Project Runway 3 contestant Keith Michael, whom internet sleuths deduced had copied several of his portfolio designs from existing collections, responded to the growing controversy by sending a note to Blogging Project Runway, who assure us of its authenticity. The short message contains a denial of any wrongdoing, and concludes with a hard-to-interpret assessment of the judges' qualifications. An excerpt:

for the record, i submitted 5 portfolios for the judges review. the one you seem to be focusing on was a research assignment i did for a client in which i reviewed key fashion trends. [...]

the panel of judges that reviewed my work had many years of experience behind them. i found them neither ignorant, uninformed or in any way confused about their own profession.

If you thought Michael's "research assignment" defense sounds fishy, you're not alone: Most of BPR's commenters felt other designers' work, whatever the intention, had no place in submission materials. Until the story plays itself out on the series, it will be hard to say what really happened. Perhaps Michael, as he insists, has done nothing wrong, and the contestant controversy hinted at in promo materials actually involved Malan Breton, the really gay vampire, getting caught in the dead of night gorging on the irresistibly tattooed neck of fellow contestant Jeffrey Sebelia.

• A Note From Keith Michael [BloggingProjectRunway via RealityBlurred]