Last night's "Project Runway" featured not one, but two huge guest stars, fashion icon Bob Mackie and and pop starlet Christina Aguilera. Although I loved seeing Mackie, whose glitzy work is a great inspiration for a challenge, I had some issues with the concept of THIS challenge -- design a Mackie-style gown for Aguilera -- because Christina Aguilera is not a fashion icon. She is a star, she is a very talented singer, she wears many high-priced, pretty clothes, but she is not a fashion icon.

I cannot for the life of me think of a "signature" Christina Aguilera look. If anything, she is a fashion follower, not a fashion leader. So tasking the designers to create a dress for Christina Aguilera -- where do you even begin? Is she doing stuff off of her 40's throwback album? Is she doing her teen pop stuff? Is she doing R&B-inspired cuts off of her trashy "Dirty" album? The closest thing I can come to for an "iconic" look from her would be her "Lady Marmalade" get-up, and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister pulled that off better in the "We're Not Gonna Take It" video in the 1980's.

Regardless, I found it so weird that almost every one of the designers went with black and white fabrics. How boring. I think Logan was the only one of them to use any color. The challenge was to be eye-catching, why would they all go to basic black and white?

I thought judging was way off again (although Nina was back, thank God). In the top, I didn't get all the love for Carol Hannah's gown. It must have been much more visually interesting in person, because on my TV it just looked like a bunch of black. There was nothing interesting to the shape, and if anything it did weird things to model's chest. Just lots of texture -- black satin with black sequins with black feathers. I didn't think it was bad, I just didn't think it was a winning look. Althea's, however, was, with that huge "statement" coat made out of feathers, and that really lovely dress with inventive use of the fabric that made her model's figure look incredible.

I was amazed that Nicolas ended up in the top. First, his dress was a total repeat of his costume win, with white details on white fabric -- SNORE. Second, the feather details along the skirt were total rip-offs of Laura Bennett's final collection in S3. Third, Mackie made a comment that you don't want your star looking like an ice skater. Tell me you couldn't see Christie Yamaguchi or someone wearing Nicolas's outfit on the ice. Please. (On a side note, he looked particularly Gollum-esque last night. I know they're probably all fried at this point, but he looked especially greasy.)

In the middle were Irina, whose work looked good, although unspectacular. (Nicolas had the quote of the evening, possibly of the cycle, when he said, "Irina is a really talented designer. The problem with her is that she's also a bitch." Bingo! And not a "fun bitch," per "Top Model." She's a bitchy bitch.) And Gordana, who won last challenge, desperately clung to her immunity when her design went off the rails fairly early, and she was explicitly told by Heidi that she could have very easily have been sent home for her fish-looking gown. I don't know. Maybe Bottom 3, but it certainly wasn't the worst thing on that runway. I don't get why the judges hate Gordana so much.

As for the actual bottom three, it ended up being Logan, Shirin, and Christopher. And I was bummed that we ended up losing Shirin. Despite what Irina said about her (she doesn't consider Shirin a designer, and her fabric sense is very "bargain basement" -- BITCH!), I think Shirin is really talented. I have liked several of her garments, and this was her first visit to the bottom. Christopher, meanwhile, has been in the bottom THREE WEEKS IN A ROW, and his outfit was not just a knock-off of Christina's "Lady Marmalade" look, but a crazy cheap-looking knock-off. Still, it is hard to defend Shirin's sloppy, multi-fabric gown. That was just bad, in every way.

And then there's Logan, who didn't even do the assignment. I liked how he basically told Christina, "I have no idea what kind of music you do, and I know it's not this, but this is what I made you." That's helpful, and not at all offensive to the celebrity sitting 10 feet in front of you. It was probably the most interesting thing he's sent down the runway so far, but it was still boring. How is he still in this competition? I feel like I ask that every week...