… delivered Quality, Taste & Style at Georgia State University on Monday as part of the Campus Events Speaker Series to a full house of fans and fashionistas! Mr. Gunn walked out to a standing ovation and was visibly “verklempt” as he put it. Big props to Campus Events Advisor, Cara
Dawn Byford, for organizing the high profile event and bigger thanks for inviting UrbanCouture — definitely a memorable experience!
Tim Gunn was phenomenal. He is almost a chain talker, barely finishing a story as he moves on to the next. But that was OK! because his stories were so engaging. Tim is charismatic and funny. I could listen to him for hours and enjoy every minute. Contributing to his charm is his overall sincerity – the person you see on tv is the person you see in real life.
It was incredibly interesting and inspiring to hear how he revitalized the fashion program at Parsons. And fascinating to learn how Project Runway came to be. But one of the most “hear a pin drop” moments of the lecture was his story of how he angered the devil herself, Anna Wintour! I couldn’t possibly do Tim justice by relaying the tale as he did, but lets just say it had something to do with being carried down six flights of stairs after the Peter Som show by her two bodyguards because she couldn’t run down fast enough in her 6″ Manolo’s. When the story printed in the New York Post, Wintour demanded a retraction. Tim stood firmly by his story and said “NO!”
After nearly an hour of speaking it was time for Q & A. One of the most delightful highlights came when an audience member asked Tim to say the famous “make it work” phrase. The crowd got completely quiet, Tim gave us a second to build up the anticipation and then uttered into the microphone: “Make it Work”.
Gunn dishes:
on Meryl Streep: loves her, but could use a make-over…
on Christian Siriano: a “prodigy”… Project Runway wasn’t sure why they were even considering someone so young for the show. Tim thought they’d meet for 30 seconds and send him on his way. “Well, it only took 30 seconds to realize this kid was a prodigy”, said Tim.
on Santino: “he could suck the air out of a room”…
on Project Runway, NYC or LA: NYC!
on his extensive vocabulary: as a teacher, Tim challenges his students in critiques to describe their work in other ways than “I like” or “I don’t like”… also, and this is great… His book publisher wanted him not to use so many big words in the book. Tim said absolutely not, “people can sit down with a Miriam Webster dictionary and google!”
Immediately following the Q & A, Tim started the book signing with a line that twisted and turned like the ride lines at Disney. A few minutes into the book signing, our heroine, Cara Dawn Byford, snagged Tim for a photo opp with UrbanCouture!
Aziza Sheppard, Jhari Ponder, Destini Rhone, Taylor Alford, Tim GUNN, E. Vincent Martinez, Kelsi Eccles, Lindy Menefee, Sarah Collins, Claire Buyens
Tim resumed to the book signing for about an hour. Afterwards, GSU hosted a small private reception that I and my guest Jeff Glasheen were fortunate to attend and chat with Tim Gunn.
Tim and I engaged in a conversation about education and fashion design.
Last week, Tim turned in the manuscript to his next book, Gunn’s Golden Rules.
fashionado
Wait a minute—which one is the fashionado??!! You looked dapper, Mr. M!
Couldn’t wait to read about Tim Gunn! Great piece! I can’t get enough of him… he is like Chocolate!
Good story Vincent!
Thank you! He is such a great storyteller!
Absolutely fabulous! It looks like so much fun!
Awesome meeting you and Jeff at GSU with Tim Gunn. Hope to see more of ya and look forward to catching your spot on GPB. I do have to say that Tim would only admit to ‘wanting to have a talk’ with Ms Streep… He was so genuinely delightful! Or is that delightfully genuine!
You are too sweet! I’m so glad you and your students were able to come. Thank you for all the wonderful work you do inspiring and encouraging your students!!
Great Story Vincent… You are on it!
Valerie, we had so much fun. Great meeting you and hanging out! Thank you.
I love Tim Gunn great guy!
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