Mariah Dubbed ‘Overly Sexy’

Mariah Carey may have a stellar career and a red-hot romance with hubby Nick Cannon, but Project Runway winner Christian Siriano thinks she’s a fashion emergency, and he wants to save her style.

“I think she’s so fabulous and she’s such a superstar, but she’s never been a fashion icon,” he tells me during USA Network’s American Character: A Photographic Journey launch held Thursday at Stephan Weiss Gallery in NYC. “She’s more of a music icon. I feel like if she wore amazing haute couture, she’d be even bigger than she is now.”

What is her faux pas?

“I feel like she likes to be overly sexy,” he tells me. “I don’t think she needs to be. I think she could wear jeans and a jacket and a blouse, and be fabulous. I think covered up, she would still be amazing – because she is amazing.”

Hm, are her clothes too tight or not appropriate for a woman who turns 40 this month?

“Tightwise her clothes are OK,” he says. “It depends. Not always. It’s not all the time, just every now and then.”

Meanwhile, Mary-Kate Olsen, 22, gets Christian’s vote in the best celebrity style department.   

“I like it because it’s really edgy, it’s cool, it’s downtown. She doesn’t care what she’s wearing. It’s what real people really throw on. Like those edgy, hip girls who are slumming around and going to clubs all night. I like it.”

He also singles out “classic and chic” Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet.

And about Lady GaGa’s barely-there fashion streak?

“I love it,” he says. “Just panties and a blouse. That’s all you need. I don’t think a day-to-day woman could pull it off, but GaGa’s fabulous.”

His parting words?

“Life is too short to wear a bad outfit,” Christian tells me.