On his first morning at his new teaching job at Parsons School of Design, Tim Gunn threw up in the bushes and had to brace himself against the wall to ensure he stayed on his feet.

On the night of Sept. 24, in his stylish light pinstripe suit and black and gold tie, Gunn related anecdotes about his over 30-year career in the fashion industry to a sold-out audience, peppering the talk with advice about both fashion in life.

Gunn spoke about his “mortal fear” of public speaking and his feud with Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, all while incorporating advice about taking the high road, an idea he credits to dealing with his tough mother.

“I think it’s incredibly important to take the high road,” Gunn said. “Rise above whatever is happening. Don’t go down to that level. Don’t engage in the squabble. I have never ever regretted taking the high road, but I have regretted lashing out. My form of lashing out is certainly not fisticuffs, but if you ever get in a fight with me, be careful because I’m a biter and a hair-puller.”

While Gunn kept the rapt audience laughing, he also urged that, “when the high road gets so high that you get a nosebleed, get off it.”

Gunn is known for his level-headedness but said he can bend and bend until he snap. During episode 10 of season 14, he finally snaps and even goes as far to use the f-word during the episode, something he rarely does. He used this narration to illustrate how he wishes people would take responsibility for their actions.

“They were looking at the cut of the show, and they called me and they said, ‘You know, we can take the ‘f’ out or we can leave it in. Whatever you want to do,’” Gunn said. “I said, ‘Look, you know, leave it in. It was a heated moment of unrestricted frustration. Leave it in.’ So I think they’re going to. The censored bleeps will bleep over it, but you’ll get the point, trust me.”

St. Louis-born designer Laura Kathleen Baker was the fifth-place contestant during season nine and returned for season two of Project Runway: All Stars. In an email to The Maneater, Baker wrote about how Gunn helped her aesthetic and helped her trust herself.

“Tim is very caring and seems to find the good in everyone,” Baker said. “In the workroom, Tim was more of a break and comfort to all the stress running through my head. However, with that being said, Tim’s opinion isn’t always the same as the judges so it was sometimes confusing. Tim always reminded me to listen to myself and not let the judges get into my head.”

Of Project Runway, Gunn spoke of season 14 and the new show Project Runway Junior, a version with contestants aged 13 to 17. While he has been on Project Runway for all 14 seasons and a possible 15th, he felt like the “unbridled fearless young people” on Project Runway Junior refreshed his outlook on the future of the fashion industry.

“It was phenomenal,” Gunn said. “And it was for me the Project Runway season 14 antidote. I felt healed and repaired. The teens are so incredibly talented, they have such positive energy, no cynicism, no negativity, no excuses, no ‘I can’t because of.’ They are so intensely curious about the world and they have such wonderful qualities of character. So it makes me feel, in addition to all of you, better about the future.”

From his stories about Anna Wintour being carried down five flights of stairs by her bodyguards to Andre Leon Talley, editor-at-large for Vogue, being hand-fed grapes in a green room, Tim provided humorous insights about the grittier parts of the fashion industry. He also touched on his [Time Magazine article](http://time.com/4023502/tim-gunn-which-fashions-will-we-find-appalling-in-the-future/) about his disdain for the fur industry.

“They asked me … ‘30 years from now, what will we look back at in fashion now and say, ‘This was ridiculous, this was preposterous,’” Gunn said. “And I said fur. It’s in proliferation on the runway. It is everywhere. And I’m not talking about just fur coats and jackets, I’m talking about just fur trim on hems and fur doo-dads on handbags. Just why? I hope that the industry does look back and say, ‘We should never have done this, we should never have been there.’”

Sophomore Hannah McMahon has been watching Project Runway since she was 10 years old and volunteered to rip tickets for the event with Delta Gamma.

“I’m obsessed with Tim Gunn,” McMahon said. “He was just really funny. I didn’t think he was going to be as funny as he was. I think he tied in advice, but I kind of liked that it wasn’t just, ‘Here’s this, here’s that.’ It was more story-based.”

Senior Kathy Cruise purchased Gunn’s book “Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work” at the event after sitting in the second row of Jesse Auditorium.

“I knew about this a few months ago, and it kept popping up in my mind, like, ‘Tim Gunn’s coming, Tim Gunn’s coming, I feel like I should go to this,’” Cruise said. “I love his vocabulary. I think that was my favorite part. He’s relatable. But in a very posh, gentlemanlike way. It’s almost like you feel like anything he says, you can take it and you know that you can do better after you listen to that.”

Toward the end of the event, the floor was opened up for a Q&A session, and audience members lined up to ask Gunn a mix of humorous and serious questions. He even spoke about his disdain for the “leggings as pants” trend and flip flops. In response to a question about his start in the fashion industry, he spoke about his beginnings at Parsons and his start on Project Runway.

“It’s tough, it’s gritty, and unless you love it, don’t do it,” Gunn said. “When Project Runway happened, I never dreamed there would be more than one season of the show. I never dreamed I would be in the cut of the show.”