Background Image

...

Being A Student In An Art & Design School, That Was The Moment For Me, That Was When I Began To Develop A Lot Of Self-confidence And Really Come Into My Own.

-Tim Gunn

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Being A Student In

Tim Gunn

...

Being A Student In An Art & Design School, That Was The Moment For Me, That Was When I Began To Develop A Lot Of Self-confidence And Really Come Into My Own.

Views: 4

Topic

Self Confidence

More From Tim Gunn

I Guess The Most Famous Person I Was So Extremely Exhilarated By Being With - And Actually Sat Next To Her At A Luncheon At The White House - Was Mrs. Obama.

Frankly, I Think That Fur On A Man Is Difficult To Pull Off. If It's The Warmth You're After, Then I'd Go With A Fur-lined Coat - It Won't Show.

Staples Are Only Good If They Truly Suit Our Lifestyle.

I Love The History Of The Sport, I Love The Culture That Surrounds It, And I Never Dreamed I'd Become A Fanatic. I'm Such A Fanatic Now That I'm Committed To Competing.

If You're Wearing A Jacket, As I Always Am, The Sweater Vest Always Needs To Be Buttoned, With The Exception Of The Bottom Button. But If You're Going Sans Jacket, You Can Leave It Open.

If You Are Going To Be Catty, You Have To Be Careful With Whom You Do It, And In What Manner! It's The Kind Of Behavior That Is Best Kept Behind Closed Doors.

I Hate The Word "eclectic" .i'm A Classicist, And I Like Comfort. Lots Of Books, Lots Of Artwork, Pieces Of Family Furniture, And Newer Upholstery.

I Just Don't Like Conspicuous Consumption. I Find It Distasteful.

Conspicuous Consumption

My Favorite Meal To Make For Myself Is Meatloaf.i Prepare The The Ground Beef (i Don't Use Anything Else) And Flatten It Out So It's About 1/2 Inch Thick, Then I Spread Shredded Cheddar All Over It, Then I Roll It Up. It's Amazing. Like A Big Cheeseburger.

Why Must She Dress That Way? I Think She's Confused About Her Gender.

It's Not An Area Where Designers Want To Focus Or Pay Attention - Women Who Are Larger Than A Size 12.

As I Continue To Mature And Navigate The World, There Are So Many Myths That Are Dispelled For Me.

From My Own Experience, There Are So Many People Who Believe That The Individual Can Change. The Individual Doesn't Have To Be Lgbt.

Nothing Makes Me Happier Than Working With Real People In The Real World.

If You Have To Ask If A Clothing Item Is A Dress Or A Top, It Is Always A Top.

Everyone Has A Best Feature, So Find Clothes And Accessories To Accentuate Those, Whether It’s Your Shoulders Or Your Long Legs!

I Pretty Much Stay True To Myself And Try To Find The Good In People And Not Be Snarky.

If You Don't Have Experience Sewing, Start With That, Because That Will Inform What You Are Able To Design.

What's Important To A Fashion Designer? It's Much More Than Learning How To Make Clothes. In Fact, That Merely Makes You A Dressmaker. It Doesn't Make You Into A Fashion Designer.

Whether It's Fashion Or It's Home, It's All About Style. The Clothes We Wear Send A Message About How We Are Perceived, And Our Home Does The Same Thing.

Call Me A Schoolmarm, But Few Things Make Me Angrier Than People Not Taking Good Care Of Library Materials.

I Had This Wonderful Career And Thought I Would Retire As A Teacher.

Life Is Not A Solo Act. It's A Huge Collaboration, And We All Need To Assemble Around Us The People Who Care About Us And Support Us In Times Of Strife.

Life Is A Big Collaboration. And We Can't Navigate It Alone.

I Have A Couple Of Thousand Books In My Personal Library. Choosing A Favorite Is Next To Impossible. But I Do Love The Written Word.

I've Never Mentioned This, But When I Was At Parsons Teaching, The Other Design Disciplines, They Don't Like Fashion Design. They See It As Very Nineteenth-century.

I've Never Told Anyone This, In An Effort To Run From My Past And Disguise It, I Got Rid Of All Of The Scrapbooks My Mother Kept Going Back To When I Was A Baby. Truly. So That's Why Whenever Talk Show Hosts Or A Producer Asks For These Pictures, There Are Barely Any. My Sister Had A Few, But That's It, And This Was Before Digital. I've Never Told Anyone That, But That's The Truth.

