How can three fashion industry legends (Michael Kors, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia) judge a fashion design competition and get it completely wrong! Let's not even talk about who actually won, I'll touch upon that subject later on in this article. Let's first talk about who was robbed of final 3 status, and who could have actually won the whole competition.  Palms Springs fashion designer Michael Costello, known on Project Runway as Michael C, took the kind of bullying this year that was reminiscent of a Rachel McAdams/Lindsay Lohan "Mean Girls" scene (no pun intended Michael). From the get go, it seems that Michael was on the outs. Alot of them, Ivy Higa (nicknamed Poison Ivy), couldn't deal with what they called Michael's lack of technical ability. One by one Michael's name was poisoned until it seemed that nobody liked him or wanted to work with him, but as my wise father always told me, "He who laughs last, laughs the loudest", and this became the case with Michael Costello.  You see, what Michael may have lacked in technical training, he more than made up in pure talent! 

Michael began designing at at early age, as a kid he would draw on anything he could find.  He would draw stick figures, but not just any stick figures, always stick figures in a dress. He found fascination with clothing and found inspiration in his sisters as well as 80's pop star Stacey Q!  Not far behind were Jem and the Holograms and Barbie, but not because of her hair, it was her body and how he could make clothes to fit her body.

Michael has had an amazing career prior to Project Runway.  He has his own store in Palm Springs  and his designs have graced the bodies of such A-list talents as Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Cher, Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan.  Not too long ago, Kathy Griffin (My Life on the D List) rushed into his shop in a panic looking for a dress.  The first words she shouted when she came in were... "Is this Gay owned?", to which Michael answered "Yes".  "Great! My gays will take care of me", she proclaimed.  So why would someone so successful and whose designs celebrities deem appropriate to wear on red carpet and at high profile events, need a platform like Project Runway?  Michael says that, "Its nice to dress celebrities but they are not  paying my bills, I want to make money and I cant do that by giving away clothes to celebrities.  I know the fundamentals of making a business work. I want to use the show to catapult my career, cause I know what it can do for my fashion line, not for my image."

Once on the show, Michael used his vision to win 2 of the challenges, furthermore angering the other contestants.  One by one he took out designer by designer, and put up with in your face insults from just about everyone. Gretchen Jones, the one who eventually won the season, went as far as to throw him under a bus even though Michael had immunity, which stunned the judges.

At what point did you realize that this was harder than it looked on TV?

Michael: I always went in there thinking, I better bring whatever I can bring, cause it's not easy to stay on this show but its easy to get eliminated.

Is there any thing you designed that you now look and think, Oh NO?

Michael: No, I like everything I did, ok maybe one!  I never look back at what I did because I use the inspiration from each challenge to create a look, whereas most designers, I won't name names, recreated items they had already made in the past.  All my work is documented on the internet so I didn't want to repeat myself.

What about Ivy Higa? She really seemed to have it out for you on the show.

Michael:  I'm actually really good friends with her now, I talked to her for a while. Now I can tell you things that you didn't know. Of course she had her dislikes. but she didn't like my technical level, and her technical level is great. She's was the best one there technically.  She was just upset that I had no fashion school experience or technically ability and here she is a design school graduate and working for people like Donna Karan, but she didn't know why she wasn't winning challenges.  When I did finally get eliminated, she came to me at our sequester island. She was woman enough to come up to me and apologize. She came up to me and said "I'm sorry if i was a bitch and mean to you, but you gotta understand, that on a technical level I didn't think you were there,  but I do admire your aesthetic. I think you are a brillant designer and I would have liked to have seen you go a little further.  I don't like Gretchen, I think she's fake & phoney."

Do you feel like you deserved to be in the final 3?

Michael: I really felt like I deserved to be in the final 3.  People ask why I was so broken down.  My answer to that was, it was not about final 3. It had to do with my mom not being able to come to the show, because Richard, (his partner) was there. My mom never got a chance to see the final collection while I was working on it at home because she didn't want to come by because she doesn't get along with Richard.

What's her problem with Richard?

Michael: She's Greek Orthodox and my dad is Italian. They can't except the gay lifestyle.  Also Richard told my ex mother in law that I was gay.  It took a while to get to a good place with them [my family] and now that the show has aired and everyone body knows I'm gay, it's starts all over again.  They didn't want me to mention that I was gay on the show.

Well it seems that Michael's parents are in serious denial! Their perception of gay is half naked gay parades and drag queens. Michael is quick to point out that that is not the scene he's into,  proclaiming "I  don't wear dresses, I make them!"  Not only does he make them, he makes them very well. Which brings us to our next point!  Why was Michael denied the third spot in the final 3. It was a given that Mondo was a lock for one of the spots, even Andi showed some garments that were worthy of a spot. Michael's final 4 garments made Heidi proclaim, that she wanted to buy one.  And then there's Gretchen. Her Bohemian style and her self designed jewelry came across as hideous, and the judges said so, but for some reason they put her through to the final 3. She then went on to win the show...Over MONDO!!!  WTF!!!!! Seriously!!!!  You've GOT to be kidding!!!  After watching the finale and seeing Gretchen's full collection, my first reaction was that they said they eliminated Michael because of his monotone color scale.  But low and behold, Gretchen's entire line was brown!!! Come on Michael Kors! WTF!

I asked Michael, if you would have made it to the final three, would you have won Project Runway? "Yes, I would've won", says Michael. Upon seeing his final collection, Heidi privately apologized to Michael, and Mr. Kors even told him to contact him ANYTIME he needs anything.  The following is Michael Costello's fashion week collection. You be the judge. Should this have been eliminated?