SINGAPORE: His unflappable demeanour, fused with dry humour and icicle-sharp wit made Tim Gunn the surprise star of the reality TV series Project Runway. Its fourth season is currently on Discovery Travel and Living (StarHub Channel 16).

In the show, the 54-year-old mentors a gaggle of wannabe designers, constantly telling them to "make it work". It's quite an accomplishment when you consider the show's host is supermodel bombshell Heidi Klum.

Similarly, "making it work" seems to be the mantra for Gunn's own show, Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. It premieres Wednesday night on SET (Mio TV Channel 20).

In a phone interview with TODAY from New York, Gunn explained the origins of his catchphrase. "In my teaching experience (at Parsons the New School for Design), when students are faced with a big project and it's not going well, they're very much inclined to throw everything out, get new material and start from scratch, and I don't think they learn anything from that.

"I believe they learn much more from taking the existing condition and problem solving through them. You can't buy anything else, you can't make a new pattern, you've got to use this and make it work," he added.

Together with his onscreen sidekick, former model Veronica Webb, the chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne assumes a new role as style consultant to the fashion-challenged. But this is not your average makeover show, Gunn said.

"It's about one's personal presentation to the world. It's the clothes, the hair and the make-up and it's about teaching people," said the Washington DC native. "Other shows usually have makeovers around the person, but this is a partnership — a collaboration.

"Just like my book, Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Style and Taste, it's all about the individual. It does not offer a fashion prescription. It doesn't say, 'If you wear these clothes, all your fashion faux pas will be fixed'. It asks questions: Who are you? With whom do you interact? What do you do? Then, that's how you dress for that role," he explained.

In one episode, for example, Gunn and Webb come face-to-face with a 41-year-old mother who looks less like a homemaker and more like a Girls Gone Wild home-wrecker.

"Because of the preconceptions from other kinds of makeover shows, she thought we're going to do the work for her," said Gunn. "And the fact is — no. We're not going to do the work for her. We're going to guide her."

Needless to say, that episode is filled with dramatic bouts of frustration.

As for making things work, Gunn has his work cut out for him. Project Runway is still going strong and Season Two of Tim Gunn's Guide to Style is in the works.

So, what will be different? "There will be men in the second season!" teased the style guru.

Tim Gunn's Guide to Style airs every Wednesday and Thursday, 10pm on SET (Mio TV Channel 20). - TODAY/ra