Exude Unconditional Confidence.

Things Are Recalibrated According To New Perspectives And Perceptions. It's Fascinating To Me.

Does A Man Need To Know What A Peplum Is? Probably Not.

I'm One Of The Biggest Introverts You Could Ever Meet.

I Would Never Dream Of Telling People How To Dress. But I Do Say To Them, However You Are Dressing, Accept Responsibility For It. And Also, Unless Asked, I Don't Judge. And If Asked To Judge - I Would Approach It Socratically, I Would Approach It With Questions.

If You Want To Write An Angry E-mail, Write It But Don't Send It. It's Based On My Experience That Whenever I Have Acted Out In Some Manner, I Have Always Regretted It.

People Put On Certain Clothes For Certain Reasons, I Assume, When Their Closet Is Filled With Clothes.

In A Manner Of Speaking. I Certainly Never Want To Lose My Voice As An Educator.

I'm Making The Assumption That After Mrs. Obama Leaves The White House That She Will Continue All Of Her Work Toward Improving Education In This Nation And Childhood Health.

I Was A Teacher And An Administrator At Parson's School Of Design, And As An Administrator, I Was Associate Dean. And In That Role, I Went Around Fixing Things That Were Broken. And The Parson's Fashion Program Was Broken.so Fashion Chose Me. It Needed To Be Developed And Evolve. I Don't Know If It Comes Naturally To Anyone.

Life Is A Big Collaboration - And When You're Tackling Something That Is Painful And Troubling And Is Causing You Such Desperate Grief That You Think Life's Not Worth Living - You Need To Reach Out. To People Who Will Reach Back.

Being A Student In An Art & Design School, That Was The Moment For Me, That Was When I Began To Develop A Lot Of Self-confidence And Really Come Into My Own.

Self Confidence

All The Magazines Contradict Each Other Because It Is So Diverse. Know What You Like, Know What Looks Good On You And Keep Doing It, No Reason To Chase Trends.

You Have No Control Over Other People's Taste, So Focus On Staying True To Your Own.

If I Think About Most Of America, And Maybe I'm Terribly Wrong...but I Think Most Of America Would Say That They're Not In Favor Of Gay Marriage. But There Is Certainly A Large Cohort, Not A Majority But A Large Number Of People, Who Are Articulate And Vocal And They'd Rally Behind This. They're Making Their Opinion Known.

I Learned Quickly That If The Student’s Perception Is That You’re Not Listening To Them, And Not Understanding Them, They Discredit You.

I Believe In The Semiotics Of Clothes. They Send A Message About How The World Perceives Us. For Me It Goes Beyond Clothes, It's Grooming. It's Accessories. It's The Whole Head To Toe Look.

I've Worn A Suit And Tie For Most Of My Life. And I Believe (for Me), It Makes Me More Confident Navigating The World.

I Have My Mantra About Silhouette, Proportion, And Fit. I Believe That When They Are In Harmony And Balance, You’ll Look Great In Anything.

I Have My Flaws And My Issues, Past And Present And Who Knows What Will Happen In The Future. I Want People To Know Im Vulnerable Too And Each One Of Us Is.

Most People Wear Clothing That Is Too Big Or Too Small For Them. And "oversized" Is The Downfall For Most Of Us. We Have To Be Careful That We Don't Look Like We're Slipcovered!

And I'm The First One To Tell People To Break The Rules. But You Can Only Break The Rules Once You Know What The Rules Are. The Other Thing Is, Fashion Is The Last Design Discipline To Actually Have Academic Texts And Historical Analysis.

Remember, Channel Your Inner Winner.

The Fashion Industry At Large Has Been The Worst Public Relations Vehicle For Larger Women And Petite Women, They Are Both Maligned And Neglected. And I Honestly Do Believe It's Getting Better.

It's Man's Impact On Our World That Appeals To Me More Than Just Nature Running Wild.

When I'm Working In The Real World With Real Women And We're Shopping, We Find That Fashion Seems To End When You Get Any Larger Than A Size 12. How Ridiculous Is That?

With Fashion, You Really Need To Understand The Aspects Of Construction. Not Just Design On An Ipad.

