Last night on "Project Runway," the designers had to make clothes for real women! The prospect of losing their size -4 dress-up dolls gave many of the designers heart palpitations, which was appropriate for the challenge.

Because there just isn't enough corporate sponsorship on this show, the challenge tied in with Campbell's "Address Your Heart" campaign. Each designer had to design a signature dress for his or her client to wear to the American Heart Association gala. The "models" were women of all shapes, sizes and ages whose lives had been impacted by heart problems.

While I certainly can't fault "Project Runway" for wanting to be involved in such a worthy cause, the Campbell's branding was a bit much. If the designers had just been required to make red dresses, that would have been fine. Red is a fitting color for the "heart" theme. However, each design had to incorporate the Campbell's brand design in some way, turning the challenge into one in which the contestants struggled to create something that didn't look like a tacky dress made from soup can labels.

During his visit to the workroom, Tim Gunn didn't have too much to say to most of the designers, except for Jesse and Seth Aaron. He thought Jesse's dress (without the jacket) didn't look like much, and worried that Seth Aaron was losing himself by letting his client dictate the very un-Seth Aaron-like Grecian-inspired design that was on the dress form. After Tim left, Seth Aaron ripped the dress off the form and started over to make something that was a little more him and a little less Rami Kashou.

More so than the designs being created, I was a little confused by some of the fashion choices made by the designers themselves. For instance, on Day 1, Anthony was sporting a Members Only jacket. And the weirdest part was that it looked BRAND NEW. Then, on the day of the runway show, Seth Aaron and Ben decided to dress like high school nerds. But not the nerds most of us remember; the exaggerated '80s movie-style nerds, complete with bow ties.

Joining Heidi, Kors and Nina at panel was designer Georgina Chapman, who kind of looked like an older and much less annoying version of Megan Fox.

The Top 3 designers were Amy, Maya and Mila. Maya's was a bit odd, but as Nina said, it was cleverly constructed. Amy so clearly deserved to win for her flowing silk and chiffon strapless gown, with a very subtle bit of Campbell's branding in the sash, but I was a bit worried that Mila might win when the judges raved about her dress. I have no idea what they saw in it. The branding was nearly overpowering. And that giant white star? Come on. It looked like the dress version of Roy Munson's bowling tournament outfit.

Thankfully, justice prevailed and Amy did win. Her dress will be shown at the Seventh Annual Red Dress Awards in New York on February 10, and replicas can be purchased at the Project Runway online store. The limited edition dress sells for $200, and for each one sold, $10,000 will be donated to the AHA's "Go Red For Women" campaign.

The lowest-scored designs belonged to Anna Marie, Jesse and Jesus. Georgina didn't think Anna's dress was formal enough for a gala, and Kors thought it just looked like "a bag tied in the middle." Heidi told Jesse that she thought his design was "sweet, but it didn't stand out." The judges all had a lot to say about Jesus' super-tight, super-short, '80s hair band video vixen dress. Heidi questioned his taste level, while Nina said it was a giant cliché. Kors was the most offended by it, and almost seemed exhausted when describing it: "It was like you took a checklist of everything that could look tacky and put it into one garment." And the man in black wasn't wrong.

In the end, it came down to Anna and Jesus, and Jesus was sent packing. Because in the battle between "unflattering" and "tacky," tacky will lose nearly every time on "Project Runway."

Auf wiedersehen - see you next week!


"The Pop Eye @ Starpulse" is a column written by native Pittsburgher and current New Yorker, Becky Broderick. You may contact Becky directly at beckeyeam@gmail.com, or check out her other ramblings on The Pop Eye.