Tim Gunn Talks "Making the Cut," His New Amazon Prime Fashion Series With Heidi Klum
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are back to launch the next global fashion brand! In "Making the Cut," the new original series from Amazon, designers from around the world compete for one million dollars and the opportunity to take their brand to the next level.
Video Transcript
[THEME MUSIC]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Hey everyone, welcome back to "BUILD At Home." I'm your host, Brittany Jones-Cooper, coming to you live from my apartment in New York City. Today, I'm going to be chatting with the one and only Tim Gunn.
But before we bring him on the screen, I just want to remind our viewers about the campaign No Kid Hungry. Because of school cancellations due to the coronavirus, 404 million school meals have been missed. And as we know, there's a lot of kids who rely on that food every day.
So if you're looking for a way to help or get involved, go to nokidhungry.org for more information. Tim. Tim Gunn. I've been waiting to meet you. How are you?
TIM GUNN: Oh Brittany, I'm better for being with you. I need some company, and specifically, yours. So thank you. [CHUCKLES]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Me too. So first, let's talk about where you're at and how you're riding out this social distancing period.
TIM GUNN: Well, I'm in my apartment on the Upper West Side. And I will confess, I am a homebody. I love nothing more than being home alone. So in many ways, this appeals to my sensibilities.
But when it's enforced like this, I feel as though I have a bayonet at my back. It's a little different. And I'm not going to say-- I'm fine physically. But this is beginning to take a mental and emotional toll. What can you see outside your apartment windows?
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So I'm actually not too far from you. I'm in Harlem.
TIM GUNN: OK.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So just up on like the 118th area. And I'm across the street from a school that has no students in it.
TIM GUNN: Yeah. It's eerie. I have a view of Amsterdam Avenue North.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Mm.
TIM GUNN: No cars, no people. Just emergency vehicles with sirens blaring. It's really apocalyptic.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And it feels like more sirens than normal, right?
TIM GUNN: Oh, definitely.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: It's just been constant. And you're happy that those-- that that's happening and that it's out there. But also, it reminds you of what's happening.
TIM GUNN: It does, and you realize these are people who were really, really, really sick. Because those that were just sort of sick aren't in the ambulances. They're staying home.
It's frightening. And I have to say, yesterday's news was the most frightening of all, learning that at least 25% of the carriers are people without any symptoms. I mean, does that mean we could be carriers? I--
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I think that's what that means. But I, from the beginning, sort of felt like that. Because I was like, well, I've been around people who have now had it. I must be a carrier. So I'm just staying inside. [CHUCKLES]
TIM GUNN: Yeah, that's what I'm doing too.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: You know, I just-- for me, that's how we can each do our part, I guess, is just--
TIM GUNN: Yeah. Are you going out for groceries?
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I've gone out like maybe three times in the last three weeks.
TIM GUNN: Me too. We're parallel lives.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah, but I'm like you. I don't mind. I see all your books behind you.
TIM GUNN: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I've been reading quite a bit and doing yoga. I haven't personally minded it. But I don't know how I'll feel two months in, or--
TIM GUNN: I know.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: --three weeks.
TIM GUNN: If you haven't read it, I have a book to recommend.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Let's hear it.
TIM GUNN: It's a completely enthralling. I'm reading it for a second time, because there's so much content. It won the Pulitzer Prize. It's a biography of Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Oh.
TIM GUNN: And it's fantastic. You feel like you're with Cleopatra.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Wow. I'm very interested in Cleopatra, so that's fascinating. Who's the author again?
TIM GUNN: Stacy Schiff, S-C-H-I double-F.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I'm going to check that out, for sure. Absolutely.
TIM GUNN: Yeah, please. I'm recommending it. It's just-- it takes you out of this world that we're in. Temporarily, at least.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: [LAUGHS] Yeah, I need to be transported.
TIM GUNN: [LAUGHS]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: "Making the Cut," your new show on Amazon Prime Video, actually helped transport me. I watched the first episode. And it is this very international show, and it did transport me to a different world. So let's talk about the show a little bit.
TIM GUNN: Well, those words make me so very happy. Because Heidi and I were very apprehensive about the show premiering now, initially. Because we thought, ugh, what are we doing stepping into this horrible global crisis? And then we thought, you know, "Making the Cut" is feel-good. It lifts your spirits, and it's a fantastic distraction from what we're going through.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yes. And like I said, it's international.
TIM GUNN: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So the show-- the contestants are from everywhere. In the first episode, you guys go to Paris. And I think it just, again, has that global viewpoint that we're all sort of hyper-aware of right now anyway.
TIM GUNN: Yes, we are. Right.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So it was really a cool thing to see. And so obviously, you and Heidi made a name for yourselves together on "Project Runway."
TIM GUNN: Which we loved. We loved it.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah. This is a whole different show, so talk to me about the ways that it's different, or new, and some things that you guys got to do with "Making the Cut."
TIM GUNN: Well, when Heidi and I decided to leave "Project Runway," it was because we had this vision. And Project Runway's success was part of the obstacle in the path to making any changes. Because people don't want to tamper with a success.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Mm.