I'm Honest About Expressing My Opinions. At The Same Time, I'm Diplomatic In How I Do Critique Things If I Have A Negative Response.

People Come Up To Me And Share Very Personal And Intimate Things With Me, And I Am So Touched By All The Trust They Have In Me.

As Long As We Have Netfix, Turner Classic Movies, Amazon, Youtube, And Bookstores, There Is No Excuse Ever To Lack Inspiration.

I'm Very Budget-minded Myself, And It Serves Me Well.

When It Comes To Dressing, Comfort Is Overrated. A Little Discomfort Probably Means Your Clothes Fit And They're Not Pajamas.

If You Want To, You Can Share My Teaching Refrain: I Can't Want You To Succeed More Than You Do.

Whenever People Tell Me They Don't Know How To Get Inspired, I Say "what's The Matter With You?! I Could Stay In My Apartment And Be Inspired!"

I Really Believe Things Happen For A Reason, And Sometimes That Reason Isn't Revealed Until Much Much, Much, Much Later.

My Manners Also Came From When I Was In College And Began Participating In Critiques. You Have To Speak With Someone Respectfully About Their Work And Be Honest And Open, Without Hurting Them.

Mood Has A Scuba Section? Who Knew?

I Understand The All Black Or All White Look (to Be Perfectly Blunt, It's Easy And You Don't Have To Think About It Very Much) But Would Any Of Us Really Want To Be One Of Those People?

And Brooke Elliott Is A Great Actress.

Trying And Acheiving Are Two Different Things.

I Will Say That The High Road Can Get So High That You Can Get A Nose Bleed, In Which Case You Have To Get Off The High Road.

As I've Matured, I've Developed More Confidence In Pattern Mixing And In Having A Slimmer Fit And In Taking Some Risks, And I Enjoy It!

I Love Modern Family But It's Among A Handful Of Favorite Shows.

My Advice To The 10 Year Old Daughter Is: Fashion Happens In A Context. It's Societal, It's Cultural, It's Historic, It's Economic, And It's Political. So All Of Her Studies, Everything That Is Happening In The World, All Needs To Be Channeled Through Her In Order To Be A Good Designer.

I'm Much More Of A Leo Than I Am A Cancer.

I Don't Know Why I've Always Been So Captivated By Architecture.

I've Made More Bad Decisions At 3 In The Morning Than I Can List!

I Learned Early On In Teaching How Easy It Is To Hurt A Young Person And That's Never My Intention.

When It Comes To My Vocabulary, I Felt A Responsibility When I Was Teaching To Raise The Bar Of Conversation In My Classroom. And With My Own Students, I Refused To Let Them Use The Phrase "i Like" Or "i Don't Like" When We Were Engaged In A Critique.

The Element Of Fashion I'd Like To See More Often? Clothes That Fit People Well. For Me It's Not So Much About The Clothes.

Most Designers Want To Show Apparel That Makes The Wearer Look As Long And Lean As Possible. And Most People Who Buy Clothes Want To Look As Long And Lean As Possible.

I Found Early On In Teaching, If You're Too Blunt An Instrument, The Students Discredit You And Think You're Just Being Mean. They're Not Interested In What You Have To Say.

We Shop Out Of Boredom, For Release, For Excitement, For A Sense Of Achievement, For A Sense Of Control Over Our Unruly Existences. And Every So Often, We Shop Because We Need Something To Wear.

I Am A Stickler For Good Manners, And I Believe That Treating Other People Well Is A Lost Art. In The Workplace, At The Dinner Table, And Walking Down The Street--we Are Confronted With Choices On How To Treat People Nearly Every Waking Moment. Over Time These Choices Define Who We Are And Whether We Have A Lot Of Friends And Allies Or None.

It's So Important To Reach Out To People You Trust, And Who Can Give You Honest Feedback, And Keep Those People Close To You. You Don't Want To Surround Yourself With Enablers.

At All Costs, Avoid Clothes That Are Too Big. The More Volume Your Clothes Have, The More Volume You Appear To Have.

I'm Not Sure What The Moral Is Here...i Really Just Wanted To Tell That Story.

Few Activities Are As Delightful As Learning New Vocabulary.

But If Fashion Were Easy, Wouldn't Everybody Look Great ?

