"The Fashion Show"

The Fashion Show's second season debuted on Bravo Tuesday night, and the makeover has done the show well. As soon as the designers arrive they are randomly split into two teams of fashion houses who must work together to create a collection, yet against each other to win the challenge. Last night's challenge was to design a dress for Iman, who is emerging as the best thing to happen to reality television since André Leon Talley joined America's Next Top Model. Where Mizrahi deliberates how to put his thoughts into words so he's not so mean, Iman, and fellow judge Laura Brown from Harper's Bazaar for that matter, absolutely do not. It becomes instantly clear in judging that if anyone dares to show a piece of garbage that looks like it came from the mall, Iman and Laura are likely to say, "Your dress is a piece of garbage that looks like it came from the mall. Women don't want to walk around in clothes like yours that make their asses look bigger."

As soon as the designers are dismissed to get to work, they must name their houses. One team comes up with "Nami," which is Iman's name spelled backward, and much less offensive than the other team's "Emerald Syx." Emerald Syx refers to not their favorite porn star, but the six people in the group who landed on the green (or emerald, if you want to try to be fancy about it) team when they arrived. The misspelled "Syx" naturally only makes them sound cheap, which was actually exactly how their clothes looked on the runway.

One of the great things about The Fashion Show is that the teams have to work with a runway producer to stage an actual fashion show, with a set and choreography and everything else real designers have to worry about. Emerald Syx's presentation fit perfectly with their name, which, if not a porn star, might refer to an automobile body-painting contest in which chicks in pleather bikinis unveil the top entrants by ripping white sheets off of them. This is how Emerald Syx presented their shoddy runway looks: by ripping a sheet off of each model positioned at the end of the runway in an elaborate and unnecessary yoga-esque pose. In the end Emerald Syx loses to the house of Nami, and loses one of its team members.