If I had a choice, I would have picked Tim Gunn to be my gay dad. My own gay dad was probably the opposite of Tim Gunn. Somehow I don’t imagine Tim Gunn with a paper napkin snapped into his shirt to stay safe from dripping salsa. Nor do I envision Tim Gunn with a clicker in his hand to count all the “cute boys” he saw that day.

I’ve watched Project Runway intermittently over the past couple of years. Not regularly because there is no TV show I watch “regularly” with my schedule. But I love how Tim Gunn handles the designers, especially in critiquing their in-process work, as he mentions in his Project Runway blog:

As the show’s faithful viewers will know, I don’t tell the designers what to do. Rather, I probe and query to hopefully trigger them to ask themselves whether their direction is appropriate and will lead to success.

Most of the time he gives specific advice to help them rethink their designs and direct their thought processes in more productive ways. I know, however, if he doesn’t say much of anything but “well…make it work…” that person is pretty much doomed. It is his ability to guide and advise without making the designers feel incompetent or worse that I would really have liked in a gay dad. And I love him in this interview with Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan right after Season 4.

I told my husband last night that the only style make-over show I would want to be on was Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style. Somehow I think he would help me look my best without making me feel horrible for the “fashion” decisions I have made haphazardly over the years.

So, if anyone knows how I get on that show, you’ll let me know, right?