Post Academic

Gunn’s Golden Rules gained notoriety because Gunn dared to call out some of the biggest names in the fashion world. Yet he didn’t chide Anna Winotour, Andre Leon Talley or Isaac Mizrahi for a lack of talent. He chided them for reprehensible diva behavior. For example, Winotour had bodyguards carry her down multiple flights of stairs because she didn’t want to ride in an elevator with proles.

One fact was missed in the press avalanche: Tim Gunn called a few academics divas, too. He encountered one poorly behaved individual at Parsons who had a toddler’s sensitivity when it came to cuisine:

In academia, too, you see this kind of outrageous behavior. I knew a dean who had soup delivered to his office. I once saw him bring a spoonful up to his mouth, scream, “This soup isn’t hot enough!” and hurl the container across his office onto a wall, which I noticed already had stains on it.

Gunn also dings his fellow academics for a flaw that he couldn’t possibly apply to the relatively cutting-edge Winotour, Talley and Mizrahi–an aversion to change.

Image of Tim Gunn showing that nice academics can finish first at the 81st academy awards by Chrisa Hickey from Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license.

A few people at Parsons flipped out because Project Runway was shooting there, even though Gunn got permission ahead of time. At one point, some of the faculty threatened to halt the production, but Gunn’s response to that is brilliant:

I thought about it for a second and then said, “I’ve been in academia long enough to know that when they say, ‘We’re on our way up there,’ it will be a couple of days.”
Sure enough, wrapping was long finished by the time the VPs arrived with their torches and pitchforks to shut it all down.

Today, it could be argued that Project Runway is the best thing to ever happen to Parsons.

Gunn’s anecdotes make two points about academia: 1. The worst of them might be able to out-diva Anna Winotour and 2) the one difference between academic divas and fashion divas is that at least the academics are slow to act on a threat!

Next up, Gunn tackles the snowflake virus.