AE: And by different do you mean your size, or your age, or…?
CM: And that I also do drag and I’m not like a guy just walking down the street in Chelsea — although I’m always walking down the street in Chelsea! But gay men come in all shapes and sizes and types, and obviously I think a lot of people ended up really liking me, which was a total shock.
AE: How was getting along with Christian for you?
CM: It’s funny. I have to say that now I defend Christian to people
all day long. They come up to me and say, “he’s so annoying!” And sure,
he’s annoying. Fine. But he is very talented and he’s soooo funny. And
underneath all that stuff, he actually has a really good heart. They
portrayed him as being maybe a little more annoying than he really is,
and they didn’t show him doing all of his really funny stuff and just
talking. He’s very interesting. He’s had a lot of very interesting
experiences for a 21-year-old. And he’s just kind of magically
brilliant. Where did that come from? He’s 21!
AE: And what’s Rami really like?
CM: Rami, to me — and
I’ve said this to him — is like the little brother that I never had. I
don’t know why Rami and I hit it off so much. They’ve shown that
close-up of us holding hands in the reunion show over and over again.
And I’m wearing an “R” around my neck in that episode, so people were
like, “Chris and Rami are dating!” I'm like, “Oh, pleeeease.” Rami has the most gorgeous boyfriend on earth, so everybody can just get over
it.
But I don’t know… He and I just really hit it off on a really
affectionate level. There was just no reason to hate each other. We got
that. If we’d hated each other, it would have been a waste of energy.
AE: Do you stay in touch with the other contestants?
CM: I’m definitely closest with Sweet P and Ricky [Lizalde] and Rami. And I, of course, have been in contact with Christian and Jillian. Most of the others, it’s just kind of how it fell. I really liked everybody on the show; it was an amazing group of people. But I think Sweet P and I really hit it off because we were the two oldest people, by far. So we just would kind of look at each other and go “Oh, God. What was it like to be 21?”
Christian Siriano, Tim Gunn
AE: Who is going to win?
CM: I think Christian is going to win.
AE: Why?
CM: Because, just in the nature of the three finale shows that are
being judged, I think that Christian’s is the one to beat. I think that
his brilliant creativity was put in hyper-drive and he went for it, and
he went for it with the gusto of a 21-year-old. And you can see it.
It’s amazing. His collection is amazing. If they want to see couture
and creative and fashion-forward, it’s Christian, hands down.
AE: The constant refrain that came up with regards to your design work
was that, “Oh, you need to rein it in, or it’s too costume-y…” Did you
really have to censor yourself style-wise as you were designing?
CM: Definitely. Especially after I was brought back. I realized
that they were not going to accept any sort of costume-y anything from
me, at all. So I was really careful with editing what I showed them,
and just tried to go as completely as “fashion” as possible.
And
in the final collections as well, there was this fine line to go down,
because certainly Christian made a very costume-y final collection,
which is wonderful. But I think if I had done that, they would have
slaughtered me. That’s just the nature of the show.
AE: Where do your inspirations come from?
CM: Actually, that’s one of the interesting things that I think I learned about myself during the filming of the show, how I’m really inspired by the materials. I found that going to fabric stores was really what got me going, which I’d never really experienced before. I’m usually inspired by the task. Somebody will say, “We need this, and it needs to look like this, and it needs to do this, and we want it to be funny and this big,” and then I come up with an idea for that. But left to my own devices to come up with a fashion collection I was really inspired by materials, and just kind of my own ideas about what I wanted to see on the runway.
AE: So it’s not a matter of like, “Oh, I’m all about old movies, or Sunset Boulevard or…”
CM: Well, sure. For this final collection, I was definitely inspired by Almodovar films, and Isabel Toledo. And a little bit of Sweeney Todd thrown in for good measure.
