Tim Gunn Quotes

#1. 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.

Tim Gunn

#2. I don't particularly like entertaining. I know I should, but I just don't.

Tim Gunn

#3. 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!

Tim Gunn

#4. I had this wonderful career and thought I would retire as a teacher.

Tim Gunn

#5. 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.

Tim Gunn

#6. I pretty much stay true to myself and try to find the good in people and not be snarky.

Tim Gunn

#7. 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.

Tim Gunn

#8. Would I be more comfortable in a business meeting wearing my pajamas?
No! It would feel, honestly, very weird. I would think, Where's my IV? When do I take my next meds?

Tim Gunn

#9. I do things like hem a pair of pants, I do my own tailoring but I wouldn't attempt a jacket.

Tim Gunn

#10. I'm very budget-minded myself, and it serves me well.

Tim Gunn

#11. 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.

Tim Gunn

#12. 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.

Tim Gunn

#13. Life is a collaboration, it's not a solo act.

Tim Gunn

#14. 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.

Tim Gunn

#15. I'm really not a trend promoter because I feel that people push trends on people they shouldn't.

Tim Gunn

#16. But I will add, 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.

Tim Gunn

#17. I have my flaws and my issues, past and present and who knows what will happen in the future. I want people to know I'm vulnerable too and each one of us is.

Tim Gunn

#18. If you have to ask if a clothing item is a dress or a top, it is always a top.

Tim Gunn

#19. 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.

Tim Gunn

#20. We can wear whatever we want and get away with it. Just be confident about being who you are and dressing for that person.

Tim Gunn

#21. 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!"

Tim Gunn

#22. 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?

Tim Gunn

#23. We all had to search for more words to describe things.

Tim Gunn

#24. To cheer myself up, I try to remember the difference between short-term and long-term success. Living a good life and making a real mark on society is a marathon, not a sprint.

Tim Gunn

#25. In my typical way, I declined to respond, saying that I didn't want anyone to run to a store just because I endorsed a trend. Besides, a trend is good only if it works for you, your wardrobe, and your lifestyle.

Tim Gunn

#26. We no longer need fur for warmth and protection. There are plenty of textiles that provide that today. It's pure whim and vanity to choose to wear fur. It shows a level of ignorance or lack of concern that reflects poorly on the wearer.

Tim Gunn

#27. I also have no problem if you want to find a cave and have someone roll a boulder in front of it.

Tim Gunn

#28. 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.

Tim Gunn

#29. Trying and acheiving are two different things.

Tim Gunn

#30. 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.

Tim Gunn

#31. I love cooking. I cook for myself every day. I like the ceremony of it. It takes me into a different zone. I make a lot of pasta. But cooking for a crowd of five or ten or, heaven forbid, twenty? No, thank you. I don't like feeling like a slave to the care and feeding of my guests.

Tim Gunn

#32. It's man's impact on our world that appeals to me more than just nature running wild.

Tim Gunn

#33. Fashion was in a crisis up until the mid-'90s and, when it came out of the crisis, it was a very different place. It was a place that nurtured and cultivated young entrepreneurial designers.

Tim Gunn

#34. I can't imagine a more aesthetically offensive item of footwear than Crocs. That little strap! I shudder.
... I know Crocs are affordable. Well, so are Converse and lots of other brands that don't look like hooves.

Tim Gunn

#35. The clothes we wear send a message about how the world perceives us.

Tim Gunn

#36. 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.

Tim Gunn

#37. 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.

Tim Gunn

#38. Nothing makes me happier than working with real people in the real world.

Tim Gunn

#39. 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.

Tim Gunn

#40. 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.

Tim Gunn

#41. And Brooke Elliott is a great actress.

Tim Gunn

#42. 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.

Tim Gunn

#43. 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.

Tim Gunn

#44. 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.

Tim Gunn

#45. What I've learned from him is that boundaries are liberating. They can be readjusted all the time, but it's important to have them ... If you burn out, no one's going to benefit. So it's in everyone's interest for you to do what you can and then make it clear that you can do no more.

Tim Gunn

#46. 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.

Tim Gunn

#47. I really cherish having my private time and being alone and being able to decompress. It's my own version of meditating.

