The Ritz-Carlton black-tie gala was attended by two living ‘90s NFTs: presenters Tyson Beckford and Alicia Silverstone, who was there to present the honor to her close friend Siriano. Longshore auctioned some works for charity and Siriano presented a runway that would’ve made Anna Wintour smile.
The night’s speeches were short and almost standup-like, with Siriano delivering a brilliant line summing up his clientele: “If I could be just a guy, to maybe … Michelle Obama, or the vice president, or Gaga, or J.Lo, or Janet, then you know what? That’s OK with me.”
We sat down with Siriano backstage before the event, where he spoke about why he won’t watch reality fashion shows, and what it takes to endure in a market that disproportionately favors sweatpants.
Honoree Nina Garcia reunited this weekend with Christian Siriano, the former Project Runway contestant who won viewers over with his creations as much as his personality.
Danny Campbell
“You just have to keep at it,” Siriano says about striving for longevity. “You always have to figure out who your customers are early on in the business, figure out how to give them something new and exciting season after season [something], that they still fall in love with but also that they’ll be inspired like I’m inspired, all of those things. I think that’s all it really takes, and just to keep at it, you kinda can’t stop. You always have to make collections with something new and different, keeping it going, keeping the lights on.”
While designers like Yeezy brought loungewear onto the runway, Siriano is in no hurry to bring his couturier’s vision to a line of yoga pants.
“There's a world for casual dressing and a world of athleisure and a world for all that and there’s a whole world of things that are dressed up and more glamorous, and I still think a lot of what we do is, we do both,” he says. “We do the world of you just want a great dress to wear to a party or a great jacket for work, we have that. And then we have beautiful fantasy things, and that’s what I love to do; even if it’s not for every single woman, that’s OK. I don’t ever see either of them as not important: they're all important in their own way. So you just have to have the balance of all of those things.
"But sometimes selling one really fabulous couture dress is a lot easier than selling a thousand leggings. The money usually adds up to be the same. So I’d rather sell one beautiful couture dress than a thousand leggings.”
The designer often posts photos with his muse, Silverstone, posing overseas wearing his gowns.
“She’s the best,” Siriano says of the Clueless star. “We’ve been working together for maybe 8 or 9 years and we have so much fun and we play dress-up all over the world and I always say that she found her real [Clueless character] Christian. Cher found her real Christian. We just have fun together, we really get each other. I love dressing her up and we’ve done so many fun looks for so many different events and we just became really close, and it’s great. She’s a good muse to have and even though she’s such a queen vegan and eco and that’s very important to her, she’s helped me change a lot of how I approached design and things like that too.”
Reality competition shows like America’s Next Top Model have become the subject of endless online scrutiny over the past few years, with TikTokers and show contestants speaking out about the taxing production. Siriano looks back at the era with some grace.
“It's so hard; it’s kind of like evolution,” he says. “Things change and the world is different. I mean, when I was on TV for the first time, the iPhone didn't exist, Twitter didn’t exist, nothing existed, so the whole world is very different than it used to be. There's the good and the bad, all of those things, but that’s how we grow and learn, and it’s important. I didn't really think about it that way, it was just that was the time and hopefully now things change.”
So if you delight in the idea that Siriano gets to now sit around judging others' performance, we hate to say that he really wants nothing to do with work in his off time, even for his own entertainment.
“I watch weird mysteries and shows,” he says. “I watch things that are completely unrelated to fashion in any way. I never watch anything in my world at all because I’m sick of it. I don’t want to talk about clothes, I don’t want to look at hair and makeup, I don’t even care.”
He does, however, have some all-time favorite fashion movies.
“Obviously, I think Clueless is one of the most iconic fashion films ever, which is why I was obsessed with the world,” he says. “There’s this movie Unzipped, which is Isaac’s [Mizrahi] documentary, which I think is amazing. Phantom Thread is a great fashion film. There’s good ones. Devil Wears Prada is amazing, Annie [Hathaway] was amazing in that.”
These days, with TikTok micro-trends dying before you can get a video to load, kids are moving quickly through style aesthetics: “cottage core,” “court core,” “coastal grandma.”
“You gotta stick to it,” Siriano jokes at the thought of two-week Goths.
“Tiktok is really funny because it is exactly what it is: It is a playful, kind of like a video game in a way; it’s in that moment but it has no long-lasting … anything, really,” he says. “And I don’t think it ever was meant to, so I think it is important for everyone to still find your own unique style or find your own look or find what’s you and what makes you feel good. I think that’s very important, also to just survive in the world.”
But he does enjoy seeing certain styles coming back around.
“I think more and more I’m seeing people get back to like a really great, glamorous, 1950s/60s; I love that world,” he says. “I like that other part of the ‘90s, it wasn’t really grunge, it was more like playful and feminine, I love the early 2000s looks [that] are coming back. I think those are funny and fun. But I think there’s room for everybody, it just depends on your vibe.
"Everyone’s different. Alicia is not gonna wear the same thing that maybe J.Lo would wear or Cardi. They all are different people, right? So that’s what’s great for me dressing up all these different types of women. I love it, because they never really want the same things, but they all wanna look good.”
Siriano has famously dressed stars such as Leslie Jones, Billy Porter and Lizzo. He also takes great pride in championing upcoming acts.
“I found them all!” he quips about finding new artists. These days he’s into Rachel Zegler and Olivia Rodrigo.
“Who am I excited about, who do I love?” he says. “That fabulous actress Rachel Zegler. She’s already having such a moment but she’s gonna be big, big, big. She’s amazing. Who’s fabulous? I think it’s cool that the OG girls are coming back like Avril [Lavigne], Kesha’s on tour and Janet’s [Jackson] coming back.”
He’s also in awe of singers Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan
“Those girls, the originals, are just such talents because that’s how it was. You only relied on the music and the voice and that was it,” he says. “You couldn’t have anything else. The new girls, they have so many other things.”
Siriano is also a big fan of Dallas and its restaurant scene.
“I’ve been coming to Dallas forever,” he says. “Dallas is great, so much style. Everyone loves fashion here. Good food. It’s all the things that you want. We had lunch at Grange Hall. It was amazing. I think what Brian [Bolke] has done at The Conservatory is fab, it’s so cool. Great vibes here and good clothes.”
His big takeaway about Dallas, obviously, is: “‘The more the more,’ that’s the trend,” he says.
