Tim Gunn Comments on Christian Siriano Victory

The Chicago Tribune recently spoke with Tim Gunn about the victory of Christian Siriano on this season of Project Runway.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: Every time I saw Christian's age next to his name on the screen, I'd remember, "He's only 21!" It's just astounding.
Tim Gunn: "It is astounding. When we had the auditions in New York, it was the last stop on the audition train. We'd already found a ton of great people with maturity and experience. When I saw Christian's paperwork, I turned to the producers and said, ‘Why are we seeing this kid?' And they said the people doing the prescreening saw something in him. And I said, ‘OK.'"

He came in and he had been in the room about 10 seconds, and I said to my fellow judges, ‘This is an old soul. This is not a 21-year-old kid.' The work blew me away. I've spent my life working with young people, working with students. The closest I've ever come to a real prodigy is the Proenza Schouler boys, Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez. But Christian just blows me away."

Q: His work has such vision for someone so young. It has that couture vision.
Gunn: "It's staggering. But that collection on the runway â€" it was wearable. You wouldn't be a shy wallflower, but it was wearable."

Read the full interview now.