I Learned From Teaching. If You Are Perceived By The Student To Be Belittling Them Or Purely Criticizing Them Without Offering Up Words Of Encouragement And Support, They Shut Down And Discredit You.

If You Had Pockets, You Were Associated With A Labor Force. It Meant You Had Things To Carry Yourself. Otherwise, Your Lady's Maid Or Your Manservant Would Have Done It For You.

I Would Say This To My Students All The Time, It's About 30% You As The Teacher And 70% About Them. They Tend To Think That Their Role Is To Be The Baby Bird In A Nest And You're Going To Feed Them? They're Going To Feed Themselves, Or They're Going To Starve.

I Believe That Treating Other People Well Is A Lost Art.

There's Nothing I Like Better Than Going To My Apartment, Closing The Door, Cooking My Little Dinner For One And Just Tuning Out. My Apartment Really Is My Haven. It's A Nest Where I Go To Heal.

I Would Certainly Rather The Industry Not Go Broke, But If That's What It Takes For Everyone To Acquire Some Values And Lose That Sense Of Entitlement, Maybe A Little Belt-tightening Wouldn't Be So Tragic.

I Say Long And Lean As Opposed To Tall, Because You Could Be 5 Four And Look Long And Lean.

So Perhaps The Real Secret To Style Is Filling Yourself To The Absolute Brim With Engagement. Loving Not Wisely, But Too Well And All That.

There’s One Thing I Will Not Do, Ever: I Will Never Talk To You About Things You Cannot Change. It Plants A Negativity In The Head Of A Designer Or The Student, And It’s A Distraction.

Leggings Are Everywhere, Indeed. Personally, I'm Not Crazy About Them, But They Can Look Great With The Right Look, A Tunic, For Instance, Or A Long Cardigan. Just Don't Try To Dress Them Up!

I Do Things Like Hem A Pair Of Pants, I Do My Own Tailoring But I Wouldn't Attempt A Jacket.

Whoever's Designing For Plus-size Doesn't Get It. The Entire Garment Needs To Be Reconceived. You Can't Just Take A Size 8 And Make It Larger.

I Always Say I Have A Socratic Approach To Most Things That I Do. I Pummel People With Questions, Because I Need To Know What They're Thinking, What They're Trying To Achieve, What They Believe The Final Outcome Is Going To Be.

My Best Life Advice:take The High Road.no Matter How Much Stress, Or Strain, Or Consternation You Are Facing, Take The High Road.you Will Never Regret It.

You Can Be Too Rich And Too Thin, But You Can Never Be Too Well Read Or Too Curious About The World.

I Just Think The Kardashians Have An Absence Of Taste And I Don’t Think That That Should Be Perpetuated. I’m Sorry I’m Sounding Like An Old Farty, Snob, But It Bothers Me.

I Don't Believe In The Scraping Of Stuff. Take The Existing Condition, Offer Up A Diagnosis For What's Wrong, And A Prescription For Making It Work.

I Grew Up With An Absolutely Horrible, Debilitating Stutter, And It Was What Caused Me To Retreat Into Myself And Caused Me To Have Very Few Friends And Not Want To Socialize, And It Made Me Absolutely Terrified Of Giving Reports In School. It Was Awful. It Wasn't Until I Was 19 That I Had Intensive Speech Therapy. I Had It For Two Years And It Really Helped, Though I Will Say When I'm Tired, The Stutter Comes Out, Even Now.

I Have To Have My Coffee. I Probably Have Three Cups A Day, But Only Before Noon.

Models Come In All Sizes And Shapes.

If You Told Me When I Was A Teen That I Would End Up Being A Teacher, I Would Have Said You're Out Of Your Mind, Because Quite Frankly I Hated School.

I Have Heard Women Complain About Men Holding Doors For Them,, As If It Is Inherently Offensive And Implies That They Are Weak. ... I Would Hold A Door For Anyone. ... It Has To Do With Noticing Our Fellow Human Beings And Saying, "i Recognize That You're On This Planet, And I Don't Want A Door Hitting You In The Face.

The Color, The Shape, And The Texture--none Of It Is Accidental. Every Item We Wear Has A Glorious (or Sometimes Not So Glorious) History, And That History Extends Back Years--centuries, Even--before Oscar De La Renta's 2002 Collection.

