The Morning After: What You Want, Natalie?

Bravo Photo: Barbara Nitke

Spoilers for last night's Project Runway coming up after the jump:

It's hard for me to say too much about the contestants yet, since we're still in the early too-many-faces stages. Suede still talks far too much about Suede; so I wasn't delighted to see him win. ("Suede rocked it!") On the other hand, Stella, who irritated me in the first episode, is growing on me a little, simply because I at least don't feel she's putting on a pose to be a reality TV star. She may be over the top, but she's an actual, recognizable New York type who wouldn't be out of place glaring at me on the subway in the morning.

So I'll comment on the judges instead, namely, the guest judge, Natalie Portman. She had a legitimate reason to be on the eco-fabrics episode, having her own vegan shoe collection, which I suppose is particularly important if you want to eat shoes that no animals have died to make. But it always slows the judging round down to have celebrity judges who are reluctant to pass judgment. I mean, I don't expect Kors-like zingers or insults from her. But it would have been nice to see her bring a little more of this to the job: