Christian Siriano: Making Fashion Assertive | Breaking Big | OZY

From a young age Christian Siriano knew exactly who he was and that he wanted to be a

fashion

designer, but after winning Project Runway Christian not only became a successful designer, but he also became an influencer. Every person has their little things that bother them about their body. and

fashion

should be the easiest part of the process and his clothes not only glorified the models but celebrated women of all sizes, so how did this young man with a dream of

making

clothes end up at the forefront of a body positive movement and on a path to big success what makes people successful what are the unexpected twists a light that propels people to greatness I am Carlos Watson editor of ossie I am willing to discover the real secrets behind success in success funding for great success provided in part by the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to this PBS station from viewers like you, thank you, we're at the Pierre Hotel in town from New York for the NAD, a gala in which we honor Christian Siriano.

I've been a big fan. Christian Syriano for many, many years. I love how I feel in them. He has perfect shape for a woman. Just blow. Christian knows that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and that the skin we live and love in deserves to be seen and celebrated. His work is leaving an indelible mark and impact on people who struggle with their body image or are affected by an eating disorder and this is why I am very honored to present the inspire Christian Siriano award, although I greatly appreciate this award, I would like that it was not a necessity. to celebrate having all these different shapes and sizes on the runway I'm just trying to make it the norm thank you all so much have a great dinner this is our dream world this is where it all comes together yeah we take a sketch of the on the wall a pattern piece is placed so that the teams working on this is like a jacket, literally as in the process, you can see that it is as if the linings are not yet in place, if a sleeve is removed another, this is my costume world, this was me living out my childhood fantasy, I mean, listen, this is from our newest collection which couldn't be more inspired by a ballerina from when I was a little kid watching my sister, I didn't think about that though, it just comes out, right? she knows she helped inspire oh oh yeah and believe me she gets everything I mean my sister she pays us for every pair of shoes from every collection I've ever made she gets clothes every season she and my mom are living the life Oh yeah, I thought.

It was interesting that you mentioned your mother and your sister because they've all said it to me before, yeah, I mean, of course, I mean, I love the world of this kind of transformation idea. I think I like to see if my mother and sister were getting ready to go somewhere and they changed their appearance from what they would wear every day. I thought that was always really interesting, so I think that's what stood out. I was a bit eccentric as a child. I dabbled in more of a theater type world my sister was a ballet dancer she danced at the Annapolis Ballet and he was always high so he was sitting backstage I was sewing costumes watching the girls get dressed and he just starts drawing I just I'm drawing the costumes I love that world seeing these clothes come to life out of nowhere at the time I didn't understand why I cared but I read it even though you grew up in Annapolis Maryland which doesn't sound much like New York or San Francisco.

That being gay and being open about it was never really a big deal, obviously Maryland is pretty chill, yeah, it's an interesting place. Annapolis is an old historic city famous for sailing, it's the state capital so we have a lot of politicians and of course the Naval Academy. Maryland is pretty strict, but for some reason I found this small group of people who were also creative, eccentric, and interesting, and I think they were greatly helped by the invaluable support of their friends and family. Christian attended the prestigious Baltimore School of the Arts for over an hour.

He was away from home and once there he received the encouragement to explore who he was and push his creative limits. You have to appear before a jury to be accepted into the Baltimore School of the Arts. He dressed up in his best outfit and we drove to Baltimore and took the artwork from him and the head of the department came out and said, I really want it on my show. I didn't want to be a bore or an artist. He wanted to be a fashion designer, so he convinced his teachers at Palmer School of the Arts to let him do fashion in all these different cultures and people and other young kids were like me, it wasn't a strange thing, I'm sure there are other kids who grow up and never realize that I was treated very badly in high school while being gay and thank God I didn't have it, he spent his high school experience just thriving and being able to explore everything he wanted to explore artistically.

My mom was always very supportive if something we couldn't do, my mom figured out how to do it. do it and that always stuck with me I'm the head of the department, I said can you bring it here? Can you bring it from Annapolis? I'd get off work, drive into town, wait for the kids to try to get out before rush hour. I got really sick and brought him home, but somehow we made it, so do you apply to fit in? Yeah, and everyone thought you were going to get in. There's something interesting. I did a summer program at MIT and I was very celebrated by the professors there and I didn't do it.

I didn't go in and I remember being so heartbroken I thought it was the end of the world. I didn't know where to go to college, what to do, my mom didn't know, she wasn't sure what was going on and in this world, but instead of worrying about what didn't happen, she said, let me figure out something else I can do. when people mistakenly feel that there is only one way to be successful and then they follow that path and protect themselves with Christian, he did it. Don't get in shape if you think that these roles are somehow Ashton Stone, then it is very difficult to move on, but if you understand that there are many ways to achieve a goal, it is easier than moving on.

Christian spent his adolescence singularly focused. He had one goal: to become a designer, but after facing rejection, Christian showed drive and resolve far beyond his years and blazed his own path forward. I was so offended that they didn't accept me and I said, "Well, I'm not going to accept this and that's why." I took the risk of moving to Europe, the choice to go to a university in London was very different, I mean my mom didn't even have a Passport, that was exciting, it was like a big risk to jump to university and I ended up working for McQueen and Westwood, they were like my real obsession from the beginning, they were so inspired by what they were doing and I didn't really know anything about fashion.

I think I was quite naive in the initial stages. I just knew I loved clothes and I loved seeing women transform. and getting dressed, the experience in London turned out to be much better than if I had ended up going to New York. I mean, he worked with Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. He learned to sew and cut a pattern and make whatever he wanted. work harder your design I changed in some ways but you are different you were celebrated for being a character for being creative for being eccentric you could be anything in London and do whatever you wanted I mean that's what I was known for while doing internships For some of the best designers of the world, Christian acquired skills that helped him leap forward as a designer, but once back in the United States he had to find his own path within the industry.

After college, he returned home loaded into the back of his pickup truck. He drove to New York and moved into this apartment. He met a girl from high school and couldn't get a job anywhere. He worked as an intern at Marc Jacobs for a time. He did makeup at Bloomingdale's for a while and then a girl from college in London said We're having auditions for Project Runway on Monday, why don't you try it? He did it. My name is Christian Siriano and I am 21 years old. It was something so inspiring. I mean, seeing these young creatives make something out of nothing, a flat. piece of fabric and converting it into three-dimensional form in a matter of hours was truly a beautiful thing to see, especially for me.

He was 20 years old. He was a boy. I did not know anything. I know I'm the youngest designer, but I honestly like it. I think I have the most coherent ideas of everyone I met since the first time I saw him, he was special, he made a fantastic silhouette, a fantastic design, thank you, you have to be talented, obviously, you have to be creative, but also have the personality and charisma that comes with being a well-known designer Christian had the whole package I remember the fierce catchphrase here's the designer on Project Runway who made that catchphrase the catchphrase of the entire industry she's like the people at Pierce met Christian Lend me your words, they're really fierce when I met Christian, it was the day before Tim Gunn came to his house to see his final collection in the middle of my little room, it's like a little box, wow, this is your studio in the one who lived a sixth floor walk up in what basically amounted to a closet talking about

making

it work you really have to do it you're kidding no mom I don't know where I'm going so I just said we'll take your place it against the wall use your room as a study and then at night just put the mattress back on the floor of your room and he did it.

I knew my work was good or interesting, at least I'm very confident I think. My outfits are one of the best. I really do. I guess I was quite pushy in a way, I don't think they just know that I'm so much better than them, but you have to be really

assertive

in fashion if you want to. you're defeated, you're defeated, the point is over, you're the winner of Project Runway, congratulations, I was over the moon like a crazy screaming mom, my daughter is still embarrassed about it, with the Christians TV win behind him, he proposed to prove to the industry that he could do everything he said he could he had to prove that he was viable as a designer and as a business he knew this was a pivotal moment he knew it was an opportunity and he knew he was riding this wave of pop culture popularity, thank God he is busy and you know I have to know the collections I have shown here.

