Not surprisingly, his own style icons include James Bond and Clark Gable. Malan also claims to wear jeans from time to time, but usually with a blazer (a long way from a pair of zebra-striped Dolce & Gabbana pants worn long ago).
He showed pictures from behind the scenes of his fall fashion show and of his new store. He seemed particularly excited about his line of ‘evening pajamas.'
This segued into how he designs with women of all sizes in mind, and critiqued how a lot of current fashions (read: low rise jeans) don't work for a lot of women. He posted a color chart for next season, and invited a student on stage to give her advice on what colors and styles she should be wearing. He also gave recommendations for strong pieces to have: a black blazer, a 3 button suit, and good ties for men and a nice handbag, pair of black heels, and strong jewelry for women. Malan always stressed that people should dress according to their own personality and to always exude confidence.
Malan also gave advice for what to wear when interviewing, and patiently answered a lot of questions about what to wear and how to shop. Surprising, there was only one Project Runway-related question about the final shows. Overall, Malan was very charming and funny, and called the audience "darlings." I was impressed at how prepared he was - he had definitely thought about how to inspire this audience to think about fashion and how to wear it in the real world - and how interested he was in genuinely helping out the students. And there was cake!!Thanks Christine for a great report from Princeton!
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