Tim Gunn

I always say I have a Socratic approach to most things that I do. I pummel people with questions, because I need to know what they're thinking, what they're trying to achieve, what they believe the final outcome is going to be.

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.

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

I found early on in teaching, if you're too blunt an instrument, the students discredit you and think you're just being mean. They're not interested in what you have to say.

I've never mentioned this, but when I was at Parsons teaching, the other design disciplines, they don't like fashion design. They see it as very nineteenth-century.

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

I have my mantra about silhouette, proportion, and fit. I believe that when they are in harmony and balance, you'll look great in anything.

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.

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.

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.