You have the opportunity of this amazing platform, but you have to do something with it. You can win. You can let everyone know your name. the task is not finished now you have to build the brand there is this idea within the fashion industry that maybe with Christian that was just luck maybe you don't have the skills maybe you're not really authentic, you don't really come from where someone experienced who knows how to make a dress, market and address a customer. It takes a long time to be known for your work, as opposed to a piece you've done, which is like an actress who made a movie and is always known. for that movie he came to my office and said this is difficult Dina.

I didn't think it would be so difficult to get ahead and be recognized by the fashion industry. I remember meeting with him and the question I asked him at the time was well, what do you want to do? Do you want to be a television star or do you want to be a designer? I wasn't interested in television and I wasn't interested in that world. He was great, he was good for what he was, but he was. really very interested in building more brand, as Christian would quickly learn, turning ideas into a brand requires more than a keen sense of design, it requires significant financial backing, this market is like nothing I have ever seen, the complete lack of trust at Bear Stearns o The bank run of 2008 was a difficult time for the industry because there was an economic crisis and Bastion felt it very hard, so to start a business in 2008 he had another obstacle to overcome the day the Lehman Brothers crisis It was my first appointment. with Saks and they canceled, but it was crazy because other companies were very depressed because last year they made ten million and this year they will do too well.

I didn't do anything last year so I was only able to move up when you're young and small you're the stockist you're the designer you're the salesman you're everything so when you say this it's brutal listen it's just brutal it's difficult everything is a challenge every part of the The business is difficult, you know, shipping to retailers that make ten thousand units of address. Think about those 10,000 units, which is a little small. Some of our products are 500,000 units. Let's say all the zippers in 500,000 units are gold, but they have to be silver. What's happening? the order is cancelled, he just lost ten million dollars, he is out, he closes the business in one order, Christian not only realized the reality of running a business, but he was also in a hurry to gain acceptance from an industry that was not fast.

To welcome outsiders, the CFDA is a membership trade organization that promotes American fashion in the global economy. CFDA members include Marc Jacobs, Donna, Karen, TomFord, Michael Kors and many others. It's quite competitive. There are people who never get in the first time they apply. was rejected from the CFDA for a lot of people, it was just a reality show and then when it was over, part of it was over. Renault was a guilty pleasure for many people in the industry like me, but there is one basic criterion: three years in business. have real retail accounts, distribution, get magazine editorials and digital media, but most importantly have talent and a point of view.

His response was: I will do it my way, if you don't want to accept me, then I will do it. I'm going to make it all happen regardless of whether you've made the decision to not only do it if you're a high-level partner, but you've also decided to be open to the mass market, yeah, yeah. I decided to partner with Pay less. I have been working with them for almost 10 years. I made a great partnership with LG. We made tech accessories with them. I made a partnership with Victoria's Secret. They gave me super models for my catwalk.

I made a Starbucks. gift card I did everything I did all kinds of things early I'm open for business I was open I thought, listen, I thought I need to fund this. It is very expensive to make fancy clothes and dress women on the red carpet. It is expensive. It was smart to use pelas for some of these other collaborations as a way to build the Christian Siriano brand with Bayless. It was a good business decision because the platform that Project Runway gives them is very massive, so it's simple, their audience was able to get a piece.

From Christian, two years later, he applied again and got in because not only is he a talent, but being a part of something gets so much attention. This is from our spring collection, it's fashion, it should be fun and playful, and Method tonight, it's a big task that means you're part of New York Fashion Week, that's the hug, that's the recognition . Christians and business owners in general need to have confidence that you are taking a risk and you need to believe in what you are doing selling a dress that just won on its own. It's not enough anymore, designers have to look for other sources of income, look for other ways to reach customers and have to look for new customer segments in 2013.

