Tim Gunn and Gretta Monahan. Photo courtesy of Bravo.

Back in the second season of Project Runway, Santino Rice sat at a sewing machine and belted out, “Tim Gunn! Tim Gunn! If he calls your name you’re done!” At the end of that season it was Rice who was done and Gunn who moved on for more seasons of Runway and a spin-off show, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, whose second season premiered on Bravo on October 2.

Ever since peeking into America’s living rooms with Runway, audiences can’t get enough Tim Gunn. He’s the “sanest man in reality television,” according to The Advocate. He has released a book, called A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style. His catchphrases “Make it work” and “Carry on” have endured five seasons of television—even though they’re significantly less lewd than Tyra Banks’ “fierce” and Christian Siriano’s “hot tranny mess.”

He’s back for another season of Guide to Style, this time without model/fashion assistant Veronica Webb. Instead, spa and salon owner Gretta Monahan joins Gunn as the shopping buddy and style arbiter for the show’s fashion-challenged women.

Gunn said this season they’re dealing with the woman next door, who has some major problems with clothing. “It’s a bit like taking a recovering alcoholic to a house full of liquor bottles when we go to the department store,” he said.

Where’s the line between helpful criticism and remarks that kind of go into the mean category?
Tim Gunn: Well Gretta and I are very sensitive to people’s sensitivities, if that makes any sense. And it’s only at a point of perhaps frustration—sometimes exasperation—when we feel a blunt instrument is really necessary. We need to wake somebody up.

This week so much is being made of the style of Vice President candidate Sarah Palin, and it’s something that’s sort of ripe for parody. She’s got the glasses and the up-do, but what do you think of it and do you think that she’s actually unearthed the best style for her?
Gretta Monahan: You know, for me I think she has a look that works for the role she’s in. She’s a beautiful, beautiful woman. I’ve kind of been one of those people that would love to pull the glasses off and see the hair down. I just can’t help it. You know, I own salons and boutiques and I would love to see her also just have a little bit of variation in her look.
TG: All I can say is we should all brace ourselves for a Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun.

Do you think everyday women pay too much attention to celebrity women? And what famous women should they be paying attention to? Who sets the best example in style?
TG: If we have our eyes open we can’t help but be aware of celebrity style and fashion because it surrounds us. I’m fond of saying that the person who I believe gets it right with sophistication and polish, and an individual who is occasion-appropriate, is Angelina Jolie. I say don’t look at red carpet looks because it’s not the real world. Look at how people pick up the kids at daycare or go shopping. It’s much more of a gauge of someone’s real style and how they navigate the real world. And I applaud her style.

How’s it been different working with Gretta as opposed to Veronica last season?
TG: Gretta and Veronica are two completely different people and I must say about Gretta is that—Gretta, forgive me if this is in any way puts you off—[she's] a real woman. Gretta’s petite. Gretta knows as well as the people with whom we work, the kinds of challenges that she faces when shopping and when she’s confronted with different silhouettes and when she looks at herself from the viewpoint of proportion of fit. Gretta can empathize and Veronica Webb is a supermodel and she could break all the rules and still look absolutely fabulous.

What other changes are going to be on the new season of the show as opposed to the first season?
TG: Well you know what’s interesting about this season? The challenges, the fashion challenges that are presented to Gretta and me are a little more subtle, a little more nuanced. They’re not quite the blunt instruments that you saw on Season 1. We have women who have sensational figures, and are beautiful but have issues with the clothes that they’ve been buying, clothing maintenance, grooming. So many women think, “Oh, if I had a figure like that, if I looked like her all my fashion foibles would be put to an end.” But in fact, that isn’t true. And that fashion challenge could be presented or can be confronted by any woman. And that’s what I love about this season, that we’re dealing with the woman next door and she has issues.

You guys deal with fashion challenged women on the show. What are some warning signs that people may notice that they may themselves be fashion challenged?
GM: Throw out the sequins. I think Tim and I encountered a little too many sequins. We got to give up the skating outfits and leave those for the Olympics. And people hold onto a lot of old things. Your wardrobe, your style, it needs to be maintained.

Is there anything you’re really scared for this fall?
GM: I am very worried about very large shapes; big peplums…big shoulders. I do think for the average girl, big sleeves, big arms—I mean, let’s just face it, they just make you look bigger.

Do you have any plans to maybe include some guys as the subjects [of the show]?
GM: Tim, can we please? … I want to do the guys. I love the guys.
TG: We would really like to. The show is not an intervention so people need to contact us. This goes through Bravo, and we were really looking for a guy for Season 2. And from Bravo’s perspective, they were disappointed in who had contacted us. But for Season 3 I think we have to do it. But just in terms of getting your fashion right, the same three principles apply to men as to women and that’s silhouette, proportion and fit.