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The Washington, D.C.-born Gunn is a longtime Manhattanite, and was serving as Chair of the Department of Fashion Design at Parsons The New School when Project Runway ushered him into the public consciousness. In March of 2007, after spending 23 years with Parsons (most of it as Associate Dean), he joined Liz Claiborne Inc. as Chief Creative Officer.

Urbane and erudite, with a warm laugh, instantly engaging rapport, and no shortage of anecdotes about his traveling experiences, Gunn is the perfect VIP lounge guest.

It’s an obvious first question, but what’s the best fashion city?
Well, I have my biases, but I’m going to say New York. The other cities you could potentially list: Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo, maybe even Moscow, they’re so much of a type you can almost predict what you’re going to see on the street. In NYC, there’s such incredible diversity, if you stand on a street corner and look around you at 40 people you’ll see 40 different looks, and the city accepts and embraces that. It’s one of the reasons I love being here.

April 27th, 2007 was declared Timothy M. Gunn Day in Palm Desert, CA. What should one do there or in nearby Palm Springs to commemorate the occasion in 2008?
There should be big signs up every year that say “Make it Work,” and another as one is exiting Palm Desert by the roadside, “Carry On.” People should not wear sweatsuits. It should be a day of practicing civility and looking clean and polished. And you should go to your favorite watering hole and have a Manhattan.

What is the most unusual local food specialty you’ve tried?
I was in Seoul, Korea. I’ve been pretty good about food in other places and typically accept it. I don’t want to be an ugly American, but I have my limits. My limit in this case was a dish of sea slug, and while wondering how I was possibly going to manage eating this thing, or even nibbling it, it crawled off my plate! I have to tell you, my bile rises now even telling the story, because I found the whole thing to be so excruciatingly nauseating!

Have you ever had a humiliating or horrific travel experience?
Lots of them! More horrific than humiliating, and it almost always involves the flight. There was a flight from Tokyo to New York, we had been flying for five hours and the pilot came on the speaker and said we had to return to Tokyo because we had been losing air pressure and couldn’t fly high enough to clear the mountains of Alaska. I thought, how about just telling us we have to go back to Tokyo?

Who would you hire to design the Tim Gunn Airline’s outfits?
I’d have Isaac Mizrahi do the female flight attendant uniforms and John Bartlett do the men’s. I’m a huge admirer of their work and they know how to infuse real world clothes with fashion so we won’t just have dumb uniforms. Something people feel proud to wear and passengers will comment positively about. Richard Tyler redesigned the Delta uniforms and when doing Season Three of Project Runway, we saw the new uniforms. I’ve been on dozens of Delta flights since then and have not seen the Tyler uniform! Where is it?

Your number one travel tip?
Never say no to an alcoholic beverage. Truly. It just takes the edge off.

If you could settle down and take up residency in any famous castle, house, or living space, which would it be?
[England’s] Blenheim Palace, hands down. I have delusions of grandeur. Even though huge and vast, it’s filled with all that wonderful big English upholstery so it looks enormously comfortable and has great vistas out of huge windows.

What is the first thing you do when you check into a hotel room?
Like most people, I check out the lay of the land. Inspect the bathroom and closet, look out the window, and pick up the hotel guide and look at the room service menu. I look to see where the minibar is, if there is one, and get myself organized. Not a very interesting answer, but practical!

What elements would make the dream turndown service?
I absolutely loathe and despise turndown service. When they come knocking at the door I say, “Thank you very much, I’m more than capable of doing this myself.” This is why I can’t have a maid. I don’t like [people] being in service to me. I pride myself on being a self-cleaning oven.

If you could take Project Runway’s infamous, ostentatious contestant Santino, who does a great impersonation of you, to a romantic restaurant, which would you choose?
(laughs) I’d have to take Santino to a private dining room, otherwise everybody in the restaurant would flee. I love and adore Santino, but boy oh boy, a little goes a long way. So Le Coupole. It’s a well-known restaurant in Paris where there’s such a din you can’t even hear yourself think. Santino would be perfect there. The food is wonderful, it’s a classic French bistro.

[Published: May, 2008]