February 17, 2025
Provided image/Tan France
Tan France and his 'Queer Eye' castmates Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski and Jeremiah Brent are heading on tour. The Fab Five recently wrapped a ninth season in Las Vegas.
Netflix's style guru Tan France is known for his perfectly fitted sweaters and oversized button-downs, cinched at the waist in his signature French tuck. But the "Queer Eye" star isn't the stickler for formality that some fans might expect. Most days, he said, he actually wears pajamas.
"My pajamas are my house clothes," France said. "A lot of the time they're the nicest pajamas you could find, but they're not fancy clothes. They're just my pajamas."
France even will take a work call in his PJs, he admitted, though the fashion expert has standards.
"Everything's a matching set," he clarified. "It's not an ex-boyfriend's oversized T-shirt."
France will be taking his eye for style on the road this month for "Queer Eye Live." After nine seasons, he and his castmates are synthesizing the reality show for the stage with a five-city tour. Their event Wednesday at Miller Theater will be the first, bringing France back to Philadelphia for his first proper visit since the show's fifth season in the city. He already has at least one reunion in the works.
"I have not eaten sugar since Jan. 1 and I try not to have sugar for the first three months of the year," he said. "However, we are going to Philly on the tour and I am craving so desperately the tiramisu from Little Nonna's. All their food is great. But I'm really obsessed with their tiramisu."
The live show will not be the same as a typical "Queer Eye" episode, France cautioned. The Fab Five won't be picking a guest out of the audience for a spontaneous makeover, or following them home to redesign their kitchen. But the tour will give audiences a peek into the process and introduce them to the show's newest cast member, Jeremiah Brent. The interior designer joined France, Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness and Antoni Porowski on "Queer Eye" in Season 9 as a replacement for longtime personality Bobby Berk. Those episodes debuted last December.
The live show will help fans understand how France builds a new wardrobe for each "Queer Eye" participant. While viewers typically just see him browsing the racks of a local store with the "hero" of the week, there's a lot more legwork that goes into the seemingly spontaneous shopping spree.
"I think people forget how we actually get there," France said. "It's not just a click of a heel and a snap of a finger and there's a new closet. It takes so much work and so much prep and really understanding who those heroes are so you can create something unique and special."
The process begins with a questionnaire he developed for the first season of "Queer Eye." France designed it to gauge the participant's sense of fashion — what colors and styles they prefer, how they dress for work and where they usually buy clothes. Based on their responses, he'll choose a location for the episode's shopping trip, aiming for somewhere 20-25 minutes away from the person's home so they can return after the Fab Five leaves.
When the cast finally meets its new hero and tours their home, France goes through their closet with them to fill in the missing gaps.
"This is where if you were to communicate your sartorial choices, I would understand that through your closet by understanding this can go, this stays, why does this stay, why is this part important to you?" he said. "That helps me understand how I then create the rest of your wardrobe, which may not look anything like the existing part of your wardrobe we kept, but it at least helps me understand how we take you through the next phase of your life, which is hopefully more positive, happy, ambitious, whatever the thing is that you want from this show."
France comes up with a detailed list of items and sends his team out to track them down. His two right-hand women search online and in stores, FaceTiming the results for his review. Once the clothes are assembled, another staffer makes any necessary alterations. She also cut and stitched the two outfits that France sketched for former Vegas showgirl Paula in the Season 9 premiere, the first time the former designer created clothing for the show.
"I wish I could do it every episode," he said. "If we had a bigger team of staff, yeah, I would absolutely love to just design the clothes that we have on the show, even if it's just the ones that they put on for the show. I would love that, 'cause it is my bread and butter. It's how I started out. It's just unfortunately not that feasible."
Provided image/Bronson Farr/NetflixThe cast of 'Queer Eye' is touring the U.S. with a live show stopping in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. It kicks off in Philadelphia at the Miller Theater on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
A lot has changed for France since "Queer Eye" debuted in 2018. He's hosted other reality shows like "Next in Fashion" and "Say Yes to the Dress" and started his own production company, French Tuck Media. He'll soon make his acting debut on the Philadelphia-set comedy "Deli Boys," coming to Hulu in March. France and his husband also have become fathers twice over — their oldest son is 3, and their youngest is 1 — which has made it harder to keep in touch with the heroes of past seasons. It's changed the way he dresses, too.
"I've learned to wear looser clothes," France explained. "Even though I used to wear very fitted and impractical clothes. My kids require so much play, which is normal. So I'm on the floor constantly. I'm rolling around constantly. My fashion had to change."
The show also has evolved. "Queer Eye" drew a massive response when it debuted in 2018, in part, because it sent its gay and nonbinary cast into red states, where they engaged with Trump supporters. Politics have receded a bit in later seasons, even as the show bounced around the U.S., but France is prepared to have more of those conversations if Netflix renews the show for a 10th season.
"I don't think it was ever cute and comfortable," he said. "It was never, oh yeah, I can't wait to do this. And that's how I feel now. I think that you just hope for the best and you hope that whoever you're speaking to will be a decent human and treat you with kindness."
Follow Kristin & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @kristin_hunt
| @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Have a news tip? Let us know.
