We absolutely adore Project Runway’s torturous insistence on throwing kinks into the machinery just when the designers are about to die from creative exhaustion. Starting to despise one another? Even better: It ups the tears-and-snippy-comments-per-square-inch ratio.

But hello, if you are a finalist and you don’t expect last-minute anguish, you don’t come prepared with three ideas crib-noted on your hand just for emergencies, and you don’t automatically assume that when it’s bad, it’s going to get worse - Grow up! Watch more TV!

Wednesday’s was the first of Project Runway’s two-part finale with finalists Jerell (who won last week’s evening gown challenge), Leanne, Korto and Kenley (that’s her design below left). Part two of the finale airs next Wednesday night). The show followed a structure now familiar to obsessive fans: Tim Gunn flies around the country visiting each of the finalists’ home studios to see their collections in progress, swoons over some, scowls over others, meets everyone’s families in only the kindest way, and then drives off in a strategically product-placed Saturn into the sunset.

Then the designers all show up in New York, where we see their collections, find out who listened to Tim and who didn’t, and watch everyone get teary over the fact that This Is New York Fashion Week, and they have dreamed of it their entire lives.

For the first time this season, the designers’ final collections had to include a wedding dress. (Just like real designers!) The last-minute challenge: Design a bridesmaid dress to accompany the wedding gown, and do it for $150 by midnight. Surprise! This is how we will get from four designers down to three, as long as Kenley doesn’t kill Korto first.

Judges Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia swoon for Leanne’s sculptured wedding dress and pale blue bridesmaid dress, praise and berate Kenley’s short, feather-covered gown (above left), call Korto’s wildly ruched gown (pictured at the top) “overworked,” and throw out adjectives like “messy,” “garish” and “hog wild” about  Jerell’s dresses. We expected this earlier, actually, when Jerell did not take Tim’s advice! (Fool! Watch more TV! )

In the end, that’s the way it goes, with Jerell getting auf’d and an all-femme finale in the wings for next week.

We ask a lot of our pajamas. We must love sleeping in them, which means none of that silky, filmy, lacy stuff (cue audible sigh from significant other), but we have to love working in them. Yes, lots of us work at home, and we’ve taken casual Fridays to a whole new level. Our pajamas must be team players. Professionals. Bad jammies = distracted, squirmy, sub-par performance: inappropriate in the workplace.

To that end, we’ve gone out and found the eight cutest home-a-holic pajamas we could.  

1. These jammies would probably do your Power Point presentation for you. Natori Marisa pajama set at Saks Fifth Avenue, in black with long sleeves and a ruched top, ($160, above left).

2. Pajama Board member Victoria’s Secret, proving it can hang with the work-at-home crowd: Cotton Mayfair pajamas, with a button-front top, drawstring pants and prints you could wear to Kinko’s ($39, above right).

3. There are days when nothing but black will do. Nordstrom’s is on the job with Ralph Lauren’s Berkeley knit pajama set. It’s practically guarantees a good day at the laptop ($78, above left).

4. Oprah Magazine gave a nod to Sleepyheads’ Fresh ‘n’ Funky cherries lounger pajama, all bright in poplin cotton. Roll up your sleeves and go over tomorrow’s script ($55, above right).

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Target’s got a winning fashion trifecta lined up for the month.

Fashionistas looking for a budget-friendly fashion fix can score with designer Anya Hindmarch’s new handbag collection, Sigerson Morrison’s footwear collection and the new Jonathan Saunders clothing collection, all launching in mid-October. 

Saunders’ line hit Target’s shelves this past weekend. The Scottish-born designer offers a fresh take on color blocking, knitwear and clean-line silhouettes. Among our trendy favorites: the colorblock dress in white/ebony ($30, above right) and the ombre print skirt in blue whale ($27, above left).

