September 14, 2007

Academic Intelligence

Frump & Circumstance

By PIPER FOGG

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Tim Gunn (Photograph by Robert Trachtenberg, Corbis Outline)

Tim Gunn, former chair of the department of fashion design at Parsons the New School for Design, achieved celebrity status when he appeared on the reality TV show Project Runway for three seasons. The elegant and erudite Gunn, 54, endeared himself both to the program's viewers and to its aspiring fashion designers. As adviser and critic to the contestants, who compete for cash, prizes, and the chance to continue on the show, he coined a phrase now familiar in fashion and fan circles, "Make it work," to goad designers on to glory. Although Gunn has left Project Runway and is now chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne Inc., he'll be back on the small screen this fall in Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, which begins this month on Bravo. The Academic Life sat down with him to discuss the state of faculty fashion. Following are excerpts.

Q: You are a fashionable academic, which some might say is an oxymoron. As an insider, can you tell us what's up with all the tweed in academe, and are elbow patches really ever in style?

A: I will say this: I believe if one is dressed neatly, and the clothes fit properly, and they're well groomed, I think one can pull off any look. And I think that elbow patches, tweed, Henry Higgins sartorial look can be really dashing, if done right.

But for so many people in the academic world at large, I really believe that disdain for fashion is something that they are quite proud of, and that they want to demonstrate in what they're wearing and how they're wearing it. It's a kind of an intellectual snobbery that says: My brain is important to me, and how I look is not, because it goes beyond the clothes. They're poorly groomed, they're schlumped over and practically drooling. I mean, I'm making some exaggerations here, but when I go to meetings with the rest of Parsons, I look around and think: Just comb your hair!

I think it has to do with the academics' perception of lifestyle in general, which is that they drive beaten-up, rusted-out old jalopies of cars, they tend to live in environments that are messy, piled high with stuffmainly booksand covered with dust. I say it comes from a disdain, but in some ways even that can be cultivated, though, so that is looks almost studied, like: Gee, did you buy a bag of dust and spread it around before I came over?

Q: So some professors actually take pride in looking dumpy?

A: They do, they really do.

Q: Kind of like reporters.

A: Are reporters really that way?

Q: Well, there are a lot of jeans.

A: But, you know, jeans can work. People can look really smart and stunning in a pair of jeans, but it all depends. I believe the origin of most fashion foibles has nothing to do with the actual article of apparel. It has to do with the fit of that article of apparel. And most people's clothes are simply too big or too small. And in the academic world, it's funny, it seems that everything above the waist is too big and every thing below the waist is too small. I mean, the flood pant is alive and well at the university.

Q: So what can professors do to spruce themselves up?

A: Well, the first thing that's required is that they want to do anything at all. I'd love to go in and simply transform the content of their closet, and they wouldn't have any choices other than walking around with nothing on. Clothes are a kind of semiology, and they send a message about how we want to be perceived.

When I was in the dean's office at Parsons — for years and years I was associate dean — I was a very buttoned-up, Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren kind of guy, and that's where I shopped. My clothes fit, and I was neat, but I was an old fart. I worked with some really wonderful deans, but they were stuffed shirts, and they dressed the part.

When I transferred over to the fashion department, I was dressing the same way. I thought, I need my own version of a makeover. I couldn't deny who I am, which is that I am very middle-aged, I'm very conservative, and I don't want to look like a float in a parade. But what can I do to have a little bit more of an edge, to be a little bit hipper? I mean, the fact that I'm even using that word betrays me.

I went out and bought a black-leather blazer, and for me that was really stepping out. A shirt and tie don't look appropriate with a black-leather blazer, but a black turtleneck can look smart, and you can wear it with a pair of striped dress pants, and you can wear it with jeans. It was a way of still being professional, still being appropriate — I think, in fact, more appropriate for the community in which I now work than I was before. Diane von Furstenberg doesn't look at me with this kind of wince any more, thinking: Who is this person?

As another design field, I'll use architects as an example. For the most part I really like the way men dress; it's really minimalist. It's that Helmut Lang, Jil Sander kind of look. But then there's the grooming aspect. That's when I want to say, Cut your nose hairs! It's so distracting, it's like, OK, yeah, the clothes work, but nothing else about this does. Women architects, of which we have a lot around Parsons, I mean, they all look like Jane Hathaway in The Beverly Hillbillies.

Q: Why do you think academics are so poorly dressed?

A: I really do think it's derived from a kind of intellectual snobbery that says, I'm above this. This is a phrase I hear all the time: Fashion is so ephemeral. And I do say to these people who are published and publishing more, What's more ephemeral than the written word? And I hate to get defensive about it, but within the design arena, let alone the wider academic world, fashion really is the F word. There's this unwillingness to engage in any kind of fashion dialogue. It's beneath them.

Q: But there must be some professors who are doing a good job. I mean, who would make your best-dressed list?

A: You can say you then heard deafening silence. I tend to romanticize it, and I think about ivy-covered walls and big sweeping lawns with giant oak trees and the whole era of when preppy was really what it was. Even in moviesGoodbye, Mr. Chips, Dead Poets Society, The History Boysit's romanticized. And I tend to carry that with me, and then I'm slapped with a wet washcloth when I wake up and realize, Oh, my God, it really is not quite like that.

When I think about people who teach and look great, they tend to be public figures who have another life but also teach. It's not at all about, You have to wear this, you have to wear that. That's why I say you can have the tweed jacket and the elbow patches and look great. It's also about caring about having a personal style. I don't know why we all don't. I would think that you'd want to care.

Q: What are the classic mistakes professors make?

A: The grooming aspect for me is big, and it's usually the hair. Everyone benefits from a good haircut. There's this sort of woven-around-your-head rat's nest that people do that goes back to: I'd rather read another chapter in this book than comb my hair and pin it up. I mean, we get it. But it would be nice to think you can do all of the above.

Q: Assuming a professor wants to improve his or her look, what are three things every professor should have in his or her wardrobe?

A: They need a good jacket. They need a pair of shoes that don't look like they were wearing them when they were 14 years old. They need a good watch. In each of these cases, I don't, by any means, mean expensive. That's another thing I hear in the academic world quite frequently: Oh, well, I don't have the money to invest in clothes. Well, you're buying clothes anyway — why don't you buy clothes that fit you?

Q: I see a lot of professors carrying knapsacks, and they kind of look like their students.

A: Well, that's a whole other thing the whole backpack phenomenon, which, yeah, is right back to L.L. Bean and college days. I don't think it's flattering. It just takes things down several notches. Have a good shoulder bag. It doesn't have to be expensive. My own is black canvas. It doesn't have to be leather. So that's another one of those bandied-about phrases — I can't afford to look good. Baloney. Yes, you can. It's just a matter of choices you make. And if you just keep reaching for the L.L. Bean catalog, you're going to be in trouble.

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Section: The Academic Life
Volume 54, Issue 3, Page B12