TV Jots

Everyone’s Favorite Mentor Speaks

It’s almost time to make it work again, Project Runway aficionados. The long-running fashion reality series kicks off its eighth season tonight, July 29, at 9pm ET with the premiere “And Sew It Begins,” a fresh crop of aspiring designers, and a new 90-minute running length. However, despite the expected changes, viewers will still have the advantage of knowledgeable insight from resident guru Tim Gunn, as always.

The Lifetime show’s signature mentor recently devoted some time to answering questions about what Project Runway has in store for fans this summer. Continue reading to learn a bit about the latest contestants, their relationship with Gunn, and a few other interesting tidbits, including the origin of his trademark phrase “make it work,” which has become synonymous with the Emmy-winning series.

What can we expect to see more of in Project Runway‘s new 90-minute format?

TIM GUNN: I haven’t seen a cut of the show yet. I honestly don’t know how the additional time is being filled. I will say this, though: based on seven seasons of experience, we have so much content that never ever reaches the air that it should not be an issue for the editors and the producers in general to fill that time.

When I reflect upon season seven, we barely see the Q&A between the judges and the designers.We barely hear anything out of the deliberation. You get a sound bite, when in fact the Q&A and the deliberation go on anywhere from four to six hours. So, you think about it — if you just want to be a fly on the wall, it’s very easy to fill in that time.

Frankly, I’ll say, somewhat egotistically, I feel the same way about my critiques in the work room. You would think that I check in with four designers, sometimes only three, when, in fact, I’m giving equal time to everybody. So, there’s a lot of material that never reaches the air that now our 90-minute format conceivably can.

Season Eight now has 17 designers, the most in the series’ history. Have you seen a significant difference in working with more contestants? Are there certain challenges that come along with this increase?

TIM GUNN: For me, yes. Even when it’s 16 people and it’s so many designers and just making the rounds of the work room takes forever. And I have to tell you, I end up being, in some ways, spent and just exhausted physically and mentally because it’s a lot of work for me to really understand what each individual designer is attempting to achieve and then how to speak to them about my view of how successful this is or not and what I believe would benefit them. It requires a lot of brain searching and conjuring up former experiences.

How does having 17 designers change the dynamic of the show? Will it just be one extra elimination or does it change the whole thing?

TIM GUNN: Well, we’re so close to the show, maybe I’m giving something away, but that’s alright. What Heidi and I say is that our intention was to have 16 designers for Season Eight. We couldn’t make up our mind once we got it down to 17 about who should go, so we’re using the first challenge to determine that. So, in a way, the first episode is the last stage of the audition process.

How would you describe the Season Eight cast dynamic and how they relate to each other?

TIM GUNN: They are very respectful of each other and disarmingly willing to help each other. We have a couple of speed demons who are sewing prodigies who offer up their services to other designers, and I kept thinking, “Well, this dynamic’s going to change.” I mean the fewer designers there are, the more competitive they’re going to feel with each other, and, in fact, if anything, they’ve become closer.

From where I sit as the mentor, it’s very sweet and touching. I hope our audience doesn’t want a lot of blood-spill because, with a couple of exceptions, they’re not going to see very much of that. Though there is a group, a team challenge, when we have more team members than we’ve ever had in the history of Project Runway, I mean in terms of number of people on the teams.

There is someone who reveals him- or herself — again, I don’t want to give away gender — as being this big bossy boots, and it will be interesting to see how people respond to that episode because there was not to be a team leader among the team members. It was to be a collaborative democracy. In the case of one of the teams, it was not.

So, that was an aspect of that individual’s character that I can’t say that I was totally surprised by because I knew certain things about that individual that had been revealed earlier in the season. But I was floored that there wasn’t a giant retaliation from the team. So, later in the challenge, I retaliate. I couldn’t stand it any longer.

Are there any breakout personalities in the season? Are there are any who stand out to you as larger-than-life personalities, like Season One contestant Austin Scarlett and Season Two contestant Santino Rice?

TIM GUNN: Oh, yes. Well, there’s only one Santino, and I say the same about each individual designer. They have their own DNA. I will tell you this, too, because I reacted this way at the very beginning of the season. There are some people about whom the audience will think, “Oh, they just put them on there for television.”

In fact, they really are who they are. That individual is that individual, and the work that they do is exceptional. So, even I, at the very beginning, was a little jaded and a little cynical, like, “Oh, come on.” Though I saw everyone at the auditions, I don’t know who will actually end up on the show and I stand corrected. Their talent is unimpugnable.