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If you’re so star-struck you would pay good money to wear a piece of celebrity clothing (or if you’re just a sucker for a good cause), look no farther than Clothes Off Our Backs. Husband-and-wife actors Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle, Raising the Bar) and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), founded the nonprofit in 2002, and it hosts charity auctions of celebrity attire, raising nearly $3 million for children’s charities.

Current auctions for clothing, accessories, and memorabilia from the 60^th Primetime Emmy Awards runs through Oct. 21 and will benefit Feeding America, The Art of Elysium, H.E.L.P. Malawi and Hope North. Among the items on the block:

1. E!’s Kristin Dos Santos’ Hugo Boss Black Collection Gown (size 6; above left, $1,000 opening bid)

2. Dancing With the Stars’ Julianne Hough’s BCBG Max Azria Gown (size 0; above center, $1,000 opening bid)

3. How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris’ Paul Smith tie (left, $75 opening bid)

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Oh, we’ll chatter about who bested whom, Joe Biden or Sarah Palin, during tonight’s vice presidential debate. Let’s leave it to others to ponder the political ramifications.

Let’s talk about how she looked.

Flattering black semi-satin skirted suit, hem modestly to the knee, jacket tied at the waist and then flared. A touch of shoulder padding and relatively narrow lapels, with a solid black skimmed top underneath. Oh, and a very large sparkling American flag pin on the lapel, but we’ve already talked about that kind of thing.

Yea, a little heavy on the cheek color (Hey, you’re gonna be on TV!). And those much-discussed frameless glasses.  (more…)

Even before the 2009 spring ready-to-wear shows in Europe have ended, a few trends are popping up: layered colors, sumptuous prints, gorgeous whites and short-to-long hemlines. Add a shoulder pad here and draped fabric there, and you’ve got the look. It seems like nearly every designer has at least one teeny tiny dress on the runway. Oh-so-short and wildly sexy, they dare your legs to look longer:

Stella McCartney, Paris. A little bit of a black dress with a big silhouette.

Balmain, Paris: A mermaid without her tail, with shimmer and shine for miles.

Peter Jensen, London: Check the blazer and portfolio; are we to interview in this?

Dolce & Gabbana, Milan: Be your own botanical garden!

Christian Lacroix, Paris: The man does know how to create a party dress (picture, right, New York Magazine).

Jean Paul Gaultier, Paris: A pretty thing, but a bit too dependent on the illusion.

Jenny Packham, London: Spring brings ruffles, color and a bright orange belt.

Missoni, Milan: A breath of fresh air in teal and gold.

Dior, Paris: If you’re brave enough, it’s certainly an attention getter!

The sass! The pout! The tears! And that was just Kenley, biting and clawing her way through the last elimination challenge before Project Runway’s season-ending finale in two weeks. The reality TV show that can turn designer wanna-be’s into fashion stars is getting dramatic.

Turns out, Kenley could have kept her composure. Runway judges said the competition was too close, so they didn’t kick anyone off last night. The challenge of the evening, for the designers to create evening gowns inspired by nature, left Jerell, Leanne, Korto and Kenley still in the running. Top prizes on Runway  include the chance to show a collection at Fashion Week, a car and $100,000 to start their business.

Here are some sneak peeks from Korto, Kenley, Leanne (above, from left) and Jerell’s runway shows. You’ll see their complete collections on the finale Oct. 15.

You’ve heard the saying that fashion is cyclical, right? Case in point: First bell-bottom jeans were hot, then baggy jeans, then flared jeans, then skinny jeans . . . and now: We’re back to baggy. And if you’re a slave to Katie Holmes’ fashion sense, pegged jeans, too (photo from People.com). 

Fashionable femme fatales around Hollywood are sporting the chic but sorta shabby, extra-roomy look. Everyone from Heidi Klum (photo from FabSugar.com) to Victoria Beckham to Amanda Peet has been spotted out and about wearing “boyfriend” jeans, as they’re affectionately dubbed (because that’s what you might have to wear home after a night at your boyfriend’s house).  

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