AIDS Walk Wisconsin will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a very special honorary chair—Tim Gunn, Project Runway’s mentor extraordinaire.
Tim Gunn’s a busy man. He’s promoting PR’s 13th season, just completed a manuscript on his life as an educator, collaborated—again—with First Lady Michelle Obama on a teen design fair and moderated a discussion at the National Archives on the fashions of First Ladies.
He’ll be at the Oct. 12 AIDS Walk Wisconsin and he’s also auctioning off a dinner with him at Bacchus. I can’t think of a more charming dinner companion, so put your bids in now.
Despite his busy schedule, he took time to talk to me about AIDS Walk Wisconsin, the importance of HIV prevention and the current season of PR.
Tim’s just as gracious on the phone as he is in person. He had nothing but great things to say about Milwaukee’s efforts to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. That effort is spearheaded by AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, which is doing truly remarkable work. Truly remarkable.
“I’ve been an active participant in the AIDS walk in New York since its inception,” he told me. “I’m part of the bricks and mortar here. I was very flattered when I was approached to come to AIDS Walk Wisconsin. I’m so in awe of Wisconsin’s record with AIDS prevention. I think it’s #1 in AIDS prevention, and I’m here to support it.”
|
|
But he warned that although folks are living longer and healthier with HIV, we cannot become complacent about preventing new infections.
“I work at lot with LGBT young people," he said. "There is a pervasive view that 'AIDS isn’t going to kill me.' Well, it’s not killing as many people as it used to but do you really want to get sick with HIV? When it’s all very preventable. There’s this malaise and it concerns me. So I’m there to hopefully wake people up.”
What does he say that gets through to them?
“It’s similar to what I say to people on the streets of New York,” he explained. “This has become the city of reckless, death-wishing pedestrians. I say to people all the time, why are you crossing against the light? Why are you stepping out behind a truck against the light? I saw this elderly woman three months ago and it permanently etched in my brain, the way Sept. 11 is, and I watched her get swung about 60 feet. Dead. And it was so unnecessary. What’s the hurry? So the pedestrians say to me, 'If I get hit by a car it’s the car’s fault.' Do you really want to be hit by a car? Do you want to end up in the hospital or worse? I have a similar response to young people who say, AIDS won’t kill me. But do you really want to get it? It’s so preventable.”
On to Project Runway.
He said the current season, which is airing its final episodes, is his favorite. He insisted he really means it this time.
“Part of that has to do with what’s coming up,” he said. “I take the designers who are remaining to Rome. There is no challenge to do. It’s just sightseeing, eating and walking around everywhere. For me, it gave me a dimension of closeness to them. While I feel close, our relationship is in the workroom and on the runway. It’s never outside of that. This is a whole other dimension of me getting to know them and them getting to know me. It was profound.”
A few more tidbits about Tim: Each round of his critiques in the workroom takes about four hours; he’s been pushing for years to create a season in which the designers would have to create clothing for women who are at least a size 10; he absolutely loved the “rainway” challenge; and, yes, is pretty much absolutely sure that when he was a kid he saw J. Edgar Hoover in drag trying to pass as Vivian Vance.
Read his books, watch Project Runway, sign up for AIDS Walk Wisconsin and, what the heck, bid on a dinner with him. And make it work!
