We weren't kidding when we said Project Runway star, Tim Gunn, would be sharing a table at last week's White House Correspondence Dinner with Sanjaya Malakar.
Each reality TV star was a guest of People magazine.
Gunn looks really psyched to be posing in a picture with the American Idol castoff, doesn't he?
So much for those rumors that Project Runway casting calls for season four were a disaster.
At least according to one of the reality show's stars.
Fashion guru Tim Gunn says Bravo seems to have found enough designers to start its own clothing label, never mind film the popular series.
"We just finished auditions, and I will tell you, we found the most phenomenal designers," Gunn recently told The Seattle Times. "We could cast three seasons with the talent we saw."
Earlier this month, Bravo announced that the upcoming fourth season of its Emmy-nominated Project Runway series will not air as part of its Summer 2007 programming schedule; it will instead premiere in late 2007.
Casting for the series began in late March, and despite being busy with his new job as chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne; working on his new book, "Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style;" and casting for a Bravo reality series version of the upcoming book, Gunn was part of the process.
Never one to shy away from offering criticism to Project Runway's designers, Gunn apparently took the same approach to book editors who asked for clarifications on such Gunn-isms as "faux bois!" and "sturm und drang!"
"The editors said, 'Change these words, change this reference,'" Gunn said. "And I said, 'You know something, I can't do that.' If this is a problem for the reader, they can sit with a dictionary in their laps."
Sounds like the Tim Gunn we all know and love.
File this under "Random Gatherings."
People magazine has assembled a slew of reality TV stars and pseudo-celebrities to fill its table at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner tomorrow night.
To begin with, Sanjaya Malakar's hair-raising adventure will continue at the event. The recently dispatched American Idol contestant will attend the ceremony atWashington Hilton.
He'll be joined by People's guests that include: Valerie Bertinelli, Tim Gunn from Project Runway, Zac Efron of High School Musical, comedian Eddie Izzard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Bravo, along with show producers the Weinstein Company and Miramax, announced last week that Tim Gunn would be back to knock another season's worth of straight-talking design sense into the often feuding aspiring couturiers.
"I am thrilled to make it official that I will be back in the workroom for season four of Project Runway," Gunn told E!. "We are in the midst of casting the designers now, and I can already see that it will be another amazing season."
As previously announced Heidi Klum, will return in her capacity as host and judge on the show, alongside designer Michael Kors and Elle fashion editor Nina Garcia.
In December, Entertainment Weekly reported that Gunn was the only Runway player without a new deal, sending TV blogs into a tizzy with speculation that he would not return. In the months that followed, he changed day jobs, moving from chair of fashion at Parsons The New School of Design to chief creative officer of Liz Claiborne and got more TV gigs.
First, Bravo gave him his own series, Tim Gunn's Guide to Style (based on his book of the same title), and then he guested as a TV reporter on ABC's Ugly Betty in February. All the while, his Runway future seemed uncertain.
However, Gunn's importance to the series wasn't lost on producer Harvey Weinstein, who credited the fashion guru's "passion, creativity and dedication" to making the show "such a commercial and critical success."
While the new cycle of Runway won't air until this summer, the casting process kicked off last week in Los Angeles. Gunn, along with a contingent of the Emmy-nominated series' producers and last year's winner, Jeffrey Sebelia, gathered together to whittle through the wannabes, each of whom was required to show up with a sample of three articles of clothing and a portfolio.
Gunn told E! News that while such outré personas (think inaugural winner Jay McCarroll, season two finalist Santino Rice and Sebelia) were expected on the fashion-centric show, the primary criterion for prospective contestants was "design aptitude, not personality."Continue Reading...
