. Read the article - and see the pictures here.

Our friends at Blogging Project Runway chatted with Leanne about her win - listen to the podcast and find out how she is feeling about her big win and her future in the fashion world!

The votes are in! Leanne wins! With her mixture of structural yet sweet pieces Leanne’s innovation and fashion-forward collection wooed the judges.

Consistent throughout the season with her pleats, pin tucks, and petals she had a strong showing at Bryant Park. We love her collection and were in awe of her craftsmanship and attention to detail. Although, we wish she would have included more color in her palette we commend her for showing well-made pieces that truly  represented her point-of-view.

Get to know Leanne by learning about her inspiration - and  relive all the action by watching her runway show. Bid now to take home a piece of the runway.

Every season on Project Runway there are decoy collections that show at Bryant Park so that results of the remaining shows will not be spoiled by revealing the final three. In the past there have been one, last year there were two, and this year there were three.

Jerell, Suede, and Joe all showed at fashion week to a packed house and gave it their all. Watch the videos, which will NOT be aired on television here on the site.

Stay tuned as the talented trio Leanne, Korto, and Kenley duke it out next week in the second part of the finale for the title of America’s Next Top Designer.

WATCH THEM NOW!

So this episode started out like last week’s episode with the winning designer given the option to switch models.  We were shocked last week when Leanne decided to choose Tia over Karalyn so we were pleasantly surprised when Korto kept Katarina. Once that was out of the way it was off to meet Tim for a field trip.

The final destination of this field trip was the New York Botanical Garden where Collier Strong met them to discuss how he gets inspiration from the colors and textures in nature. The designers’ were asked to grab a camera and start shooting inspiration for an evening gown inspired by nature. This seemed easy enough. Right? WRONG.

The designers’ ran around Mood looking for fabric, agonized over their designs, and stressed about having enough time to finish their designs. Just when we thought Kenley was completely doomed because she left her tulle at Mood Tim saved the day by allowing her to return to Mood to retrieve it. We aren’t surprised at Jerell’s amusement at Kenley’s misfortune saying,” I am dying to see how this will all pan out. I’m staying tuned!”

In the workroom it was clear that Leanne, Jerell, and Korto were supportive of eachother and that there was definite divide between the trio and Kenley. Kenley appeared to be disappointed by this however explained that she was used to it.  The sulking and stressing didn’t last for long as it was on to the runway. Here Heidi announced that Georgina Chapman Co-Founder and Designer of Marchesa was the guest judge. This was the perfect challenge for her to judge considering her elegant whimsical gowns grace many a red carpets. Who can forget the beautiful looks she did for Anne Hathaway and Jessica Alba at last years Oscars.

As far as the runway show we would like to first point out that we disagree with the judges. We actually thought the designers did a great job and we were torn between several designs as to who we thought should win. Again, we obviously did not agree with the judges. Here is their take:

Heidi and Michael criticized Korto’s gown calling it a  “Pageant dress” and Nina told her that she did not think that the gown was elegant.  In Nina’s opinion Korto’s attempt to impress the judges left her gown looking overworked.  Leanne was given praise by Georgina for mixing soft and structured elements in her gown, however all the judges disliked the back of the gown and felt that she should have omitted the blue fabric at the bustle.  Jerell was applauded for making the most modern and youthful gown, but lost points because his piece seemed unfinished. Finally, there was Kenley’s mock neck sleeveless gown which received no praise from anyone. Georgina felt it wasn’t organic, Nina called it “creepy”, Michael thought it was cliched, and Heidi did not find her detailing “elegant.”

Next it was time for the designers to give their two cents. Heidi asked each of them to  tell the judges why they should go to fashion week and which two of the other designers should go to fashion week with them. Leanne, Korto, and Jerell all talked about their point of view as a designer as evidence of why they belonged at Bryant Park and picked eachother to join them on the runway. Kenley, the odd woman out, said she deserved to be there because she could put on a show and without flinching announced that Leanne and Jerell should join her on the runway. Oh the drama!

Ultimately, the judges picked Jerell as the winner but were deadlocked as to who lost the challenge. Essentially  all four were passed on to the next level of competition and asked to create a collection for fashion week with an elimination upon their return to New York. This did nothing to quell the tension behind the scenes as Korto lashed out at Kenley for making a personal attack, and Kenley moved even farther apart from the other designers even refusing a group hug invitation from Tim.

We can’t wait for the collections–and we certainly can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next. Bid in our auction and take home a piece of the runway!

Every week on Project Runway there is a twist and turn and last night’s episode was no exception! Similar to Episode 509:What’s Your Sign? The designer’s had to depend on each other to get through the challenge. This time by designing for each other and not together in a group challenge.

Can we just say were relieved when Tim picked the names and genres out of the hat as we didn’t want to see what would have happened had they been left to their own devices. As the names were called we had no doubt that Suede would be successful since he seems to have great rock sensibility just in his personal style. We were also pretty confident in Jerell’s ability to create a pop look. We were concerned however about Korto, Leanne, and Kenley all of whom seemed to be asked to step way outside of their box.

Once the sketching process began and ideas were being bounced around, our skepticism started to ease as far as Korto and Leanne were concerned ….as for Kenley that was another story.

While the other designers embraced the idea of their genre Kenley was stuck on her point of view as a designer. Any attribute of hip-hop that she didn’t like she didn’t incorporate in her design. This was not the point of the challenge. The challenge was for the designer to make an outfit that represented a particular genre and not necessarily create an outfit they would wear or a culture they are a part of. This is precisely what Tim was trying to tell Kenley when he came to give her a critique on her piece. Unlike the other designers Kenley vehemently disagreed with Tim to the point where he gave her swift tongue lashing ( well, ….a tongue lashing for Tim).

The judges including guest Judge Hip-Hop artist LL Cool J thought felt that Kenley’s look was not Hip-Hop and also commented that the pants to the outfit were badly made. Additionally, they liked the vest to Suede’s Rock look for Jerell but like Tim thought he could have taken it farther and really pushed the envelope. Leanne ’s look was not the worst but they did feel like she could have done something more polished for Korto’s  Country look she created.

Ultimately the judges loved both Jerell’s Pop look for Kenley and Korto’s Punk look for Suede and decided Korto was the winner. Suede, who had been playing it safe for weeks, was finally voted off.

Although, we know some fans disagreed we think this challenge was fun, fun, fun and we can’t wait to see what all the tears on next week’s episode are all about!!!