Christian's smart business decisions to work with mass market brands proved his viability and they helped him gain acceptance in the CFDA and with that recognition came the next wave of opportunities, that's when he started having great moments on the red carpet. We dressed Lady Gaga. I saw her for her first television appearance. Scarlett Johansson on the cover of Cosmopolitan to have her address on the cover of. the best-selling women's magazine about a talent like ScarJo is a calling card for her brand and then dressing Oprah from the beginning was very interesting to me because who wasn't obsessed with Oprah?

The turning point was when Leslie Jones couldn't find anyone to track her down, that was shocking. I'm a huge fan of Leslie and it was like a no-brainer that it became such a big moment, it was a bigger conversation that needed to come out. Christians saved her and made her look stunning, that was a pivotal moment. Christian's inherent instinct to connect with women of all body types inspired him as a designer and following that instinct positioned him at the forefront of a trend that would soon make its way. in the fashion industry when the whole body positive movement happened.

Christian was already the leader of the curve, he wasn't afraid or worried about putting a plus size model on his show, he did it first, people say, oh, you had so many different shapes and sizes on your runway and I'm like, he's good. I like, yeah, my mom, my natural size, you know, 14 16, my sister is a ballet dancer, she wasn't talking about working with Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant came and asked me to do a collaboration. She was very excited because my mom shopped at Lane Bryant. All my life, so I thought everything was completed. He used to be skinny as a rail, but you know, 42 years old, divorced, trying to raise two kids on my own, yeah, I gained weight and had a hard time finding nice clothes that fit. so maybe that was part of it, he wanted his mom to look pretty.

Lane Bryant is probably the only brand that every full-sized woman could reconnect with. Very clever, it's almost as if he anticipated the wave that was going to happen. My entire collection is now available. up to size 26 we are ensuring that all our retailers can sell all sizes. I don't think it came from a marketing strategy. No, that's so authentic. Christian history shows us that companies can really shape Christian culture and design for all of these bodies. Guys have really done that by demanding that people accept their bodies because it goes beyond mere popular culture. Christian was able to leave his mark on one of the key social issues of the moment, not only

breaking

big but

breaking

through the stratosphere;

There have been a few Moments where I felt like this was really happening, this is huge, ladies and gentlemen, he had told me that he was dressing her and that he had sent her two or three things, so we were looking around waiting to see which one she would choose. I was sitting at home watching the Democratic National Committee and just a text from mom and she said that's your dress, of course she chose that beautiful blue dress. Please welcome First Lady Michelle Obama. There is nothing more fabulous than Michelle Obama. It was like one of those tear in your eye moments, what are the things that you think allowed you to succeed?

I think it's almost an unhealthy obsession that you should have with whatever you're doing. Christian has a true entrepreneurial spirit. He has something that he wants to express and wants. The greatest number of people heard his message that bravery, confidence, yes, you can be born with it, but it also comes with the knowledge that you have talent, if you know that you don't. Christian's honest and unapologetic attitude earned him a spot on a top-rated television show, but his talent and work ethic earned him a permanent spot in one of the most competitive industries in the world.

I am proud that he is still the same person he always was. It really hasn't changed. You can get it. bold in your face and then give you a big hug and a big kiss, that's what it is. I feel inspired all the time every day. I will do one thing and that inspires five other things. Clothes transform you even if it is the most basic piece I want you to feel transformed now you have a woman on leave in magist society that has consequences I am not being politically correct I am very angry I have been criticized a lot local politicians said I was putting myself in danger Any help that the United States could send to Puerto Rico, no one else now it is publicly that they have neglected us, I shouted for help when we need it and then we are not computers because now you see many people who are designing things that use computers, yes, but you are still a drawing pad in a very old school.

I mean, all of these are like paper patterns that we like to create and all of these are like by hand, there's a disk a little bit like a UPS office, but you know. These are like you know some of these patterns. Do you know 200 pieces? You know it's hard to digitize them on a computer. I don't think it's really possible to break up big. It is available on DVD to order, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-. 800 views on PBS, this show is also available on iTunes. Funding for the break will be provided in part by the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to this PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.