People Believe That If You're Concerned About The Clothes You're Wearing And The Larger Aspects Of Your Appearance, That It's Anti-intellectual. I Say "hogwash!" The Clothes We Wear Send A Message About How The World Perceives Us.

Life Is A Collaboration, It's Not A Solo Act.

It Was Very Challenging To Mentor The Mentors, And Yes, You Do See More Sides Of My Personality.

If I Could Predict The Trends, They Would Already Be There.

Men: Don't Wear The Untucked Shirttail. It Cuts You In Half, Which Is A Very Bad Proportion. Think Of Yourself As A Series Of Thirds. So When The Shirt Is Tucked In, You're 1/3 On Top, 2/3 On The Bottom.

I Really Cherish Having My Private Time And Being Alone And Being Able To Decompress. It's My Own Version Of Meditating.

Success Needs To Be Measured According To The Ambitions And The Resources Of Each Designer. And Many Aren't Interested In Being A Megabrand.

On My First Day Teaching My Own Classroom, I Threw Up Before I Entered The Building.

I Love Shopping On A Budget. I Believe That More Fashion Mistakes Are Made By People With Deep Pockets Than By Those Who Shop On A Budget.

Being In The Moment Is Everything. So Being In The Moment For Me Is Just Letting The Narrative Play Out, Listening To The Designers And Giving Them Helpful Feedback About What They're Doing.

I Have A Very Socratic Approach - I Pummel The Designers With Questions, So When I Get Them To Step Back From The Work And Look At It With Me, They'll Eventually See What I See, Coming To It Fresh And Unencumbered. That's Always Very Gratifying Because They Feel A Responsibility And An Ownership Of A Solution.

I Want To Say To Anyone Who Works In A Drone Workplace, Raise The Bar! There's No Reason Why You Have To Dress To The Lowest Common Denominator.

I've Had My Own Moments In Front Of Designers When I've Actually Said, 'you Know, There's A Market Here For Expanding Your Work, And Here It Is. And Frankly, There Are Two Markets: The Women Who Are Larger Than The 12, And Then There Are Women Who Are Petite. And Most Designers That I Talk To Have Absolutely No Interest In Addressing Either Of Those Populations, Which I Find Repugnant.

I'm Frequently Introduced As A Fashion Designer, And I Quickly Say I'm Not, And Instantly People Are Incredibly Disappointed And Think That I'm Some Sort Of Charlatan Who's Been Perpetuating This Falsehood.

I'm Doing All That I Can To Prod The Industry And Get Them To Pay More Attention [to Larger Women And Petite Women]. Because I Find It To Be Reprehensible And Repugnant That Two Populations That Are So Pervasive In This Nation Should Be So Badly Neglected.

I Wouldn't Know What To Do On A Date. I Don't Have The Time. To Make A Relationship Work, I'd Have To Give Something Up, And I'm Not So Sure I'm Willing To Do That.

A Couple Of Things For The Not-so-diminutive Man: Avoid Any Prints That Are Large Scale, Because You Will Look Like The Print Is Wearing You, As Opposed To You Wearing The Print.

When Someone New Walks Into A Room, The First Thing We Notice About That Person Is Probably Their Gender. And The Second Things Is What They're Wearing. And Based On What They're Wearing, We Start Making Certain Assumptions About Them.

May I Respond By Merely Saying, "i Hate Crocs. May They Please Go Away."

I Believe In Letting Karma Do Its Thing. What Comes Around Goes Around.

The Clothes We Wear Send A Message About How The World Perceives Us.

Take The High Road. No Matter How Much Strife, And Consternation, Frustration And Anger You Might Be Confronted With - Don't Go To That Level.

My Role As The Chair Of The Fashion Department At Parsons Put Me Face To Face With All The Big Designers, Retailers, And Editors. Since I Was Moving In These New Circles Regularly, I Realized I Needed To Do Something About My Own Personal Style. It Was Really Diane Von Furstenberg Who Gave Me The Nudge.

I've Been In Situations Where I've Said To Young People: "you're So Personable, You're So Articulate, You're Clearly So Bright, You're So Good-looking - Feel Better About Yourself!" But If At The Core If You Don't, All Those Words Mean Nothing. Absolutely Nothing.

