• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    The CultureMap Interview

    How celeb designer Christian Siriano created so many magnificent Dresses to Dream About

    Clifford Pugh
    Dec 22, 2017 | 1:46 pm

    From Project Runway to fashion star, Christian Siriano has had quite a decade as a designer. Siriano, who will celebrate his tenth anniversary in the fashion business with a spectacular runway show in February at New York Fashion Week, has recently concentrated his efforts on a new book, Dresses to Dream About, that details his design and construction process, along with some spectacular gowns and dresses from the past decade.

     

    In Houston recently for an appearance at Elizabeth Anthony, where admiring fans quickly gobbled up every book available for him to sign, the 32-year-old designer talked about the book, some of his favorite creations, his close friendship with Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones, and his surprising new project.

     

     CultureMap: How did the book come about and why now?

     

     Christian Siriano: It’s celebrating my 10 years of production.

     

     CM: I went to your first show.

     

     CS: Crazy, right? So I wanted to do something that was celebrating my work and things I’ve done over the years. But also, I wanted to do something that was a little bit about escapism. Right now there’s a lot going on in the world, so I wanted people to have something beautiful that they could open up and transform into a dream and be in this fantasy world.

     

     CM: What was the process?

     

     CS: I didn’t really want it to be a celebrity book. There are celebrity dresses in it, but it wasn’t about that necessarily. It’s more about the process, the work, and my favorites, even if some of the pieces no one even remembers or maybe some of them haven’t even been worn before. The point is, I wanted to show that all the work that goes into these pieces can still be beautiful, even if nobody wears them. That was the idea.

     

     CM: How many pieces are featured in the book?

     

     CS: There are 32 maybe. God, I can’t remember, I need to look.

     

     CM: You also talk about the process of creating. Why was that important to you?

     

     CS: I wanted to show people that literally, from my hand sketches to what it turns into, it really comes from nothing — a flat piece of paper — and turns into a 3-dimensional form. I think it's nice for people who don’t necessarily know much about fashion to see what goes into it.

     

     CM: You are known for creating Leslie Jones’ red gown for the Ghostbusters premiere. I was lucky enough to be at your show in September and see the energy that she had while watching it from the front row. What is it about the connection that you two have?

     

     CS: It's very real. What’s real about Leslie is she is no fuss, no care in the world. Sometimes in the fashion industry, everyone can be so uptight. It’s nice to just have fun. Fashion should be fun clothes and getting dressed up. It should be the fun part of the day, not the hard part. I think we share that. I also think she was excited because she hadn’t been to a fashion show before.

     

    She literally didn’t know what a fashion show was! So it was so endearing that she could just be herself. And it worked! If other people did it, it wouldn’t have worked. But she is not a fashion girl. So for her, it is exciting.

     

    And (supermodel) Coco (Rocha) had a big part of that, too. She is such an amazing model. She can literally transform a room, so that also helps, and Leslie was obsessed with her.

     

     CM: It had such a good energy, between Leslie being there and you featuring a large number of curvy models.

     

     CS: I wanted to really show a lot of diversity on the runway this season. I think that is always important. Sometimes you have to put it in people’s face to get them to wake up about it.

     

     CM: Do you think there’s a moment now for larger and more shapely models? You kind of started it.

     

     CS: Yeah, it is. I’m so glad. I think people are changing and learning. Listen, some of the best customers are women of shape and size. Why wouldn’t you have clothes for them? It’s crazy.

     

     CM: In the book, you included the dress you designed for Michelle Obama when she addressed the Democratic National Convention last year. It’s a no-brainer that you would include her, but what was it about the dress, because it really wasn’t a gown.

     

     CS: That’s why we wanted to call the book, Dresses. There are some short pieces in the book; they are the simplest but spoke volumes. Sometimes to show a beautiful piece can be simple and simplistic and still be powerful. I think that’s very important for people to understand.

     

     CM: You also feature some dresses that maybe weren’t as well-known at first. Like the gown Taylor Swift wore that didn’t get a lot of attention until she wore it.

     

     CS: People love that dress, clients love that dress, but editors pre-judged that dress. It was so funny, (they said) "it’s too big, it’s too whatever." But when Taylor wore it, it was a different story. And we’ve sold so many of that dress and it’s expensive. It was a beautiful moment, it was her first fragrance campaign. It was an amazing thing to watch. So yeah, it’s nice.

     

     CM: Because of the book's deadline, you didn't include some recent pieces, like the beautiful dress that Celine Dion wore to the Beauty and the Beast premiere.

     

     CS: It was sad that it didn’t make the cut, but that’s okay, because my next book is going to be all about red carpet glamour.

     

     CM: As fashion books go, it's not exorbitantly priced.

     

     CS: We priced it really well, so people could buy it. It’s $45. On Amazon, it’s $30.76, so people can get it as a great gift. We all agreed that we wanted it to be accessible, so that everybody could buy it. I wanted my mom’s friends to be able to buy it. I didn’t want people to say, “Oh, my god, it’s a $120 coffee table book."

     

     CM: You’re always doing something different. Your latest project is press-on nails. How did that come about?

     

     CS: It came from fashion week. The problem with fashion week is that we’re backstage and the girls need their hair and makeup and everything done. But we were having issues when girls needed it to be done really quick. They would come in with black nails and it didn’t work with the collections. So I started working with this company, KISS Press on Nails, and they were amazing. They’re beautiful and you can pop them on and off. So it started with fashion week and turned into a bigger collaboration. They’re fun. For the holidays, people love them.

