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Project Runway's Tim Gunn shares his thoughts on fashion

Compiled by Tatiana Richards
When I interviewed style guru Tim Gunn for Birmingham magazine, I tried to convince him to stick around and become my personal stylist. He demurred, so I did the next best thing—I got him to share his thoughts on fashion. Here’s what he had to say.

ON LOOKING YOUR BEST
Silhouette, proportion and fit: If these three elements are working for you … you’ll look great.

When someone gets dressed in the morning, he or she should think about with whom they’re going to engage that day and dress accordingly. I always dress to the highest level of appointment I have that day; if I’m overdressed for other appointments, that’s fine.

No matter what size you are, have clothes that follow your natural silhouette. Sometimes people who are more self conscious about their size will add heavier clothing thinking they’re hiding themselves, but this only adds more volume to their silhouette.

ON STYLE:
It’s so easy for men; everyday I say to myself, “I’m so glad I’m a guy.” Who doesn’t look good in a dark, well-tailored suit?

It’s different for everybody. You have to be mindful of your body type, where the hem on a coat falls; your waistline.

Here at Liz Claiborne, we sing the praises of a belt. The proper belt can cause a very simple transformation.

In my experience, there’s so much culture in the South. It’s classic American heritage. People are still civilized and well behaved, and I can’t say that for many other parts of the country. [In Southern style], there is a certain care about the way one presents oneself to the world.

In the South, people are more conservative and appropriate. You’ll find few instances of grown women dressing like teenagers.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FASHION:
I had to battle with the editors [when writing my book], because people wanted me to remove most personal names [like philosopher Soren Kirkegaard] and larger words, but I told them, “I will not dumb this book down!” It comes from my many years of teaching; I always wanted to raise the bar for my students.

On the first day of class [for students entering the fashion program at Parsons], I always asked my students this question: How many of you can tell me when World War II happened? It would always be met with a collective groan. But it wasn’t until WWII that we had the advent of American fashion; when all the couture houses shut down in Paris, that led to the birth of American fashion. There are so many different global events that impact fashion and design.

People are inclined to trivialize fashion, but all you need to do is look at how we tell the history of civilization: by environments people lived in and by the clothes they wore.

It’s all about semiotics. Whenever someone walks into a room, the first thing I notice about them is their gender. The second thing I notice is their clothes, and I make assumptions about that. Whenever I tell people this, they say, “Oh that’s terrible,” but unless the semiotics &38230; of the clothing is of a certain sort, we won’t even want to get to know a person.
January Birmingham, Alabama

  

 
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