Quotes from Tim Gunn

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

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.

Perhaps you like to torture yourself by trying on some jeans from a few years ago to see if you can button them. Clothes do not exist to humiliate their owners. Please do not force garments into performing psychological tasks for which they were not designed.

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.

Until the sixteenth century, men—priests, academics, judges, merchants, princes, and many others—wore skirts, or robes. For men, the skirt was a 'sign of leisure and a symbol of dignity,' writes Quentin Bell. This is still true for men in high positions. After all, can you imagine the Pope, or Professor Dumbledore, wearing trousers? Have you ever seen a depiction of God wearing pants?

The work is at such a high level and is so well executed, it really is a matter of taste... [Source: Project Runway — but consider, applied to the theme of book reviews, it seems apropos!]

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly." —Epictetus

In 1916, Infants' and Children's Wear Review insisted upon pink for boys and blue for girls. In 1939, Parents magazine claimed that pink was a good color for boys because it was a pale version of red, which was the color of Mars, the war god. Blue was good for girls because it was the color of Venus, and of the Virgin Mary. So, pink for girls is a relatively recent trend, and utterly random.

Until the twentieth century, the T-shirt's role was strictly to form a barrier between a man's body and the more valuable clothing he actually wanted the world to see.

You have no control over other people's taste, so focus on staying true to your own.

This is one of the pitfalls of being nice: You end up overexerting yourself. That's why one of the most important things to learn after you master good behavior is how to say no gracefully. It's ultimately better for everyone, because you don't burn out and wind up in a mental institution, making you no good to anyone at all.

In a manner of speaking. I certainly never want to lose my voice as an educator.

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.

Does a man need to know what a peplum is? Probably not.

I love HGTV. I love the Food Network.

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.

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?

I believe women do the best womenswear.

It's not an area where designers want to focus or pay attention - women who are larger than a size 12.

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.

I love HGTV. I love the Food Network.

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.

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

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.