     

    I have a big beauty collection coming out in January with e.l.f. Cosmetics, so that’s going to be really fun. I’m excited about that.

     

     CM: Looking back, coming up to your 10th anniversary, is this where you expected to be?

     

     CS: I guess so, (laughs). Listen, the book, I’m really proud of it. I never really thought I would have some type of retrospective type anything. And from such an amazing publisher like Rizzoli, who publishes Dior and Oscar and everyone. So that feels nice.

     

    It feels good. It makes all the hard days good. It’s nice to see the work in its beautifulness.

     

    ---
     Have a question for Clifford Pugh? E-mail him here.

    Christian Siriano dressed — and charmed — Houstonians during a recent appearance and book signing.

    Houston, Christian Siriano at Elizabeth Anthony
      
    Courtesy of Elizabeth Anthony
    Christian Siriano dressed — and charmed — Houstonians during a recent appearance and book signing.
    shopping
    news/fashion

    most read posts

    Exclusive: New cocktail bar from Houston hospitality stars coming to the Heights

    Houston will have vivid sunsets and air quality issues from Saharan dust

    This Houston suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in June

    WHERE TO SHOP IN JULY

    Where to shop right now: 10 Houston stores with summer fashion finds

    Gabi De la Rosa
    Jul 3, 2025 | 4:30 pm
    Dolly Parton
    Photo courtesy of Kendra Scott
    Kendra Scott’s latest collaboration with Dolly Parton features vintage-inspired pieces with hearts and butterflies, available for a limited time.

    Temperatures are heating up, and so are the fashion finds in the Bayou City. With summer sales in full swing and new limited-time collabs hitting the racks, Houston shoppers can refresh their closets before fall styles roll in.

    And let's be real, the summertime temps will be here through October, so a mid-year update is in order. Here are 10 standout spots to check out this month.

    Chloe Dao
    July marks the halfway point of the year, but it also means the countdown for Chloe Dao's Annual Birthday Sale is officially on. On Saturday, July 26th, shoppers will receive 50 percent off most items in the store (some exclusions apply) from 10 am-12 pm. The sale continues with 30 percent off for the rest of the weekend, and shoppers will also find 25 percent off select Dao Chloe Dao Original Designs.

    Jimmy Choo
    Jimmy Choo recently debuted a line of jelly shoes, blending the nostalgic trend with the brand's signature glamour and craftsmanship. The summertime staple is available in a variety of colors and styles at the Jimmy Choo boutique in the Galleria.

    Kendra Scott x Dolly Parton
    Country music legend Dolly Parton teamed up with Texas jewelry giant Kendra Scott for a second time with a line of vintage-inspired accessories inspired by her music. The limited-time collection features 10 styles, heavily featuring hearts and butterflies.

    La Fragancia
    The premier perfume chain store, with locations across California and Denver, opened its first Houston outpost at Houston Premium Outlets, near Saks Off 5th. It offers high-end fragrances for men and women, carrying all major brands from Armani to Zegna. La Fragancia also specializes in niche perfumes from France, the Middle East, and Italy, as well as exclusive imports and gift sets at discount prices.

    Loewe
    Fans of the luxury Spanish brand known for its iconic puzzle bags can now get their hands on the 10th anniversary Loewe Confetti bag. Available at the Loewe boutique in River Oaks District, the limited-edition design is made from leather and hand-embroidered with thousands of confetti pieces in colors perfect for summer.

    Maison Francis Kurkdjian
    Maison Francis Kurkdjian has officially opened its only Texas boutique at River Oaks District. Houstonians can now discover the world of Kurkdjian's artistry, featuring cult-favorite Baccarat Rouge 540 and exclusive boutique offerings. In celebration of the opening, Houstonians can receive a complimentary gift with purchase and complimentary engraving.

    Perigold
    The leading online luxury retailer recently debuted its first brick-and-mortar store in Highland Village. The massive 20,000-square-foot flagship store features a curated selection of furniture, decor, and lighting, showcasing over 150 luxury home brands. [Editor's note: Read CultureMap's full visit to the store here.]

    Rag & Bone
    The iconic denim retailer recently opened a boutique in Houston Premium Outlets. Customers can find favorites, including authentic heritage clothing with modern details for both men and women.

    Tiffany x Pharrell Williams
    Available at Tiffany in The Galleria, the Tiffany Titan by Pharrell Williams collection incorporates sharp spear-like spikes in everything from necklaces and earrings to bracelets and rings. The collection is available in 18K gold or titanium, featuring all-metal and diamond styles.

    Veronica Beard x Head Sportswear
    The exclusive Veronica Beard x Head Sportswear capsule collection is available at Veronica Beard in River Oaks District. This eight-piece collection, designed for athletes and fashion enthusiasts, features versatile women's tennis and activewear, crafted in Head's signature high-performance fabric. The new line includes a zip-front dress, jacket, skort, and top set, as well as a bra and leggings in limited-edition colorways of white, sage, and terracotta, complementing Veronica Beard's Pre-Fall 2025 collection.

    Dolly Parton
      

    Photo courtesy of Kendra Scott

    Kendra Scott’s latest collaboration with Dolly Parton features vintage-inspired pieces with hearts and butterflies, available for a limited time.

    jimmy chookendra scottriver oaks districthouston galleriawhere to shop in houston
    news/fashion

    most read posts

    Exclusive: New cocktail bar from Houston hospitality stars coming to the Heights

    Houston will have vivid sunsets and air quality issues from Saharan dust

    This Houston suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in June

    Loading...