show & tell

Jay McCarroll and Tim Gunn Still Have Beef

Jay

Jay McCarroll is not one to hold back.Photo: Patrick McMullan

Jay McCarroll is lying low this Fashion Week. His first collection, which debuted in the fall, will be released next month by Urban Outfitters. What’s next? Certainly not a reunion with Tim Gunn. We talked to McCarroll at the Gen Art fashion showcase, where he took the opportunity to get his feelings about the Project Runway host off his chest.

Your spring 2007 show was great.
Yeah. I thought it was good. No one fucking said anything.

Is it going to be like “Jay McCarroll for Urban Outfitters?” Or a more low-profile type thing?
It’s just me selling my stuff to them. It’s my name. I’m excited. Production’s a huge issue. It’ll be stuff I showed for spring 2007. I just need to make some money!

Will you show for spring 2008?
Maybe I’ll do it again, maybe I won’t. I’m still trying to sort it out. Fashion is a very limited thing, and I want to do other projects that might be different. Housewares maybe. Or children’s fashion. Or art. Or performance.

What sort of art would you experiment with?
I guess like fiber art. I also love performance art. Like pretending I’m a retard. I know that’s wrong. Like mentally challenged. Fashion’s expensive. In case you didn’t know that. Like to produce. Thousands and thousands of dollars.

I spoke to Tim Gunn this morning. Are you two in touch at all?
No! Why? Did you ask him?

Yeah. He said he’d love to be in touch if you’re willing to talk.
It’s tough because he talked so much shit about me in the past. And it’s hard when you’re trying to figure your business out. It’s fine. Power to him. He’s having his heyday, but I also don’t think he’s an authority on any designer’s life. He went to school for sculpture or something. I don’t think that he’s ever, to my knowledge, started a fashion line and therefore should not be the adviser or the fuckin’ creative director … how dare you pretend to know what I should be doing with my company? It’s none of your business, dude — you’ve never started a fashion line. You’ve never initiated showing at Bryant Park on your own so don’t tell me what my time line is to show at fuckin’ Bryant Park.

He doesn’t know what I want to do. Maybe I want to fuckin’ take a piss off the Empire State Building and call it fashion. But that’s my fuckin’ prerogative. I just hate that because middle America looks at him like, He’s so nice, he’s like a father to them. On the show he was, sure. I’m not bitter about the man. It’s kind of hurtful. At one point he said I was an embarrassment because I didn’t show yet. And it’s like, fuckin’-A, man. Maybe next season they can make Tim Gunn show a line. Five months. We’ll see how good it is. But don’t worry. I’ll be fine. — Rachel Wolff

Earlier: Tim Gunn Thinks Michael Knight Needs to Get Out of Atlanta

Jay McCarroll and Tim Gunn Still Have Beef