Tim Gunn earned his starpower by just being his dapper self.
That, and overcoming his stutter, taking inspo from Picasso, and cooking a mean meatloaf
alongside his Emmy.
Here's how everyone's favorite design mentor really makes it work.
Today, he's one of the greatest teachers of his craft.
But back when he was being bullied at school as a kid, Gunn wasn't a fan of the education
system.
As he revealed to Metro Weekly,
"I had a really terrible, terrible stutter that caused me to shy away from people in
general.
It had a very negative impact on me at school.
People teased me about it.
I was not a popular kid."
"It was a period of tremendous questioning and tremendous anxiety."
Considering his Emmy-nominated TV show, his multiple New York Times' best seller status,
and his hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, we'd say he's pretty popular
now.
And he's more than happy to share his knowledge with his students.
He told NPR,
"As someone who spent his childhood and teen years absolutely hating, hating, hating, hating
school, to think that I would become a career teacher — that opportunity was a big, big
break."
It turns out that Gunn never actually planned for a career in the fashion industry.
But in 1983, New York City's Parsons School of Design was on the search for an assistant
director of admissions.
It was originally a 12-month gig, and Gunn fit the bill.
He recalled to Forbes,
"I was a mister fix-it and sent into the fashion department for ostensibly a year to work with
the faculty and students."
"As long as they're true to their own brand and they're respectful and they're good citizens
of the world, I'm a perfectly happy camper."
He fit like a glove.
Gunn was instrumental in the school's success and became an essential part of the university's
design program for 29 years.
He shared with the outlet,
"I believe that I was successful in repositioning the curriculum and teaching pedagogy because
I'm not a fashion designer.
I didn't have a particular point of view that I needed to hold up and protect."
Soon, Gunn's passion would land him on the small screen — but he was never supposed
to be on camera.
As a renowned advisor at Parsons, he was tapped for a then-upcoming fashion-focused reality
TV show.
He told Forbes,
"I was a consultant to the producers and my role in the show was in no one's vocabulary."
"I was constantly growing and evolving as a teacher, and I feel as a mentor on 'Project
Runway' I've been constantly growing and evolving."
For Season 1, Gunn agreed to chat up contestants so producers could get footage of the designers
explaining their work — and revealing a little personality.
He recalled,
"I knew that the cameras were rolling but never dreamed that I would actually be in
the cut of the show.
I thought as long as the producers have the designers responding to me, no one needs to
see me or hear my voice."
Today, of course, fans of the show couldn't have imagined the series without him.
Bowing out after a whopping 16 seasons, Gunn recalled to Entertainment Weekly,
"I am grateful to 'Project Runway' for putting me on a path I never, in my wildest dreams,
thought my career would take me!"
We're all familiar with Gunn's most famous advice from the show:
"Make it work."
But as it turns out, he first doled out the phrase at Parsons long before "Project Runway"
was ever a thing.
And it all started with students who were frustrated with their work.
Instead of suggesting they start over, he explained to The Commonwealth Club of California,
"This 'abandoning of a problem at hand' is not good for them.
If they sit with it, offer up a diagnosis of what's going wrong, and then figure out
a prescription for how to make it work, they have a whole new set of resources to go into
their problem-solving arsenal."
But when it came to making great TV, designers on "Project Runway" had no other choice than
to make it work as they fought against the clock.
With the series having made its debut 9 years earlier, Gunn finally won his Emmy for outstanding
host for "Project Runway," in 2013.
And what better way to showcase the award than by displaying it in his favorite room
of his New York City apartment: his kitchen.
It turns out that, along with his love of fashion, Gunn is a bit of a foodie.
He even cooks dinner for himself pretty much every night of the week.
As he admitted to the New York Times,
"I actually make a meal.
I don't like going out."
So what's on the menu?
Well, he reportedly throws down on a mean meatloaf.
And according to The Kitchn, the dapper chef loads on the cheddar cheese and rolls it up
before it bakes.
Given Gunn's sense of style, it might be shocking to discover that he started out his career
in entertainment unpaid.
In 2015, it was revealed that Gunn first signed on to "Project Runway" for free.
As he explained to So Money,
"The first two seasons I wasn't paid at all, and I didn't know that people were paid for
reality television."
It wasn't until he was approached by a talent agent that he realized that people can actually
make money in reality TV.
Which was a blessing, considering that a livable wage in New York City was — and is — very
steep.
He recalled,
"I was making nothing, living paycheck to paycheck to paycheck.
That's how I've spent my life."
"Suddenly I was flying."
These days, the TV personality is estimated to be worth a cool $18 million.
Sounds like he's upgraded his going rate!
When it comes to his personal time, as a lover of history and art, Gunn gets his kicks at
The Met.
And not for the Gala.
A dedicated weekly patron of the museum, he told the New York Times,
"My Sunday routine is to walk to the Metropolitan Museum through Central Park.
It's delightful."
And, in honor of what he calls a "sacred place," Gunn gussies up for the event in a suit.
"When I visit The Met I dress up.
It's out of respect for the work."
But for the star, it's more than just a walk in the park, and peeping some world class
art.
He says it's essential for fashion industry professionals to know what catches the eye
of the public — in music, media, and more.
As he explained to Smithsonian Magazine,
"I'm always saying to my students you need to know the national and international news,
even the local news.
You need to know what movies people are going to see."
"Nice outfit."
Not only has Gunn lent his talents to TV, but he's also brought animated characters
to life, as well.
