'Runway's' fabulous accessory

It was the ultimate compliment. This month, Tom and Lorenzo, the celebrated bloggers of Project Rungay, were invited to Bryant Park in New York during Fashion Week, guests of Bravo TV, to watch the

Project Runway

collections from third-row seats.

And while this did not enable them to meet Heidi Klum - "What are you going to do, push Harvey Weinstein out of the way?" - they did wind up feeling like "the Joan and Melissa of

Project Runway

."

And then they got back on the train to Philly to blog about it.

Because, weirdly, this unofficial blog appendage of Bravo's

Project Runway

, arguably the most New York show on television and certainly one of the gayest, is actually the creation of two guys from Philadelphia.

LOLOLOLOL. As their many commenters might say.

For many, Project Rungay (Projectrungay. blogspot.com) has become as much an obsession as the show itself, getting as many as 70,000 hits some days as it creates a sweetly bitchy parallel universe of running commentary ("from a VERY gay perspective") and witty criticism. In truth, this blog rules the runway.

"Every single model knew who we were and they all reacted the same way: Uh-oh! You better say nice things about me," they wrote after Bryant Park, adding that from the third row, the judges were "thinner than you realize."

In New York, Tom and Lorenzo hobnobbed with their favorite designers, helped Season 3 designer Laura Bennett choose her widely praised sparkly nude plunging-neckline dress, then passed on a

Project Runway

lunch to "follow the yellow brick road home" to Philly.

That train ride home after the Bryant Park show, in which they offered a single stalling post via BlackBerry, was possibly the longest 90-minute Amtrak ride simultaneously endured by tens of thousands of people refreshing at their computer.

An hour into the train ride, commenter Tami S. wrote: "We're all clutching our pearls in anticipation of the show and tell!"

So, who are these guys?

Last Wednesday, game day, with a Christian Siriano (Princess Puffysleeves, or PPS, in Rungay parlance) post yet to write, this charming duo agreed to tell all for the hometown crowd at their neighborhood coffee joint at Second and, well, Christian.

Lorenzo Marquez and Tom Fitzgerald, both 41, former muscleheads, operate a somewhat less glamorous business translation service out of their home. They say their business clients know nothing about the blog (and they prefer that, lest clients worry they are spending all day dishing fashion). They've been a couple for 12 years. "We met at the gym, the stereotypical gay story," says Lorenzo.

Lorenzo, the Renaissance man of the duo, was born in South America and came to Philadelphia for a job teaching business at the University of Pennsylvania. He's a violinist who played professionally in Europe, a former stylist who worked in the fashion industry in New York, and the visual guy: He does the screencaps, still images taken from their digital recording of the episode, which definitely add a deadpan new dimension to the show. He's arguably the more stylish, the one who ends the meeting with a hug.

Tom was born in Queens, N.Y., but grew up in Levittown and, in his teens, in Fairmount. His family still lives in Philly. He is the couple's cook, and the blog's writer, though the humor comes from both. He favors argyle sweaters that match his blue eyes. Both prefer a classic style they say befits a man (or woman) of a certain age.

Lorenzo says Tom's writing talent was "raw, like Christian's," mostly in the service of business and technical writing. The blog is first-rate snark. "We tell an alternate story line," says Lorenzo, with nicknames and in-jokes and fashion insights. It took off right away, with thousands of hits. Now, hits come from all over the globe. The audience is 70 percent female and 30 percent gay male "although one or two straight boys wander in looking confused every now and then."

At fans' request, they went back and watched Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and blogged retroactively. Now they do

Project Runway Canada

and general fashion posts.

People think theirs is a

Gotham blog. "So many people assume we're in New York because that must be the only fabulous place," says Lorenzo, the shorter, round-faced, darker-hued of the duo. "We like to represent."

Says Tom, the tall blond one with the rectangular face: "We get e-mails, 'I'm coming to New York and would love to meet you guys.' Well, we're in Philadelphia."

Actually, they tried to blog in New York during Fashion Week. But it didn't work. They can't do it with anyone watching. It doesn't seem to work anywhere but the rowhouse on Moyamensing.

"We tried to post at Laura Bennett's house, but it didn't work," says Tom, referring to last season's fortysomething diva, who calmly made couture fashion in Paris in heels while pregnant.

It was Bennett who first got Lorenzo's attention 19 months ago and prompted him to propose the blog to Tom, who said no 12 times before he said yes. The rest, as they say, is history, albeit from a VERY gay perspective.

At Fashion Week, people snapped

their

picture. They are major buds with Bennett and Emmett McCarthy, another alum. They watched a show this season with Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll, another Philly boy. (Who says we're the city of sweatsuits?) And they say

PR

judge Nina Garcia (NinaGarciaFashionEditorofElleMagazine, whom they mock, but only in the most admiring way) reads the blog when her assistant shows it to her. Requests to talk to Garcia did not yield an interview, alas.

The blog has been profitable, filled with ads, though ridiculously time-consuming and not profitable enough to quit their day jobs, they say. Plus, it's painfully seasonal. Major withdrawal ahead, as the show's finale is Feb. 27 and March 5. Designers Jillian, Christian, Chris and Rami are still in.

T Lo, as they're collectively called, say they watch the show in their pajamas with wine and cheese and a couple of friends, on a vintage '60s daybed covered in brown velvet and a generous amount of pillows, in their cozy sloped-ceilinged third floor.

They are online about 16 hours a day. They watch each episode six times. The morning after a show, with impatient e-mails pouring in ("C'mon boys, wake up!"), Lorenzo approaches Tom for their Project Rungay staff meeting. They discuss. Map out blog strategy. And argue. "All day fights," says Tom.

"I give the fashion opinions," says Lorenzo.

"I'm just fabulous," says Tom. They predict a win by Jillian, also known as Buellerbot 3000.

It is, truly, a requited love affair. The one between them and their audience. As they wrote on Valentine's Day after a lonelyheart commenter thanked them for bringing him a smile on an otherwise bleak day: "As we've said many times, you guys are the best, the smartest, the funniest, the bitchiest, the MOST FABULOUS crew of supporters any blog could ask for."

Thanks, T Lo.