Tim Gunn

#48. I believe in letting karma do its thing. What comes around goes around.

Tim Gunn

#49. Life is a big collaboration. And we can't navigate it alone.

Tim Gunn

#50. Men's wear is all about tailoring.

Tim Gunn

#51. Frankly, from my perspective, the bomber jacket is such a classic item you can wear it even when it's not on trend.

Tim Gunn

#52. If someone doesn't ask, you don't have a moral obligation to say every thought that pops in your head.

Tim Gunn

#53. Don't give up! You're too talented. You're too good!

Tim Gunn

#54. I hate crocs. May they please go away.

Tim Gunn

#55. 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.

Tim Gunn

#56. Everyone has a best feature, so find clothes and accessories to accentuate those, whether it's your shoulders or your long legs!

Tim Gunn

#57. 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.

Tim Gunn

#58. I love HGTV. I love the Food Network.

Tim Gunn

#59. But 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.

Tim Gunn

#60. 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!

Tim Gunn

#61. I don't believe in texting while dining, sending one-word e-mails in lieu of formal thank-you cards, wearing shorts to the theater, or settling for any of the modern trends that favor comfort over politeness, ease over style. Manners are simply about asking yourself, What's the right thing to do?

Tim Gunn

#62. 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.

Tim Gunn

#63. I don't know why I've always been so captivated by architecture.

Tim Gunn

#64. If I could predict the trends, they would already be there.

Tim Gunn

#65. 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.

Tim Gunn

#66. This explosion of athletic wear and rompers is very ironic when you think about how much more sedentary we've become. As we've become less active and higher-tech, we're wearing more and more workout clothes.

Tim Gunn

#67. But 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.

Tim Gunn

#68. I don't know if people have gotten ruder or if my tolerance level has declined.

Tim Gunn

#69. On my first day teaching my own classroom, I threw up before I entered the building.

Tim Gunn

#70. 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.

Tim Gunn

#71. At all costs, avoid clothes that are too big. The more volume your clothes have, the more volume you appear to have.

Tim Gunn

#72. I've made more bad decisions at 3 in the morning then I can list!

Tim Gunn

#73. I say long and lean as opposed to tall, because you could be 5 four and look long and lean.

Tim Gunn

#74. As long as we have Netfix, Turner Classic Movies, Amazon, YouTube, and bookstores, there is no excuse ever to lack inspiration.

Tim Gunn

#75. 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?

Tim Gunn

#76. I'm one of the biggest introverts you could ever meet.

Tim Gunn

#77. 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.

Tim Gunn

#78. 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.

Tim Gunn

#79. Few activities are as delightful as learning new vocabulary.

Tim Gunn

#80. 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."

Tim Gunn

#81. 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.

Tim Gunn

#82. I believe women do the best womenswear.

Tim Gunn

#83. 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.

Tim Gunn

#84. 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.

Tim Gunn

#85. You know people like this, right? People who are incapable of enjoying anything.

Tim Gunn

#86. When it comes to dressing, comfort is overrated. A little discomfort probably means your clothes fit and they're not pajamas.

Tim Gunn

#87. I try to phrase criticism in the nicest possible way, but I also never lie. If people ask, I assume it's because they want to know. People are not dumb about these things; they can tell when a compliment isn't sincere.

Tim Gunn

#88. 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.

Tim Gunn

#89. Although there are few things easier than throwing on a dress, something about them communicates that you have made an effort.

Tim Gunn

#90. Every one of Dad's colleagues would eventually commit suicide, most by gunshot to the head, and every woman in their circle except for my mother would become a dysfunctional alcoholic. But in the fifties, they were all riding high.

Tim Gunn

#91. I believe that treating other people well is a lost art.

Tim Gunn

#92. 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.

Tim Gunn

#93. 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.

Tim Gunn

#94. 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.

Tim Gunn

#95. 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.

Tim Gunn

#96. People put on certain clothes for certain reasons, I assume, when their closet is filled with clothes.

Tim Gunn

#97. 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

#98. 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.

Tim Gunn

#99. I learned early on in teaching how easy it is to hurt a young person and that's never my intention.

Tim Gunn

#100. If you don't have experience sewing, start with that, because that will inform what you are able to design.

Tim Gunn