9 Feb, 2010
Return to Tiffany heart tag
Once upon a time, Tim Gunn was known primarily as the chair of the fashion-design department at Parsons. Now his main claim to fame comes courtesy of Project Runway-he's the always incisive, occasionally blunt, and memorably mimicked mentor to the show's aspiring designers. Tara Ariano spoke to him about his newfound ir fluence and whether you can ever get tiffany jewellery with costume jewelry. Were you a fan of reality TV before Runway? No. When the producers first told me about it, I said, "Ugh, this sounds horrible and cheesy!" But then they said they wanted to work with real designers and I completely changed my view of it. Is it hard not to develop favorites among the designers? Well, the longer the designer's on the show, the closer I get to them. Which is not to say that there aren't designers who stay longer than I would like them to. Elsa Peretti Bean bracelet I feel like all the designers are my children: Some are better behaved than others. Do behind-the-scenes shows like Project Runway make it harder for new designers to do something totally unexpected? Well, yes. There are two extremes in fashion. One is the basic Gap T-shirt, and the other is the Return to Tiffany heart tag Charm and bracelet in a parade on the runway in the Paris couture. And those are both really easy to do-it's what fits in between that's difficult. I say to my students all the time, "Look, I'm not putting any constraints on what you design, providing that you can get into a taxi wearing it." Otherwise, it's just wearable art. Or not-so-wearable art. Are you ever tempted to offer fashion advice to strangers? Perhaps in the form of an anonymous note? You can't help Elsa Peretti Teardrop bracelet around and doing an assessment: people who look great, people who've made a mistake. Occasionally, I've said to someone to whom I'm introduced, "You look absolutely incredible." But I would never say, "Hello, nice to meet you. What were you thinking?" What fashion mistake does the average person make most often? It's the fit. We each have to be really objective about what we look good in. I say to people all the time.
