By Lindsay Strouse

There are nine designers left in the quest to be Project Runway's next top designer. The breakdown is uneven with 6 men and 3 ladies, but after seeing the Project Runway live finale at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, I'm feeling like it's going to be a ladies year.

For this challenge, they won't be working with their usual models. Instead, they will be working with a group of men. These designers are on a pretty tight budget, and with some of the new men's waistlines, that might prove to be the biggest challenge.

But surprise, surprise. They won't be creating menswear. They will be designing a look for the men's girlfriends and wives. For the first time all season, they will be creating garments for real-size women, and that worries some designers more than others.

Time to see how well these guys know their ladies. Let the match-game questions and confusion begin. The majority of the men don't know the first thing about where their better halves shop, what colors they like or what type of silhouettes they prefer.

Anthony Ryan bonds with his client in trying to recreate a red dress he lost in an airport. Olivier has a slightly less heartwarming experience with his client. He is concerned with the bust line of the girlfriend-in the words of Olivier: "I don't like a girl with boobs. I want her to be flat so it can work with the design. These boobs are really worrying me." Ha.

The girlfriends and wives don't arrive until after the initial designs are roughly created. And when they do arrive, there are quite a few ups and downs in the first viewing.

Josh M. and Olivier's clients provide more than enough confusion, and Olivier must learn to compromise his artistic vision for his client's vision. Bryce continues to have a great experience with his clients and can't help thinking about his boyfriend after seeing the real love between his couple.

Luckily for Bert, his client preferred his design over what her boyfriend thought up. Josh M. has a difficult time comprehending just how simple his client likes her clothes to be-what a good match for the king of the bedazzled.

By the time Tim enters the workroom, there are an array of things happening. Viktor's look is basically complete at this point and it looks like she could have come in off the street wearing it (spoken as a compliment).

Tim compliments how well Josh M. modified his out-of-this-world style to fit his clients needs and wants...and I have to say, both the garment and the client looked great!

Laura's look starts to go full-on Barbie and Bryce is worried about the extreme pink color of his fabric. He eventually decides to scrap his original design and start anew with only a few hours left in the night.

The next morning, the nine designers send their clients to the Garnier and L'Oreal studios as well as to the Piperlime wall. Olivier continues having trouble with time management, and Tim stays on his tail to ensure everything stays on track.

Before heading down to the runway, Tim surprises the women with a gift from Piperlime-free jewelry from their website. Score!

But don't let the high spirits fool you. Tensions are also running high and designers such as Kimberly and Olivier have a needle and thread in their client's garments until the absolute last moment. The stakes are higher than ever, and no one wants to risk any mistakes.

They've jumped through hoops to get there, but it's finally time for the show to begin.

Pieces that stood out for me were Viktor's great styling and playful yellow circle skirt, Josh M.'s simple yet chic black cocktail dress with a plunging back and Anya's beautifully flowing black and white patterned dress.

The brightness of Bryce's fabric was overwhelming, but I liked the shape of the dress. It looked like something was definitely off with the fit of Olivier's garment, but he felt satisfied with the end product.

Following the show, Heidi announces Kimberly, Olivier and Laura are safe. Anya, Josh M. and Viktor have the highest scores and Bert, Anthony Ryan and Bryce have the lowest scores.

The judge's critique for Bert was that his dress was too safe and that it looked like it could be found anywhere. Nina thought Bryce put too many details into his look and that "[his client] wasn't wearing the dress, the dress was wearing her." The judges felt Anthony Ryan's outfit lacked sex appeal completely.

As we get down to the wire, the importance of winning these challenges increases exponentially. Fortunately for Josh M., he is this week's winner for his impressive and classic rendition of a black cocktail dress.

On the other end of the spectrum, it looks like Bryce has designed his last garment this season on Project Runway. It's always sad to see the dedicated and genuinely kind designers go home.

Project Runway airs every Thursday at 9/8c on Lifetime.

(Image courtesy of Lifetime)

Follow Lindsay on Twitter @LindsayStrouse