Project Runway

9 tonight LIFETIME What a challenge - work with real bridesmaids, as well as some scandalously bad bridesmaid dresses, to redesign the garments and make them wearable in a nonmatrimonial situation.

Pay attention to the man behind the curtain. For anyone who can't get enough of Project Runway - or who just finds the whole weird world of fashion fascinating - Eleven Minutes offers a glimpse into the low moments and high anxieties of a young, struggling designer, debuting his inaugural line at New York Fashion Week. Jay McCarroll, winner of the first season of Project Runway, is the subject of Michael Selditch and Rob Tate's illuminating doc, which premiered here last spring at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

In a surprising turn, there were four Project Runway finalists, not the expected three as in past seasons. At the end of the Bravo network's episode last night, model Heidi Klum declared designers Michael Knight, Jeffrey Sebalia, Uli Herzner and Laura Bennett as finalists. That means all the collections shown during New York's Fashion Week two weeks ago will be part of the Runway finale. At least as of now. Whew. It looked as if it was going to be tough for crowd favorite Knight, who clearly bombed this week's challenge - making an outfit representing him as a designer.

There's a good chance former Philadelphia University student Jay McCarroll will take the top-designer title on tonight's two-hour finale of the hit "reality" show Project Runway. Throughout the Bravo series, a cult favorite of trendsetters, the 30-year-old McCarroll wowed viewers and fashionistas with original creations. And he topped that with a tart personality coupled with some Philly-style bravado. "Jay is exotic and fashion-forward," said Celia Frank, an assistant professor of fashion design at Philadelphia University and one of his teachers.

Some industry purists are loath to admit it, but the filming this morning of Project Runway's season finale under the Bryant Park tents is the hottest ticket in town. It's such a big deal that Bravo network reps waited until Wednesday to send out invitations. And just having the precious cobalt-blue card trimmed with yellow stitching doesn't guarantee you'll get in. The clipboard-wielding women in black who greet audience members with stern faces and "the lists" will have the final say on who, as Runway host Heidi Klum might put it, will be "in" and who will be "out.

Bravo's breakout hit, Project Runway, is ostensibly about fashion, creativity under pressure, and rampant product placement. What the show has going for it, like any good drama, is a struggle between good and evil, with the villains not giving a silk charmeuse inch. As Teutonic supermodel-host Heidi Klum said, promoting the current season: "We have a great villain. You always hope for something like that. " At 10 tonight in the most anticipated episode in the show's three-season history, Tim Gunn, Parsons fashion-design chair and show fairy godfather, will get his boxers in a twist.

FACE OFF. 10 tonight, Syfy. NBC UNIVERSAL may have lost "Project Runway" to Lifetime, but it's kept the pattern, expanding from high fashion (Bravo's "The Fashion Show") to haute cuisine (Bravo's "Top Chef") and even art (Bravo's "Work of Art"). Tonight, Bravo's geeky cable sibling, Syfy, puts a monstrously creative spin on the talent search in "Face Off," in which a dozen special-effects makeup artists compete for $100,000, a year's worth of makeup and, presumably, bragging rights.

Talk about squeezing out every last bit of mileage . . . Project Runway's season one winner (and Philadelphia University instructor) Jay McCarroll stars in the documentary Eleven Minutes, which recounts his experience creating his spring '07 Transport collection. Project Runway premiered four years ago. The collection debuted almost two years ago. Spring '07 has come and gone. Give it a rest, already. Viewers get to see McCarroll stressing over shoes arriving late, making jewelry on a budget, inviting celebrities, and filling goodie bags.

* FASHION STAR. 9:30 tonight, NBC10. Moves to 10 p.m. next week.   FAMOUS PEOPLE have always gotten to cut the line: They get the best tables, the backstage passes, the seats behind the velvet ropes. Thanks to television, they also vie for glitter-ball trophies or the opportunity to call themselves Donald Trump's fake apprentice. They've lost weight on "Celebrity Fit Club" and gotten clean on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. " There's nothing in "reality" television, in fact, that someone somewhere doesn't think can be improved by the addition of a celebrity.

