-Welcome to the show. -How are you?
-I'm fantastic. How are you doing? -I was like,
-"That's a great video." -It is a great video.
-Like, I haven't seen it. -It-It's a gorgeous video
of, uh, very gorgeous clothing and gorgeous women.
And what's interesting about that video is,
unlike many videos we see of people walking around
on a-a runway,
it seemed like the-the sizes and the shapes of the women
-were changing. -Yeah.
-Uh, that-that's a new thing. -(chuckles): Yeah.
-What's going on there? -Yeah. No, I know.
We decided a few years ago that we should, like, celebrate
-the people that are actually wearing the clothes. -Right.
So that made sense. And we were like, "Oh,
maybe the customer needs to look this way."
-So, yeah, that's why we did it. -It's a beautiful change.
-No, congratulations. -(cheering and applause)
You've...
A-As a designer, that's something
that you-you really have been focused on,
is finding a way to be more inclusive
in-in what your brands are about
and-and what your clothing is about.
For a long time, fashion felt like it dictated
what people should look like.
-Yeah. -But it seems like now designers are slowly saying,
"Hey, we should, in some way,
"try to represent the people who are out there
whilst also informing the trends."
-Why is that so important? -Yeah, yeah.
No, I mean, it's about, like,
this idea of celebrating people
or celebrating beauty and what is beautiful.
And I think that's-- I don't know, at least I found beauty
in all these different types of people,
whether they're men, women, trans,
-non-binary, whatever they are. -Right.
I think getting dressed should be the fun,
great moment for you.
So that's what I kind of decided was really important
as I build my brand and grow.
And I think that that's the easiest thing.
You really do bring fun into outfits.
-I mean, um, the Oscars, most recently, -Yeah.
was where we saw one of the most beautiful designs ever.
I think it was Billy Porter who was dressed
-in the tuxedo gown. -Yeah. Yeah.
-(oohing, cheering) -NOAH: Which, I mean... -Amazing.
-(cheering and applause) -Amazing.
-NOAH: It's gorgeous. -Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, Billy--
You know, what's so amazing about Billy, you know,
Billy is, like-- he's been in the business a really long time.
-Yeah. -You know, he's such a celebrated actor.
And he was like, "I've never been to the Oscars.
I want it to, like, be me."
And he was like, "I want to wear a gown."
And I was like, "Great. I've got two days. Let's go."
Like, I-- You know, I didn't even really think about--
I didn't really think about-- I was like,
"Oh, a man has never worn a dress
on a major red carpet like that."
But I think what was so great is actually seeing,
like, a young generation. I had so many,
like, kids and teens being like,
"Oh, I actually can feel like I can wear
"what I want to wear to school now
"because I saw Billy having this amazing moment
-"and having all these amazing actresses -Wow.
celebrate him." And, you know, it just was a nice thing.
Just to get that alone was worth everything.
It-it is fascinating how many people forget
that, like, when you're young, you look at pictures
-and you go, "That's what's normal or cool." -Yeah.
-It's everything. -Um, one of the people who's been
a trendsetter in that world, for many different reasons,
-is Janelle Monáe. -Yeah.
-And you had her outfit created-- -Love.
-and it was gorgeous-- for the Met Gala. -Met. Yeah.
I mean, it was one of the most popular outfits of the night.
-SIRIANO: It was amazing. Yeah. -It looks like-- -(cheering)
-it looks like art on a human being. -Yeah! (chuckles)
No, it was, like, kind of inspired by a distorted,
-kind of, Picasso painting, -Yes.
um, which was actually inspired by African masks.
So Janelle really liked that.
And she really wanted her eye to blink,
-so she blinked all night. That was... -Yeah, but, like,
-that-that-- No, that blink-- that eye -Yeah. Mm-hmm.
-actually blinks, which was creepy. -It did.
'Cause I was at-- I was at the-the Met Gala -Yep.
and then I was talking to Janelle and then, like,
-the thing blinked while we were talking. -Yeah. Uh-huh.
And then, uh, you know when you're like, "Did the...?"
But you don't want to ask, 'cause you seem like
a crazy person. You don't want to be like,
"Hey, is your dress blinking?"
-Yes. -It's-it's a weird moment.
She was like, "I just want people to say, like,
I'm hugging you with my eyes."
And I'm, like, you know-- It was a really--
It just was such a surr-- She wanted surrealism.
She wanted that moment. I mean, the theme was camp.
-Right. -It was like, "What are we gonna do?
How are we gonna bring something to life?"
And she's down for so many things and such a creator,
so it was really fun to do.
You've been working for such a long time.
You-You've really been someone who's-who's been grinding
and-and working to achieve
-a lot of the prestige that you have today. -Yeah.
You know, at one point, people tried to define you
-as only a winner of Project Runway. -Right.
-You've come back as a mentor now. -Yeah.
You know? You know, the CFDAs honor you
as one of the prominent, uh, designers in the world.
So when you are now mentoring designers
-who want to create things -Yeah.
that change how people see fashion in the world,
how do you try and give advice to them?
-What do you think they should look at doing? -Yeah.
No, it is a bigger thing. It is hard to kind of tell someone,
like, uh, what-- you know, what should be or should not be,
'cause I don't have all the answers. But I just try to--
try to treat it as, you know, get the thinking around it.
If it's-- okay, it's a red carpet challenge
and, you know, they're like, "Oh, this is for Beyoncé,
and this is it," and I'm like, "Well, if you're not celebrating
-the Beyoncé body, then it doesn't work." -Right.
So I try to give them those kind of ideas away
that maybe sometimes they don't think about it that way.
They're just like, "Oh, my God, I have to make a cool dress."
I'm like, "But it's more than that now."
I think clothes are more emotional than they used to be.
Um, it's the first thing we see.
It's kind of like when I, you know, dressed Michelle Obama
during, you know-- when I dressed her for the DNC.
It was like-- it-- that dress was an emotional thing
for one of the greatest speeches she ever gave, you know?
-Definitely. -Simple dress but spoke volumes.
-You know? -Right. That's-that's really what it has become.
-Yeah. -Uh, I'm excited to see what you're gonna create next.
-Yeah. Me, too. -You know? And-- Yeah.
I mean, I'm-I'm wearing a dress under the desk right now,
-so thank you for inspiring me. -I-I wish.
I appreciate you so much.
-Thank you so much. -Thank you for being on the show.
Project Runway airs Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. on Bravo.
For more information about Christian,
go to, uh, ChristianSiriano.com.
And you can also shop online. Christian Siriano, everybody.