Entertainment

Tim vs. Kim

Tim Gunn has turned his critical eye towards the Kardashian sisters’ fashion sense.

The style guru, who is usually polite and soft-spoken outside the confines of “Project Runway,” appears to have put the hit reality-show girls in his sights — and has been firing away for weeks.

He stepped up his sneers on “The Joy Behar Show” last week, saying that while the Kardashian style — which gravitates towards skin-tight, butt-enhancing and cleavage-bearing — “may have some sexiness to it, I find it’s largely vulgar.”

Gunn went on to say that their look “has a cheapness and a tawdriness [to it].”

The Kardashian bashing began when the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” stars — Kim, 29, Kourtney, 30, and Khloe, 25 — unveiled the special collection they designed for Bebe during last month’s Fashion Week. It’s the first of five seasons worth of clothes that the girls will be designing.

When asked whether he supported the Kardashian Bebe spring line, a mix of jumpsuits and revealing one-shouldered dresses, Gunn told wonderwall.msn.com that the clothes didn’t talk to him.

“I just think the Kardashians have an absence of taste and I don’t think that that should be perpetuated,” he said. “I’m sorry I’m sounding like an old farty, snob, but it bothers me.”

Together, the sisters own DASH, a boutique that specializes in designer clothing and accessories that reflects their fashion aesthetic. (The Miami branch serves as the backdrop for the spinoff series, “Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami.”)

The outspoken sisters, each of whom has a very active Twitter account, have remained uncharacteristically mum about the sartorial slams.

The closest they’ve come to addressing Gunn’s unprovoked attack came during a “Twitterview” when little sister Khloe told Wonderwall, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and everyone has a different sense of style. I love criticism! It makes us all better.”

Although he’s clearly no fan of their fashion taste or “how they navigate the world,” Gunn did have one nice thing to say about Kim — kind of.

“She’s pretty, but she’s a poser,” he told Behar, referring to the way Kim mugs for the camera. “I find that when she’s static and still, she has an attractiveness. I find that when she’s moving, it all goes away for me.”

It’s unlikely that Gunn’s comments will have any effect on the sisters’ activities. “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” which follows the over-the-top antics of the extended Kardashian clan, is E!’s top-rated series. Last month’s fourth season finale drew 4.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched show in the network’s history.