Go To Lord & Taylor On Fifth Avenue, I Think It's The Eighth Floor, And It's Just A Department Called 'woman.' It's Rather Devastating. You've Never Seen Such Hideous Clothes In Your Entire Life. I Mean, It's Simply Appalling. Thank God There Are No Windows On That Floor, Because If I Were A Size 18, I'd Throw Myself Right Out The Window [after Seeing Those Clothes]. It's Insulting What These Designers Do To These Women.

I'm Constantly Reminding Myself That The World Owes Us Nothing. We Have To Make Our Way And We Have To Work Hard, Persevere And Make Our Own Way In The World Because The World Isn't Waiting For Us, So Let's Let The World Know We Are Here.

Remember Someone Is Going To Be Out, So Don’t Make It You.

I Haven't Had A Date In 26 Years.

I Will Always Be There In The Wings Saying, 'you Need To Be Good To People. You Need To Take Your Work Seriously. You Need To Have Integrity. You Need To Work With What You've Got.

When It Comes To Project Runway, For Me The Most Memorable Look Ever Presented Goes Back To Season One, Episode One, When Austin Scarlett Created A Ravishing Cocktail Dress Out Of Cornhusks. It Was Really Amazing.

Just The Way It Never Rains When You Have An Umbrella, You'll Never Run Into People If You Look Fantastic. But Go Outside In Pajamas, And You'll Run Into Every Ex You Have.

I've Never Said I'm A Fashion Designer.

Fashion Designer

We Need To Treat Each Other With Consideration. In My World, The Squeaky Wheel Does Not Get The Grease.

I'm Really Not A Trend Promoter Because I Feel That People Push Trends On People They Shouldn't.

I'm Constantly Correcting Young People And Fashion Students In This Nation When They Say "well, I Do Couture." By Definition, You Don't. You Have To Be Licensed By The Government Of France To Do Couture. So Don't Use That Term. You Can Say That You Do One-of-a-kind, You Can Say It's Custom, But You Can't Say It's Couture - Because It's Inaccurate.

The Fit Of Jeans Can Be Worlds Apart From Brand To Brand. If You Can Find The Right Fit, Skinny Jeans Can Be Very Flattering.

I Have One Brand I Go To, And It's Suit Supply, And It's Fantastic. I Was Spending $3,500-$4000 On A Suit, And The Suit I'm Wearing Today Was $500. And They Last You Forever. The Shoulders Are Set In By Hand, It's Phenomenal.

What's Interesting About Textiles Is That They Are Determined About Three Seasons In Advance, That's Why When You Walk Into A Store You Think "gee, Everything Looks About The Same."

I'm So Lucky. I've Met A Lot Of Famous People.

If I Had To Choose A Single Destination Where I'd Be Held Captive For The Rest Of My Time In New York, I’d Choose The Metropolitan Museum Of Art.

I'm Conflicted. On One Hand, I Don't Want To Say That Because You Were A Man And Now You're A Woman, You Can't Be In A Women's Fashion Show. But I Feel It's A Dicey Issue. The Fact Of The Matter Is, When You Are Transgender - If You Go, Say, Male To Female - You're Not Having Your Pelvis Broken And Having It Expanded Surgically. You Still Have The Anatomical Bone Structure Of A Man.

I Believe That It's Very Important To Get To Know People With Whom You Can Have A Substantive Dialogue About Design And Its Development. In Addition, Read Everything About Fashion That You Can Get Your Hands On. A Palpable Point Of View Is What Makes A Designer, So You Need To Be Confident About Yours.

I Don't Know If People Have Gotten Ruder Or If My Tolerance Level Has Declined.

We Can Wear Whatever We Want And Get Away With It. Just Be Confident About Being Who You Are And Dressing For That Person.

I Believe Women Do The Best Womenswear.

I Am The Anti-trend Guy? I Don't Believe In Chasing Trends. And Before Anyone Shops, I Believe You Benefit From Doing A Closet Inventory. Ask Yourself What Am I Wearing, What Am I Not Wearing, And You'll Probably Discover Things You Didn't Even Know You Had.

The Pervasive Idea Is That If You're A Man In The Fashion Industry, You're Gay Until Proven Otherwise. And Of Course There Are Lots Of Men Who Aren't. But People Make Certain Assumptions.

Frankly, From My Perspective, The Bomber Jacket Is Such A Classic Item You Can Wear It Even When It's Not On Trend.

Trending Author

Category