In a 2017 interview, he revealed what it was like to be a voice actor for Disney, telling
D23,
"It's totally and completely surreal.
I grew up with Mickey Mouse and Minnie and Pluto and Goofy."
"We now return to 'Projects Runway.'"
"Alright, designers, I'm David Hyde Pierce's father, Tim Gunn."
Gunn had already voiced a version of himself for "The Cleveland Show."
And he began his Disney career with "Sofia the First."
Then, in 2017, he was tapped for "Mickey and the Roadster Racers."
And clearly, he loved every minute of it.
As he told the outlet,
"It's a huge, wonderful honor.
[…] Whenever anyone asks me if there's something that I haven't done that I want to do, I say,
'Absolutely not.'
If nothing ever, ever happened to me again I couldn't feel more fulfilled and fortunate
than I am."
When it comes to unwinding after a long day on set, Gunn enjoys engaging in a little sparring.
But he didn't discover his love of fencing until later in life — age 62 to be exact.
"I started fencing four years ago and I am a fencing addict.
I can't get enough of it."
He told The A.V.
Club,
"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."
"I feel kinda rough 'n ready.
You wanna tumble?"
Of course, he would need some actual athleisure wear to really fit the bill.
Sweatpants, to be exact.
Before that point, Gunn had never fully grasped what he calls "the comfort trap."
As he once told TIME of stretchy pants,
"If you want to dress to feel as though you never got out of bed, don't get out of bed!"
"Sweatpants?!
It was like throwing garlic on a vampire."
Sounds like he's team sweatpants when he's really gotta work!
In 2009, Gunn became a bonafide Marvel superhero.
Well, at least on paper, for the comic "Models Inc."
While fashion and crime-fighting isn't exactly a typical mashup for the genre, Gunn told
"The Daily Show" at the time that it was a dream come true, adding,
"How it happened was that Marvel came to me.
They were reviving a comic from the '50s that was very popular called 'Millie the Model.'
The new iteration is called 'Models, Inc.,' and I am in one of the books."
While, tragically, his character has no superpowers, he does possess the same set of fashion-related
talents that Gunn does in the real world.
And there's the part where he got to wear the Iron Man suit.
Having spent decades in the industry, Gunn isn't afraid to speak out on the problematic
nature of some aspects of fashion.
He penned an essay for The Washington Post, writing in 2016,
"I love the American fashion industry, but it has a lot of problems.
And one of them is the baffling way it has turned its back on plus-size women."
"How can they turn their back on 85 million women in this nation alone."
After finding success as a design mentor on TV, Gunn quickly became a master counselor
to the world.
And he was approached by many women who felt they were being completely ignored by designers.
He wrote,
"There is no reason larger women can't look just as fabulous as all other women.
The key is the harmonious balance of silhouette, proportion and fit, regardless of size or
shape."
With the average American woman shopping for sizes 16 to 18, according to Byrdie, Gunn
is advocating on behalf of buyers as well as designers, to key into that yet untapped
market.
"All they can do is make more money."
Following the success of "Project Runway," Gunn bought his first New York City apartment.
And his love for interior design only escalated from there.
He even told the New York Post,
"If I wasn't in fashion, I'd be in interiors!"
Gunn describes his home style as classic, but also eclectic.
His walls are lined with books and knick-knacks he has amassed from his world travels.
He joked,
"I'm a collector, my greatest fear one day is I'll be a hoarder."
But some may be surprised to learn that Gunn's career actually began in architecture, although
after a semester of the stuff, he decided he wasn't feeling it.
From there, he dipped a toe into sculpting, with no success.
But as we know now, he's certainly found his niche.
When Gunn isn't busy saving everyone from fashion emergencies, and appearing all over
town, he likes to go a little more lo-fi with his entertainment.
And it's a movie that takes him back to his childhood, having watched it as a kid, whenever
it aired on TV.
As he told The A.V.
Club,
"For me ['The Wizard of Oz'] has more allure and sensationalism than all these computer-generated
things today."
But while it's a happy memory, Gunn says the movie terrified him as a kid and he would
watch it from under a blanket.
Still, it's an enduring favorite.
He told the outlet,
"I find the movie to be such an uplifting story of tenacity and perseverance and dreams."
We've all admired the fun and fabulous friendship that model Heidi Klum and Gunn have cultivated
over the years.
We watched them launch a hit series together in 2004, and then jump off their success,
to debut "Making The Cut" in 2020.
“Making the Cut, Making the Cut, Making the Cut!'"
"We are like proud parents."
At this point, it's pretty easy to forget that the two were once complete strangers.
But it was back when they stepped onto the set of "Project Runway" that they saw each
other for the very first time.
And Gunn was a nervous wreck.
He shared in a letter to Klum, via Good Housekeeping,
"There I was, standing next to you, my knees shaking and soaked in perspiration.
I had never been in the presence of a real star before, let alone an authentic supermodel."
Despite any initial awkwardness or butterflies, the two quickly made their way into the hearts
of America.
"Let's start the fashion show!"
"Hey.
That's my line."
As Gun shared in his letter to Klum in 2021,
"With 'Making the Cut,' we get to do what we love most: help find and promote the next
global fashion brand while enjoying each other's company.
[…] We're an odd couple, indeed, but with incomparable chemistry."
"Kind of like Lucy and…"
"Lucy and Ethel?"
"Mm-hmm.
I see that a little bit."
"Who's who?"
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