TIM GUNN: So we were eager to make the show more relevant to today, and the global aspect is certainly that. And we were interested in looking at the broader picture of fashion, which sure, can be about a pretty dress. But it's really about, how does that pretty dress sit within the larger rubric of a brand?
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Mm.
TIM GUNN: So brand discussions are at the core of the entire show. And we chose judges who understand branding intimately for just that reason as well. And I have to say the fabulous, almost surreal, aspect of the shoppable part of the show, the fact that you can buy the winning look immediately, is part of an evolution in our conversations with Amazon. It was never in the initial discussion.
In fact, the whole notion of it made my brain want to explode. Because I thought, how is this feasible? How can this even happen? But the Amazon geniuses got it to happen. And we've had two shows so far, and the winning looks are-- they completely sold out in about 48 hours.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That's crazy.
TIM GUNN: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That's so impressive.
TIM GUNN: Yeah. I mean, I'm blown away by it.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: It's a testament to the designers. So in this show, the designers are all very established.
TIM GUNN: Yes.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: When we talk about branding, they have lines. Some of them have their own stores. Some of them have had collaborations with brands like Adidas. So how did you guys find these already pretty well-established, but not too established, designers?
TIM GUNN: Right. Well, it's always a challenge. We cast a net and see what comes into the net. We had hundreds and hundreds of applicants. Heidi and I met with 60.
And we narrowed that group down to 25, and then stepped back and said to the other producers and Amazon, you take over. You do this now. We're too close to the process. We believe any of these 25 could win this season, so step in and do it.
And of course, you don't know how they're actually going to perform until they're in the environment, and they get a sense of what the competition is, and they feel the chemistry of the other designers. But what a lovely, heartwarming group. They build a community together.
They help each other. There's none of that squabbling, and backbiting, and throwing each other under the bus. And I'm saying that for the whole season.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Wow.
TIM GUNN: They had plenty of opportunities to throw someone under a bus, and they don't do it.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And I know you mean it, because in that first episode, you got emotional when you were talking about your true belief that there's real talent in that room and in this competition.
TIM GUNN: I was blown away.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Well, how does that feel for you? Because you've been in situations like this before. But to have that energy and that enthusiasm still, how does that feel for you, that you're still that encouraged by these designers?
TIM GUNN: Well, it was magical. I mean, I have to say, what propelled me forward in my teaching career for 29 years, and that's a long time, was how I always marveled at what the students were capable of. They always wowed me.
Not all of them, [LAUGHS] but many, many, many of them. And to bear witness to an individual having an epiphany about who they can be, and what they can achieve, and to see them get so excited by it, I have goosebumps right now just talking about it. It thrills me!
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah, and that's why we love watching you, Tim. Because you just have that passion.
TIM GUNN: I do.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And that just-- you found your calling, you know? And that's such a special thing to get to watch as a viewer.
TIM GUNN: Well, I grew into my calling. Because the first year that I taught almost killed me. I almost ended up in a straight jacket in the mental hospital. [LAUGHS]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Just the personalities? Or what was it?
TIM GUNN: No, it was just I was so nervous about having this responsibility. I would throw up on the school's parking lot. I would have to brace myself against the wall of the studio in which I was teaching, because my knees were shaking so badly I'd topple over.
In fact, that's how I was the first time I met Heidi in 2004. I was so starstruck and my knees were shaking so badly, I actually had to grab onto her. And she looked at me as though, this is a little forward for a first meeting. [LAUGHS]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Wow. You're so calm and collected, Tim. I would've never known.
TIM GUNN: I've grown into it, Brittany. [LAUGHS]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And you and Heidi are such a dynamic duo now too.
TIM GUNN: We love each other. And one thing that we wanted to do in this new series is spend as much time together as possible. Because on "Project Runway," we have such separate roles that we're almost-- we barely even communicate, because there isn't that opportunity.
And on "Making the Cut," we're together all the time. And I love-- we have a vignette in every episode where we just go off and do something different that doesn't advance the plot. But it shows other sides of us.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Like you teaching Heidi what the word "titillating" means.
TIM GUNN: [LAUGHS] Yes. Looking down, saying "What have I done?" [LAUGHS]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That was such a cute moment. We've got to talk about the judges.
TIM GUNN: Oh, yes.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Because when you say "star power," I don't know if you get any bigger than Naomi Campbell--
TIM GUNN: You don't.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: --as a judge.
TIM GUNN: You can. Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I mean, I love her so much.
TIM GUNN: I do too.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I mean, how did you get her to be a part of the show?
TIM GUNN: You know, we just threw the dice and thought, well, it can't hurt to ask. I mean, it does help that she and Heidi are close friends. But I thought, oh, this is never going to happen.
I mean, not only is it a huge commitment. It's a huge commitment if you're staying at home and going to a set. It's a bigger commitment to travel with us for five weeks.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah.
TIM GUNN: So it was just a dream come true. In fact, this whole experience has been like that. The first meeting with Amazon was-- Heidi and I were pinching each other out in the parking lot saying, this is impossible that this is happening this way. It's been like this the entire journey. It's just been-- I mean, I'm pinching myself now. I keep thinking, maybe I'll wake up from this dream.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Well, from what I read, it seemed like they really challenged you guys to challenge them, as far as how big you could go.