Who: Winner of the first season of "Project Runway" in '05, back when it was on Bravo. (It's now on Lifetime, 9 p.m. Thursdays.) Age: 37 From: Dallas (Luzerne County), Pa. Where now: South Philly On "Project": The designer - a smoker, a joker, a fearless wearer of wacky specs and speaker of his own mind and not a few four-letter words - bested buddy Kara Saun and frenemy (OK, enemy) Wendy Pepper on the Bryant Park runway. Post-"Project": Famously turned down the $100,000 in prize money - and therefore the lifetime of giving up 10 percent of his label's profits.

FACE OFF. 10 tonight, Syfy. NBC UNIVERSAL may have lost "Project Runway" to Lifetime, but it's kept the pattern, expanding from high fashion (Bravo's "The Fashion Show") to haute cuisine (Bravo's "Top Chef") and even art (Bravo's "Work of Art"). Tonight, Bravo's geeky cable sibling, Syfy, puts a monstrously creative spin on the talent search in "Face Off," in which a dozen special-effects makeup artists compete for $100,000, a year's worth of makeup and, presumably, bragging rights.

9 tonight LIFETIME What a challenge - work with real bridesmaids, as well as some scandalously bad bridesmaid dresses, to redesign the garments and make them wearable in a nonmatrimonial situation.

IF GERMANTOWN'S Kristin Haskins-Simms had to pick the "Project Runway" winner, she would choose Andy South , the freelance designer from Hawaii. Haskins-Simms was eliminated from the competition on Thursday's episode of the Lifetime design series but didn't seem to have any hard feelings when we spoke yesterday. "The show has given me great recognition for me and my line," says Haskins-Simms about her Strangefruit line that she'll show in October at Philadelphia Fashion Week.

Germantown-based designer Kristin Haskins Simms applied on a whim to be a contestant on Project Runway . But the 39-year-old will get a serious shot at the fashion big time when she joins 17 other aspiring clothiers on Lifetime at 9 Thursday night. The first episode, filmed near Lincoln Center, the new home of New York Fashion Week, will feature a surprising twist. But generally, Runway remains the same: We'll still enjoy biting comments from judges Michael Kors and Marie Claire editor Nina Garcia, and we'll still witness the work of a more experienced crew of contestants.

PROJECT RUNWAY. 9 p.m. tomorrow, Lifetime. ON THE ROAD WITH AUSTIN & SANTINO. 10:30 p.m., Lifetime.   KRISTIN HASKINS-Simms' road to Lifetime's "Project Runway" has been neither short nor straight. At 38, the Philadelphia designer behind the line Strangefruit ( www.be strangefruit. com), who graduated from Germantown Friends School and the University of Pennsylvania - where she majored in English - isn't one of those newly minted fashion-school grads who've so often intrigued the judges.

WORK OF ART: THE NEXT GREAT ARTIST. 11 tonight, Bravo. BRAVO'S SEARCH for the next great "reality" show competition continues tonight with "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. " And when I say that it's hard to imagine a show like this existing without the paint-by-numbers template provided by "Project Runway," the show Bravo loved and lost - in court - to Lifetime, I want you to know that I mean it, for once, in the nicest possible way. Oh, and not just because if this one flops, it's likely to be replaced by "The Real Housewives of Minneapolis-St.

Hundreds of South Africans moonwalk for Jackson Several hundred South Africans gathered yesterday for a moonwalking tribute to the King of Pop that reflected the diversity of the rainbow nation. They were in Johannesburg's Nelson Mandela Square for one reason: an abiding love for Michael Jackson's music. "He's the king and will always be the king," said 28-year-old Siviwe Mazwana. To "Man in the Mirror" and "Smooth Criminal," dancers of all ages emulated the hip-jutting, crotch-grabbing, moonwalking moves that made Jackson famous.