Conversations: Tim Gunn

The "Project Runway" guru talks about his new show, "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style," and his passionate crusade to make fashion work for the masses. An interview and podcast.

Editor's note: Read more of our TV Week 2007 coverage.

By Sarah Karnasiewicz

Read more: TV, Interviews, Arts & Entertainment, Arts & Entertainment TV Interviews, Bravo, TV Week, Salon Conversations, TV Week 2007

Sept. 11, 2007 |

To listen to a podcast of the interview, click here.

To subscribe: Click here to add Conversations to iTunes or cut and paste the URL into your podcasting software:

When I pick up the phone and hear Tim Gunn on the other end, a hypnotic calm comes over me -- and not just because he can't see my flip-flops and jeans. Maybe it's his voice (an arch purr) or his candor (his mother still critiques his clothes, he divulges), but after five minutes I'm ready to bare my soul and my closet to him.

As it turns out, I -- and the rest of America -- can now watch others do just that every Thursday night. After three seasons spent stealing the spotlight from Heidi Klum on Bravo's hit reality show "Project Runway," the former Parsons School of Design dean and voice of sartorial reason is stepping out with his own prime-time makeover series. "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style," which premiered on Bravo on Sept. 6, takes the formula pioneered by the BBC and TLC on "What Not to Wear" and gives it a soft, sophisticated new look. In each episode, with his signature professorial panache -- and with former model Veronica Webb as his sassy sidekick -- Gunn studies and instructs a wayward woman in the art and discipline of dressing smart. The result is a refreshingly adult -- and intelligent -- reality program that is as much about the struggle to break bad habits as it is finding the perfect black dress. And what's not to love about that?

Salon spoke to Gunn about fashion ruts, the lies we see when looking in the mirror, and the redeeming power of the perfect bra. (To listen to a podcast of the interview, click here.)

What's the difference between teaching someone how to design something and teaching them how to wear something?

It's interesting. With the "Project Runway" designers, and with my students at Parsons, I'm presented with their design work and I accept it. I may offer some feedback -- invariably I offer some feedback -- but generally I accept it for what it is and I just want to make it better if it needs to be.

But when you're dealing with a retail environment full of clothes, it becomes something very different. On the new show, "Guide to Style," I may see why our subject would be attracted to a certain style, or point to something and say that's a beautiful dress -- but the real question is, "Is it right for you?" My task is a matter of getting the subject to be critically analytical about herself and how she looks in clothes. But both situations deal with critical analysis.

Sure, there's definitely critical analysis happening, but isn't it on a much more personal level with the subjects on the new show? You veer into the terrain of life coaching, because you have to tackle the reasons why your subjects are dressing a certain way.

Yes, my work in the new show is definitely tied into the psyche. People put on certain clothes for certain reasons, I assume, when their closet is filled with clothes. I try to say to the subjects, "Don't personalize this. I'm not saying you're bad, I'm saying the dress is bad. The dress doesn't work for you." And, "Why would you want to wear something that isn't showing you off at your best?" And if they answer, "Well, I really like this!" I say, "OK, I appreciate that. I respect it. You like it. But look at it on you. Do you see what I mean now?" And eventually they begin to get it.

I found that across the board there were a couple of common denominators with all eight women we worked with this season. For instance, not one of them was wearing the right bra size.

Next page: "I don't want to change these women; I just want to make them better"