Why, no! I do NOT have a DVR. Thanks for asking.

Yeah. It's taken until tonight for me to finally catch a rerun of the Project Runway finale. I dunno... what WAS I doing during the original broadcast? Obsessing over some boy? Doodling on this blog? Something less dorky, perhaps? Attending an orgy? Shamelessly slurping up glasses of something red and grape-derived with my edgy city friends? I can't actually remember, so we might as well say it was one of the latter rather than the former.

Now, I know: PR is the reality show that even TV-snobs will watch. It's the show about clothes that even boys will watch. I know. I'm not so special 'cuz I love it so. But I do love it. Maybe it's because of all those fashion designer career aspirations to which the 10-year-old, 14-year-old, and 18-year-old versions of me all clung so passionately. Maybe it's because I still design clothes in my sleep, waking with the very sensations of fabrics slipping from my fingers. A few years ago, Dean Young read for us when I was working for the UofA Poetry Center. During the Q&A afterwards, he said something about how his favorite TV show of the moment was Extreme Makeover. Parts of the crowd (yes, my non-poetry-reading friends, PoCenter readings gather actual crowds!) scoffed and huffed while other parts giggled sheepishly. He said he loved it because it was the only show on network television that was purely about Beauty. But that's not why I love PR. I love it because it's the only show out there about actual artistic innovation and rigor. That appeals. Of course it does.

So, here's my tardy but annual breakdown of the finale:

Jillian's clothes: I really did quite like her line a lot. I'm not sure why she was placed 3rd. Jillian clearly designs for her own body and, as I am not built so unlike Jillian, I can see myself wearing pretty much anything she sends down a runway. Those clothes would work on my body and those of most of my friends. Were there an army of little curly-headed women dressed in doublet jackets and flounce skirts, I'm pretty sure I'd enlist manana! That said, I like a runway show that kicks just a little more ass. C'mon, girl! It's the PR finale, for chrissakes!

Rami's clothes: I just don't get Rami. There were a couple of pieces that stood out to me-- the antique lace gown, for instance, was lovely. That tiny red skirt with all the pintucks? Yeah, that worked. But overall, I just don't think the stuff was all that pretty, nor was it all that adventurous. Well-made, sure. But would I want to wear any of it? Not so much. And he beat Jillian? I don't get it.

And then there's my favorite little Pocket Gay, Christian. Perhaps it's because he reminds me a little of that Chris Kattan character on SNL-- the little Goth kid? Remember? Anyway, his clothes-- good god, how I love them. They're one part Story of O, one part punky rebel and one part Pekingese puppy. Let's just put aside all the needless catch phrases for a moment (the poor kid could really make good use of a thesaurus (I'd like to introduce him to "splenetic", "scrappy", and "tempestuous", for instance.)). He 21 friggin' years old, though, and has an artistic relevance that really is nothing short of remarkable. His clothes are beautiful and decadent and flawlessly constructed. He is a product of this exact moment in time and, in my eyes, the boy can do no wrong.

At the end of the show, everyone's favorite fashionable prolix, Tim Gunn giddily asks him, "Christian! Can you believe it??" And without taking a beat, (Tranny) Boy Wonder says, "Yeah."

Exactly.

It's quite possible that Christian's win makes me even happier than Jeffery's did last year. And I did so love that green stripey dress...

And with that, fair readers I must whisper you all a coy bon nuit. Tomorrow's a day that I hope will be big. I must remain quite secretive, as we all know the internet has eyes. But wish me luck, sprinkle me with your fairy dust and hope for me that I can maybe channel just a little insouciant Christian energy into all my goings on.

Insouciance should, after all, come fairly naturally to THIS brown bunny.