How do you feel this season’s group compares to the previous ones?

TIM GUNN: It’s a very interesting group, and in terms of the chemistry among them, one that I’ve never really experienced in a prior season. It’s for this reason, they’re very fragile. They’re fragile in terms of their emotional well-being. They’re fragile in terms of their ego. So, I always felt as though I was tiptoeing around glass that I didn’t want to break while still delivering what I’m responsible for delivering and what’s good for them, [namely] a truth-telling session in the work room and an opportunity for them to look anew critically and analytically at their work.

And I will also say I don’t know of a prior season when I have felt such profound fondness for everyone, even one designer with whom I have a serious antipathy at the beginning of the season. It dissipates, and we become pals later. It was very hard. We just wrapped this week, and it was very hard to say goodbye to them.

If you could just use three different words to describe this season, what would they be?

TIM GUNN: Oh dear. “Hot” because New York has never been hotter, and we’ve spent a lot of time outdoors. I’m trying to search for something that doesn’t sound banal.

Well, I’ll use another word: “Emotional.” I’m probably more emotional this season than I’ve ever been. It has to do with how hard everyone’s working and how — I’m welling up right now — how lovely everyone is. They’re a great group. Oh, I know. Let me use another word. So, we have hot and emotional.

“Frustrating,” and it goes back to the judging. I’ve always had my blog both to talk about the outcomes, because people don’t hear me talk about the final looks, but also to vent a bit. In a way I’m glad to have this on-camera time in this beat of the show to just say how I feel about what happened.

In fact, the producers had wanted me to step into the judges’ circle, and I refused to do that. It’s “No. I’m not going to.” I don’t want to do anything to either undermine them or to potentially influence their decision making in a future challenge. They need to do what they do, and I respect what they do. I believe in the separation of church and state, so I do not engage with them.

Do you still keep in touch with past designers from previous seasons?

TIM GUNN: I do. I mean, as much as they want to keep in touch with me. I’m very careful not to force myself upon anyone, but the designers do get back in touch with me either about professional advice or they just want to have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and I’m thrilled to see them.

It’s frustrating when people don’t take your advice or your suggestions, but you always seem to remain pretty cool. How do you do that?

TIM GUNN: Well, it comes through 29 years of teaching and knowing that with some degree of frequency, I’ll leave the classroom just to give the students a little bit of breathing space and I figure that they’re probably trash talking about me. My refrain during these 30 minutes is going to be I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know how it’s going to play out.

There’s a designer this season who takes it upon him- or herself — I don’t want to reveal a gender — to walk around to the designers after I’ve done my critique to add comments about this designer’s viewpoint of whether I gave each designer good advice or bad advice and what this particular designer would advise them to do. And I reached a point where I will say I became rather frustrated by it because I thought I don’t want this individual to be undermining what I say.

So, at one point when I’m leaving the work room, I declare it to the entire room: “Listen to your own voice. You may have someone coming up to you suggesting that that individual knows better than you what you should be doing with your work, but that individual’s not responsible for your presentation of your work on the runway. So, in fact, if you’re recalibrating your thinking based on what this person’s telling you, I would advise against it.”

Where did your catch phrase “make it work” come from? Is that something that you started saying while teaching?

TIM GUNN: Oh, absolutely. It came from my classrooms and, in fact, I even remember the first time I used it. This was the senior year class and the course I was teaching was Concept Development, and it works in tandem with a course in which the students actually execute their collection. I had a student who— It was March [and] she was going to throw the entire collection away, literally and metaphorically, and start a new one.

I said, “We are presenting these collections in four weeks. You’re looking at five months of work, and you’re saying you’re going to get rid of it and start all over again?” I said, “You’re not. You’re going to look at the situation at hand, offer up a diagnosis for what’s wrong, a prescription, and then a prescription for how to make it work. You’ve got to make this work. You’re not going to start all over again. Period.”

This was many years ago this happened. I find that with students that they then end up having this incredible resource within themselves for how to problem-solve as they move forward as opposed to just starting all over again. And, okay, it works, but do you know why? So, it’s a very useful lesson.

On Project Runway it’s nothing if not “make it work,” because as I’m always saying to the designers, once we leave mood, that’s it. Whatever you have is what you have, and you’re not going shopping again. You’re not retooling this. It’s “make it work” time.