Christian Siriano Tripled His Business by Adding Plus Sizes

Reasons to love Christian Siriano: He’s inclusive. He’s industrious. He’s chiffon-powered. And he truly isn’t shy.

That last part was especially true this week, when Siriano and Fern Mallis discussed his Wham! Pow! career at the 92nd Street Y. Among the revelations: His first commission came from Victoria Beckham, his new store will have a café by Alicia Silverstone, and he’s definitely a Scorpio, though less Kris Jenner (“meh”) and more Grace Kelly (“amazing”). Also, he went to the Step Up School (a.k.a. Baltimore School of the Arts) from sophomore through senior year.

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Here are some more of Siriano’s wise words, including advice to young designers, when it’s time to ghost on your boss, and how expanded sizing can save a growing business.

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How to Handle Early Rejection

"I did a summer program at FIT, and a teacher encouraged me to apply. Well, I didn’t get it, so instead, I went to London and studied there. The head pattern maker at Vivienne Westwood was my teacher, so she was like, “You need to go work for Vivienne,” and I did. It was so far to her studio, like a two-hour commute each way, but I did it because I loved it and I learned so much. Then I interned for [Alexander] McQueen. McQueen was a very inspiring place, and it was a very creative place. I still try to run my studio like that because it was very hands on. But if I’d been at FIT, I don’t know that I would have had those experiences… Now? I have two pieces in their museum, so I think it worked out. And they asked me to speak at their commencement this year. My opening line would have been, “I didn't get in, but congratulations to you all.” So yeah, it’s very full circle and I think it all worked out!"

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How to Leave an Internship That’s Not Quite Right

"My time [interning] at Marc Jacobs was brief. I don’t talk about that experience because it was so short. Obviously, Marc Jacobs is an incredibly talented, amazing designer, and I have so much respect for the label, but I didn’t do a lot there. I copied fabrics every day for eight hours that entire week. My boss was not a fan of me, so that was my job… so after a week, I did the thing you’re not supposed to do. I was sent to run an errand, and I was so annoyed, when I got back, I put the stuff on her desk. I was like, “Here’s all this fringe tassel!” and then I just left and didn’t come back."

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How Not to Go on TV

"I auditioned [for Project Runway] when I was 20. I was a kid. Those decisions you make so early shouldn’t shape your entire career. It’s like an actress—one movie isn’t her entire career, especially her first movie. Other designers did things early in their careers and moved on!... I guess I don’t like to talk about it too much because being on the show is the worst thing you could do for your career. It’s reality TV but it’s not real. Somebody else is paying for your fabrics? You can make whatever you want? It’s not a real world situation. I wish I could still do that! The show itself, I mean, there’s something really beautiful about watching people make something out of nothing every week. That’s amazing. But [to young designers], I don’t recommend it."

How to Make More Money While Being Awesome

"Adding plus sizes to my line tripled my business. Why wouldn’t you do that?! Do we not want to triple the business? Do we not think these women should wear our clothes? Do we not want these women to have beautiful things because we’re afraid they’re not beautiful? What is going on here? Of course it’s a process to make things in bigger sizes. The patterns are different. There’s more fabric involved. But we will never charge more for a larger size, because that’s not the right thing to do. The whole point of being a designer is to make people feel good, we’re here to make people look cute in a dress. You want to look cute in a dress and you're a size 26? Why not?!"

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How to Change the Fashion Size Paradigm

"You have to put it in people’s faces. We’re visual. It has to be on the runway to get through to people. We’re all stubborn, even me. So when it’s on the runway, it’s there… Now, our business is 50 percent plus size. The reason it’s going so much is because the retailers will go with us. We got Moda Operandi to change their whole website—now they go up to our sizes! Knowing we have a part in change like that, it’s amazing… but it’s still crazy to me that it’s not the norm."

> Christian Siriano and Whoopi Goldberg at the CFDA Awards

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