Update on Christian Siriano

Christian Siriano, the winner of Season 4 of Project Runway, has taken on his newest challenge…virtual reality. He has teamed up with Gaia, an online community, to create custom looks for its live prom this weekend. We talked to the catchphrase-loving designer about avatar couture, future projects and hot tranny messes.


So what attracted you to this Gaia project?
They told me, you know, I could design whatever I want. And what designer doesn’t want that?

I remember they showed pictures from your prom on Runway, right? Let’s talk about it for a second. Tell me what you wore.
Well, in the picture you saw I wore a sequined tailcoat that I made and, like, these big wide pants and this satin shirt and I had a mohawk. We looked like we were going to an ‘80s prom. It was fabulous.

Oh my god, prom paparazzi, of course. Have you ever been into virtual stuff before this? Like Second Life or anything?
In all honesty I’m not a big Internet person. I don’t blog, I am not technically good at computer anything. I’m a more an artsy, creative kind of person. I’m glad I went with this Gaia thing though because it’s still about fashion, not just about virtual online. It’s still about clothes and about people expressing themselves creatively. I am trying to keep everything more fashion-forward and not go the other direction.



Ok, since we are talking about fomal attire, did you go to the Met gala?
No, I didn’t go! I was doing “TRL” that day with the Gaia divas. I was really sad to miss it, but next year will be bigger and better. Plus, I’ll have a whole collection out and I will be able to promote it.

Who do you wish you could’ve dressed this year? And did you love or hate anything? I was bummed out by it because no one really went with total superhero.
No one really went there! I’m so sad, I can’t believe Victoria didn’t ask me to dress her, because she looked a hot mess. I mean, she was wearing, like, a beaded nightie. I was, like, Hon-eeeyyy, what’s wrong with you??

Ok, so tell me. What’s next? Are you doing fashion week this fall?
I am, in September, so I hope you’ll be there. It’s not definite whether I am going to show in the tents. I’m thinking about doing an off-site venue just because it’s just more my style. We’ll see. I’m very excited, I’m working with sponsors right now. It’s just a whirlwind. I’m doing costumes for a new movie, I have a book coming out, I’m doing a small capsule collection for bluefly.com.

What’s the book about?
It’s like a fashion kind of how-to book. It’s, like, about being fierce and fabulous and about hair and makeup and trends. And it’s also like a little biography about, you know, all my projects.

What’s left? What’s the wish list? You’ve got “S.N.L.” parody, possible reality show, a book…
Everything I’ve done is great, and all I hope is that after my show my clothes get bought and I’m in stores. That is the biggest goal. I mean, yes, lots of different people have bought my clothes and I’m still dressing people. I hope that they wear them to things and you can see them on them, you know?

When does that happen? Have you had a big ‘open the magazine and see your clothes on a celebrity’ moment yet?
I’ve had a couple little things. Heidi placed a big order and I’m dressing her for the Peabody Awards. And Victoria bought a bunch of stuff and she wore my pants and it was in Us Weekly. But, you know, I just hope that after September, after I show a new collection, it’ll just go off the charts and people can wear it. That’s all I want, it’s not a big dream.

[Illustrations: Courtesy of themoment.blogs.nytimes.com]