Now, The Fashion Show isn’t under the same pressure Runway faces to please all of Middle America with guest judges like Eva Longoria and Linsday Lohan and can cast guests like Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey and top fashion model Anja Rubik to sit on the judging panel for an episode. We enjoy a Hollywood celebrity guest judge as much as the next person, but having seen so many seasons of them on Project Runway having some real industry perspective on the constestants’ designs feels fresh. Also, these critiques coupled with judge and host Isaac Mizrahi’s guidance makes The Fashion Show that rare program that might actually teach its audience something about fashion design.

Bailey was on last night’s judging panel in the second-to-last episode before next week’s season finale, along with fellow guest judge J. Mendel designer Gilles Mendel. Both gave intelligent and interesting reviews of the collections, which had to be inspired by earth, fire, air, and water. At the end of the hour, it doesn't matter what some pretty actress thinks of a line nearly as much as what the editor-in-chief of one of the country's biggest fashion magazines thinks. And it was interesting to hear what Bailey likes in her clothing at all. Her magazine will never say that one of her advertisers' collections was crap, even if the editors thought so, but she can honestly tell Jeffrey, Cesar, Calvin, and Dominique how their clothes make her feel. And she was quite kind about it.