Tim Gunn Tells Stylehive His Fashion Secrets For Girls AND Guys! - Stylehive

I think every woman wishes she had a miniature Tim Gunn to carry so she could consult him during fashion emergencies. Because when it comes to taste and style, Tim€™s opinion is at the forefront, especially on this season€™s Project Runway, where Tim Gunn's expertise has been showcased to the max, as the designers who follow his advice get praised, and those who don€™t, get pulverized.

I caught up with the style guru/mentor to learn from the master. Read on to see what Tim had to say about style, fashion faux-pas, and cultivating a unique sense of style.

Stylehive: As a contemporary style icon, what fashion guidance do you give to men?
Tim Gunn: I don't offer up prescriptions. I believe it is so much who the individual is and what they are comfortable wearing. Someone came up
to me on the subway and asked, 'How do you feel about bow ties?' I looked at him and he was wearing a bow tie and I said, 'YOU can carry this off. With your whole look it looks great on you.' But of course there is the risk that [someone else] could look like Pee Wee Herman and have it look like a costume. It's really about owning who you are and the message that your clothes send about you.

SH: What are some major fashion faux pas you've observed off the runway?
TG: The biggest fashion foibles people commit have nothing to do with fashion, but with fit. Most people's clothes in are too big or too small.

SH: Tell us about the crafting of you own style.
TG: I'm conservative certainly. But I have a little bit more of an edge than I used to have."

SH: How has your edge evolved?
TG: Well, to be wearing a chalk striped suit as opposed to a pinstriped suit and to be matching it with a striped silver tie €” that wouldn't have been the Tim Gunn of six years ago. I'm taking my own version of risks. For me, it's crazy when I look at it!

SH: Did being on television influence your transition to an edgier style?
TG: Actually no. It's because of my move from the Dean's Office to the Department of Design, I thought, 'I look like an old fart! I need to fix something'.

SH: How about fashion advice for women?
TG: Whatever they look really great in and can carry off with confidence. I'm open. If you can make me believe, I want to see what that is.

SH: Is it a burden being known as one of the most liked people on reality television?
TG: I don't know if I've come to terms with it. I can't help but be myself. It's a matter of will it be of interest to anyone? So much of this was developed while teaching. I found that if you are at all mean-spirited, dismissive, uninterested, stubborn or blocked in your point of view with your students they completely disengage. They shut down like a garage door. I have a respect for people and what they do.

SH: What do you wish fashion amateurs understood better about fashion?
TG: If you look at fashion from the point of view of shopping, then forget it. When you look at it from the point of view of design, innovation, experimentation and risk taking, it become a very different kind of sport.