A Fashion Sage Goes With the Tide

On most Thursday evenings, Tim Gunn, the urbane co-host of TV's "Project Runway" and chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne, takes a break from the world of fashion designers and models. He strolls to his local Manhattan fluff-and-fold for his weekly drop-off.

In one hand, the fashion arbiter carries his laundry bag packed with dirty clothes. In the other hand, he clutches bottles of Tide Total Care and Downy Total Care, new products he is being paid to pitch to a fresh audience: fashionistas. Maker Procter & Gamble says it has developed an anti-aging formula for fabric care, borrowing components from the beauty industry that protect fibers, preserve shape and retain color in the washing machine.

"They asked me if I would be interested in being a spokesperson for this product and present the compelling message that this is for fashion, not just for clothing," says Gunn, 55, a native Washingtonian and former chairman of the fashion design department at Parsons the New School of Design. He stars in his own fashion makeover show on Bravo, "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style," and recently published a book on the same topic.

Procter & Gamble, eager to bring glitz to the supermarket detergent shelf, is gambling that consumers looking to save money on dry cleaning will be doing more laundry at home and will pay more for a detergent that gives clothing a little TLC. The company hired Gunn because of his high profile and because he makes a living consulting with people about how they present themselves.

Gunn grew up in Northwest Washington near the National Cathedral. His father was an FBI agent for 26 years and worked closely with J. Edgar Hoover. Gunn, who left Washington after grade school to attend boarding school, returned to graduate from and later work for the Corcoran College of Art & Design. He moved to New York in 1983 to begin his 23-year career at Parsons.

Gunn, who has never owned real estate, is moving shortly into a two-bedroom apartment he just bought on the Upper West Side. As part of his upgraded lifestyle, he will finally own his first clothes washer.

Regrettably, he says, he gets to Washington only once or twice a year; here is his take from a visit a couple of years ago: "I hadn't been on Capitol Hill in ages, yet I felt as though time had stood still: men in droopy, baggy suits and women in too-long skirts and menswear-tailored tops." He gives a shout-out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), though, for her sense of "quality, taste and style."

We spoke to Gunn recently about memories of Washington, the merits of washing or dry-cleaning jeans and the relationship people have with their clothes.

What do you remember about doing laundry as a child?

My mother was very intense about making me and my sister very independent people, so we did laundry and cleaned the house. Our washing machine was in the basement. My most vivid memory is definitely finding a seven-inch salamander in the machine after doing the wash. I shrieked and did the laundry all over again, twice.