TIM GUNN: Yes.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: You know? And so I think I read something about Heidi wanting, like, a workplace on a plane so people could be sewing. And they were like, no. But we'll let you go to Paris. [CHUCKLES]
TIM GUNN: Heidi's still talking about that damn plane! [LAUGHS]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: How did you feel about the plane?
TIM GUNN: [CHUCKLES] She wants it badly.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: How did you feel about the plane?
TIM GUNN: Well, I'm always worried about turbulence. I thought, what's going-- how janky will these garments be? [LAUGHS]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: [LAUGHS]
TIM GUNN: And I'll tell you what did that corresponded to. Originally, we were crazy enough to think about having every runway show being a different city.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Wow.
TIM GUNN: Can you imagine? So we would give them their assignment after the runway show. We'd get on the plane, they'd sew, get off the plane, and the runway show would then occur.
So Amazon-- they're so smart. They're so wonderful. They said to us, you know, we really want a fashion show that travels, as opposed to a travel show about fashion. [CHUCKLES]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: [CHUCKLES] Yeah. That's fair.
TIM GUNN: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: But I love the empowerment to think big. And that's certainly-- what I took from the show is that this is bigger, it's glossier.
TIM GUNN: It is.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: The designers are just top-tier. My mom is a huge crafter and sewer--
TIM GUNN: Oh, wonderful.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: --and we've been talking about the show. What do you think this community of fashion designers is looking for that's new and exciting now?
TIM GUNN: Well, quite frankly, they're looking to survive. It's so incredibly competitive out there, as you know. And it's one thing, and it's a requirement, you have to have a design aesthetic and work that corresponds to that aesthetic that separates you from the crowd.
Heidi's always talking about breaking through the noise, cutting through the noise. Because there's so much product out there. How do you do it? So the whole idea of having Amazon as a partner in all this is equally surreal as everything I've been describing.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah.
TIM GUNN: With a million dollars, the Amazon mentorship, the fact that your brand, your designs, are available on Amazon-- if you can't make it under these circumstances, you've had it. Because it doesn't get anymore supportive than this.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah, you're right. I like that. I also love that straight-talking Tim Gunn. That's why I was smiling. I was like, I feel like you're talking to me directly, and I feel like I'm one of the designers.
TIM GUNN: Oh. And also, the fact that those looks have sold out already, 100% of the profits goes directly to the designers. Amazon's not taking anything.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That is so cool.
TIM GUNN: I know, I know. They just-- they have a huge heart and soul, and I love them.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I've been talking to a lot of people during this time about it being a time to spur creativity.
TIM GUNN: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So I know the fashion industry, on the other side of this, is going to have some obstacles, like a lot of different other industries. But what are you hoping happens during this time, as far as designers creating, and just the future that can come out of this moment where everybody has to be still?
TIM GUNN: Well, you know, no one's asked me that question yet, and it stirs my brain. I mean, I hope that the fashion industry comes out of this, and more specifically, designers, with a real sense of what core values should be, and about how tenuous our environment is, and how precious a commodity it is. And to design accordingly. To really be thinking about an enhanced set of values. I'm not saying that they're not considering it now, but this is a moment to really hunker down and just ask yourself, what do I truly care about?
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Mhm. And I think we should all be doing that. Have you been doing that for yourself? Has it been a time for introspection?
TIM GUNN: Oh, absolutely. If this isn't a time for introspection, what is? And people should engage in it. I know it's very unsettling for some people to really look inward, but we have to.
And I cry a lot, so it's a moment to ask myself why. And sometimes it's out of just pure joy, or just being moved by the triumph of the human spirit. And sometimes it's just unconditional sadness.
But it's good to have emotions. It's not a good thing to push them back and deny them. It's good to let them out.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah. I think that time when you start to be-- when you can name your emotions, "I feel this," is such an important thing. And it's constant work, right? We're all kind of constantly working on that. But like you said, if you're not doing that now, when?
TIM GUNN: It's the time. It's definitely the time.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: It is the time. Tim, I really enjoyed chatting with you. I hope we can do it again in person one day.
TIM GUNN: I'd love to, Brittany. Yes. Let's make that a goal.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Please, any time.
TIM GUNN: Thank you.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And thank you again for "Making the Cut." I really enjoy the show. I've been a fan of you and Heidi for so long.
TIM GUNN: Thank you.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Like I said, I just really love this new show. I love the energy, I love the international appeal, and I love the clothes. [CHUCKLES]
TIM GUNN: Yeah, they're gorgeous. Keep watching. There's a lot of fun ahead.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I will, I will. And there's new episodes every Friday, right? On Amazon.
TIM GUNN: Two. Two episodes every Friday--
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Two episodes every Friday on Amazon Prime Video.
TIM GUNN: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Make sure you check it out. And Tim, we'll see you next time. Thanks for being here.
TIM GUNN: Thank you, Brittany.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Bye.
TIM GUNN: Bye bye.
[THEME MUSIC]
