"Super-fast hearts are beating back dere," said ice-queen Heidi Klum, She-Wolf of the Best Dressed, at the start of Fashion Week's showdown between "Project Runway's" final contestants on Friday morning. Wearing her signature Jordache jeans, she came down the catwalk with ironed hair and a gold sequined top, and delivered curt information in that clipped, straightforward, German-California accent that sounds like she graduated from the Arnold Schwarzenegger School of Broadcast Journalism.
Five finalists (or so we assume; in previous seasons the show has faked out viewers by including designers who are not in contention for the prize) sent their designs down the runway: Kathleen "Sweet P" Vaughn, Chris March, Jillian Lewis, Rami Kashou and Christian Siriano. They were made to walk out alone with a microphone on the big empty catwalk before their collections, and say a little earnest something. This had to be difficult early in the morning, in a tentful of half-caffeinated New Yorkers on the last leg of a grueling Fashion Week. It was way too early in the morning for anyone to successfully conceal their true feelings.