Finalewatch: With Eve's help, Johanna becomes a 'Stylista'

Fashionistas, Recessionistas, and all other miscellaneous -istas: Welcome, at long last, to the season finale of Stylista! It seems like just yesterday we were laughing at the way Anne Slowey wobbled in her stilettos and wondering if that greasy girl Megan was as awful as she seemed. Aaaand...so little has changed since then.

Will the winner be Megan, who spent her energy turning Stylista into a Machiavellian mind game while somehow managing to never suck the worst on her team? Will it be Dyshaun, the flying monkey to Megan's wicked witch? Or will it be Johanna, who seems smart aside from her decision to take part in this high school catfight?

First up for the finalists: an interview with Roberta Myers, Elle's Editor-in-Chief. Johanna calls her sophisticated and Megan says she's impossibly chic, but Roberta is wearing a Kelly Wearstler-style beehive, so I'm not really sure what to think.

Dyshaun interviews first, and swings and misses right off the bat by admitting that he wasn't very familiar with Elle before this competition. Dude, you're supposed to be a stylist. Either you're saying that you're bad at your job (which involves keeping up with what's fashionable), or you're saying that Elle isn't influential in terms of what's fashionable and what's not. He's very, very nervous, and Roberta isn't even being that hard on him.

Johanna walks in with a two-page resume, which is pretty ballsy for someone so young, as Roberta subtly points out. (Side note: I love Roberta, beehive be damned. She pulls it off.) She's a much more confident interviewee than Dyshaun.

Megan's interview is a little sticky when she explains that she dropped out of college to open a boutique, and then closed her store to try and be a magazine editor. It sounds like Megan's the type of girl who might get sick of magazines in a year and decide that what she REALLY wants is to be the next governor of California. Plus, she doesn't have any questions for Roberta. Have these people never been on an interview before? You always have to have a question! Even if you don't really care what the answer is! Sigh...

Roberta, discussing the candidates with Slowey and Joe Zee, is impressed with Dyshaun's resume but not with his lack of interest in Elle. She thinks Johanna seems very smart, and finds Megan to be confident and full of personality, if not a team player. And totally mentions that Megan had no questions for her. Basic interviewing skills, people! And based on the interviews, Slowey eliminates Megan. WOAH. I did NOT see that coming. Who knew that being a team player was so important at Elle?!

For their final editorial challenge, Johanna and Dyshaun will each be creating an Elle cover and a "Behind the Cover" page. Joe Zee points out that Elle covers are known for their "wow" factor, and among the covers they flash on the screen is the one featuring Jessica Simpson and her non-existent waist that's been seriously trashed for the absurd degree of photoshopping. Elle Magazine: Helping celebrities everywhere become a size zero by digitally removing their ribcages.

Their cover model will be Eve, and they'll be assisted for the photo shoot part of the challenge by the last four contestants eliminated. By random selection, Johanna will be working with Megan and Kate (who is as boobalicious as ever), and Dyshaun will be working with Danielle and Ashlie. I'm not feeling good for Johanna right now. It is T-E-N-S-E tense, to the point where Megan actually tries to walk out, putting her hand in front of the cameras and telling the producers that she's done. Draaaamaaaa! She agrees to stay out of friendship when Johanna points out that it would be two against three. God, what a drama queen.

Dyshaun: It takes half an hour of Dyshaun's hour and a half just to put Eve in an outfit she likes, and with eighteen minutes left to take photos of her in her second look, she changes her mind and wants to put on a different dress. With ten minutes left, she questions the position Dyshaun is posing her in. He mostly goes with a "don't question the talent" strategy. Fair enough when you're working with a celebrity, I suppose.

Of course, he's stuck having to pick a photo from the first look: a black belted jacket over jeans. He's posed her standing up, hands on hips, in front of gold curtains. Not the most innovative photo, but it looks pretty good. His Behind the Cover page features the other look: Eve in a gorgeous dress reclining sideways on a bed. Dyshaun says he couldn't pick it for the cover because she was lying down, but Slowey loves it (me too) and says it would've been breaking boundaries. 

Eve says that she felt the shoot was disorganized, and Joe Zee doesn't love the backdrop. Slowey gives props for the headline placement and wording. Overall, Slowey dings Dyshaun for his poor attention to detail, but appreciates his styling ability and snappy cover headlines.   

Johanna: Rather than pick a whole variety of outfits for Eve to choose from, Johanna presents her with outfits that all match her "building an empire" theme. Risky in case Eve hates purple or something, but also rather clever. Her style on set is more hands-on than Dyshaun's. Megan chats with Slowey and Joe Zee on the set of the shoot, and not-so-subtly indicates that she doesn't approve of the job Johanna is doing. But at this point the unpredictable thing for her to do would be to not stab someone in the back, so I'm assuming the judges will take her views with a grain of salt.

Johanna's cover photo looks great, and her presentation is fantastic, showing that she really thought through the concept of Eve as a queen building her mogul empire. However, between Eve being dressed in a black top with a high-waisted purple skirt and the cover's text written entirely in black and purple...it's a lot of black and purple.

Slowey absolutely loves the photo of Eve, but compares Johanna's verbose cover text to Finnegan's Wake. Ha! The Behind the Cover page is a little cluttered also, but Joe Zee appreciates the product selection. Eve really liked the way Johanna ran the shoot. Overall, Slowey praises Johanna's precision and organization, but Joe Zee thinks she overthinks things. Slowey also likes how Johanna handled Eve in the shoot. 

The Verdict: As if there were any suspense, right? Johanna is Elle's newest junior editor. Yay?

So...yay? And does Megan win for one of the worst reality villains of '08, or what?

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