okay, so this Shear Genius first challenge made me uncomfortable. I think I'm uncomfortable for two reasons:

a) it would have been nice to discuss natural hair styles for the African American girls; the emphasis was on smoothing the hair down and having a good finish, but that isn't the emphasis for natural hair styles. The hair stylists couldn't have done that shit at all though, so I guess it was better than they focused on having a smooth finish. Thing is, all that heat and blow out technique could have easily broken the girls' hair off, but I didn't hear that discussed much at all.

b) the age of the models made me a bit uncomfortable as well. My mother would have had a FIT if one of those hairstylists fucked up my hair. Also, they were kind of young to have to deal with the "I don't know how to style your hair" crap.

The one who won definitely deserved it. I like that she knew what she was doing - she really did. I underestimated her early in the competition, but she is now a front runner.

PR: I love this challenge. I don't love the team aspect, but I always like it when they send the designers out to the streets, and sending them to different neighborhoods was a great idea.

It was so much fun to get a real NYC challenge. And the neighborhoods they chose were good ones.

Got no complaints about the judging, either.

Oh, not at all. In fact, I really loved the winners, even if the nighttime look could have been a long gown, imo.

I really liked all of the top 4 looks, and having a cohesive look really put the winners over the top. And everything the judges had to say about the bottom four was right on.

Absolutely. And you're right -- the top two teams definitely had looks that related to each other beautifully.

I'm very psyched to hear Michael Kors say "disco straightjacket" next week, too.

Oh, yes. That'll be a treat.

Oh, Amy, me too! I can't wait to see what inspires that comment.

I thought that the Mila's look was not very evening at all. It was a good look but far too casual. I don't know if they were trying to make a statement about the east village with the casualness of the outfit or what.

I continue to love Anthony beyond reason. His comment about the ducks was priceless! I also like that he is really learning and growing.

I liked Emilio's dress, but it needed some quality time with the steamer. I was surprised by how well they worked together. I thought that two really strong personalites such as they have would have clashed, but they made it work.

I thought that Jay should have gone home. I didn't hear the dreaded "poor construction", but "ill fitting" and "unflattering" were thrown around a lot. Those pants weren't cool, they were atrocious. No woman wants to wear peplums on her thighs.

I didn't love Amy's "upper east side" look. It didn't really fit the challenge, which is probably what sealed the deal. It was also way too casual of a look. If she had made it a dress and accessorized it with cute heels and a good bag, she might have gotten away with it.