D.C. gets a bad rap. Dirty politics, swampy summers, crime, and bad fashion sense. But ladies (and gentlemen, too) we do it to ourselves. No, not the crooked politics, but the fact that we say our city has no style. We proclaim it to our friends, we joke about it with our uber hip NY affiliates, we wear it like a comical badge of honor. "Yes, we're a bunch of dumb hicks that crawled out of the woods of Virginia and crab shacks of Maryland. Our granpappys wear flannels and gun holsters. Someone get me a Schlitz so I can forget about my data processing job at the Dept of Interior."

So I exaggerate. But to make a point. I AM TIRED of our continuous self-deprecation. So we're never going to be NY. Get over it. So our skyline is shorter than Baltimore. Get over it. But the house of Chanel help me if I hear one more person proclaim how they are so surprised whenever we have someone amazing come to D.C. Get over it.

Tonight Tim Gunn spoke at his alma mater, the Corcoran School of Art. Looking around the small auditorium I spotted a DvF signature wrap dress, many, many pairs of expensive, high maintenance heels and a cape (?). Not a bad looking bunch. It was like a huge closet opened and all these people came tumbling out. "Thank goodness I have some place to go where, no matter what craziness I pull off, someone will think I look great." Well, maybe not Tim, but someone.

So, 50% of me went to people watch and the other 50% hoping to get further insights on PR from the accidental star of one the most famous reality shows. For anyone out there that thinks Gunn is at all putting on airs on PR, you're wrong. He has the exact same mannerisms, the same perfect posture. He speaks as if he was raised by a royal family and is exceedingly polite. And, like many of these exceedingly polite and gentile people he is a bit long winded. Most of the 200 people there tonight wanted to hear about PR, his short and emotionally charged times with the contestants, what he really thinks of the whacked out designs, his experiences with Heidi, MJacbos, DvF, Vera, etc. but instead we got miles of back story. Dreaming of going to the Corcoran, going to the Corcoran, working for the Corcoran, his friends at the Corcoran, not wanting to leave the Corcoran. Forty minutes into the talk and he still hasn't moved to NY.

Finally he gets to Parsons. He does admissions for Parsons, teaches for Parsons, gets to chair the fashion department and finally, after an age of the audience squirming like it had hemorrhoids, he tells us about the day he gets the call from Bravo! about an idea for this fashion reality show. Of course, being the exceedingly polite and gentile Mr. Gunn he turns it down, but the producers persist and finally sign him on for the first season. As with many future cult phenonmenons, initially the show was a ratings bomb and was very near being cancelled before a Bravo! VP came up with the genius idea of running PR marathons.