area 404: November 2009

Last night, Christian Siriano did such an excellent job at his seminar/lecture for the Corcoran Museum of Art. He really gave us a behind the scenes look into Project Runway, and his new life as a top celebrity designer. Christian is just as witty and charismatic in person as he was on his season of Project Runway. He appears to be very much a ‘people person’, and even though he remarked that the crowd was quite intimidating, you would never have known if he was nervous. Christian is also very petite, topping probably around 5’1 or 5’2. His lecture was about 45min long, with a book signing at the end (Christian Siriano’s “Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self”).

Here are some tidbits from the lecture:

Christian grew up in Annapolis MD, so he’s very familiar with the DC area.
His family was always supportive of his avante garde style – especially his mom
He was not accepted to Parsons or FIT in New York – but since he won Project Runway, they’ve invited him to be a guest speaker for their schools
He was Ariel the Little Mermaid for Halloween
There’s a possibility he could design fashion eyewear in the future.
The Project Runway judges deliberation is in reality 4hrs long.
The contestants on P.R. are given 17hrs to complete the challenge, but in reality, it is 10hrs, because the contestants also have to do mini-interviews and press in addition to finishing their garments
Christian was just recently on Oprah
Christian styled Lady GaGa before her first album dropped and hit number 1.
The items that sell in stores most are "patterns". So, Christian is currently working on pieces that have graphic prints and patterns.
Apparently there is a team of industry professionals that annual write a book on what colors, items, accesories will become trends - but generally the items they choose are not what consumers buy (odd).
A good pair of tights/leggings are always in - ill fitting jeans are definately a fashion "don't".
Christian feels like Washington DC has the potential to be a ‘fashion city’ because of Michelle Obama – but sometimes DC it too serious. (I admit, I have to disagree with him on this one. DC will always be about Brooks Brothers and Ann Taylor – and less about Prada and Chanel!)

Once the lecture ended, nearly all 150+ plus individuals converged on the stage at one time. I’m not sure if the staff at the Corcoran anticipated that large cluster of fans would swarm the stage so quickly. They had to do some major crowd control. My friends and I waited until the line died down to only 10 people, and then got our book signed, and a photo with a visibly exhausted Christian Siriano.

Here are a couple pics from the lecture (as always, more on Facebook):