The Final Five, or the Final Four + Alexandria as I like to think of it.

Dom: Overall, I liked hers the best when taking both outfits into account. I would've never thought those prints would work together, but she pulled it off. And that jumpsuit was crazy. :) Then on top of it, she put Jeremy to shame with her re-design of his losing outfit. Just fantastic.

Bradon: I thought his avant-garde gown was amazing. I'll admit I had my doubts up until the runway, but I was greatly impressed when I saw the finished product. His re-design of Sue's dress I didn't care for so much though. He took a big risk picking an "unconventional challenge" dress, and I don't think it paid off. The dress didn't look bad per se, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why Nina seemed to be moved to tears over of it. But regardless, he clearly deserved his ticket to fashion week.

Justin: It got very emotional when he picked his losing dress. But I'm so glad he got the chance to make that over. And that it turned out beautiful. His avant-garde dress was beautiful as well. I was hoping he'd be picked as the third, although even before the latest gimmick, I'd had my doubts because he hasn't been consistently that strong throughout the season.

Helen: She just had a mediocre week imho. I'll give her credit for managing to salvage something out of the original "cocoon" concept. I did like the dress itself, but I wouldn't have called it avant-garde. The re-do of Kate's dress was her stronger piece, although I wasn't crazy about it. I did appreciate it more after the judges did their close-up examination of it.

Alexandria: I didn't like her avant-garde design. She uses that technique too often, imo. The whole thing didn't look to me like it was very well put together (although I'll allow that it was better than last week's dress, but not like that's a high bar to hit). I thought her re-design of Miranda's losing look wasn't great either. I generally like punk, but I thought this looked like something that someone would put together for a Halloween party they were attending. She did a nice job on the pants at least. And I got a nice chuckle from Zac's "Avril Lavigne backup dancer" comment.

Well, clearly I'll be rooting for Justin for the third spot. I could live with Helen as a finalist if she makes it though. She's definitely had her strong moments this season, but has pulled out some real clunkers too. It'll be interesting to see how her collection turns out at least. Heidi needs to just get over her Alexandria fetish already. :P I'll be upset if she gets pushed through by Heidi into Fashion Week.

Dom: The avant-garde look, wow. How on earth did she get those prints to work together? And what a wonderful way she saved Jeremy's look. The Princess of Prints. Glad she's going--and remember, I called it.

Bradon: Loved loved loved the avant-garde look. Totally haute-couture. And I thought his "saved" look was very chic, in other words, the opposite of what he had to work with. No surprise here, either--and remember, I called it. :-D

And then the other three... They had to pick one out of the three. Helen and Justin are too evenly matched at this point. Alexandria was saved in part because Heidi likes her so much, and in part because they couldn't pick a clear favourite. Now, to break it down...

Justin: I think he's the favourite of the three remaining. He struggles with execution when under a stopwatch, but I think that now he'll have the time and space to make up for that. He's also the most innovative of the three remaining, and I figured an avant-garde challenge would suit his strengths. Of his looks in this episode, I adored his avant-garde look, and way to go for saving his own "out" look. I still think the neckline of that bodice is sloppy, though.

Helen: I don't think she's going to have the emotional wherewithal to pull off this last step. She's relied heavily on the other designers both for advice on technique and for emotional support, and I think she'll be in over her head now that she's on her own. With her looks this week, the "avant-garde" look was well made, but there was nothing avant-garde about it. Nothing fresh, nothing new. She made a really cute "saved" look, I could totally see that here in downtown Minneapolis on lunch hour (with something underneath to cover the midriff, of course.

Alexandria: Heidi's good graces can't save her forever. Now, interestingly, I liked both of her looks this week. In the avant-garde challenge, I could see her point of view well. (You kind of saw it in last week's mess, but this time around there was actually some execution.) But I wouldn't say that the look was particularly avant-garde, even though I like it. I love what she did with Miranda's pants, I loved the jacket she made, and I even loved the feathered mohawk. But put them all together, and it comes off really costume-y. No way will she get the third spot.