Gok Wan Fashion Tips Biography
source(google.com.pk)
I have been told to meet Gok Wan, presenter of the Channel 4 series How to Look Good Naked, in House of Fraser on Oxford Street and, for one mad minute, as I stand outside the store in the crisp October cold, I wonder how, exactly, I will find him. Will he be in handbags looking for something lovely in this season's patent, or will he be ferreting about in lingerie, picking out a few giant pairs of his beloved magic pants?
This is dumb of me: it's obvious where he is the moment I step inside. By the Lancôme counter is a small crowd. It consists mostly of middle-aged women, who are standing very still and staring in the direction of the shop's window. The atmosphere is - how to describe it? - chaotic, but reverential; a few hold their camera phones above their heads, as if they were cigarette lighters and this gathering a Celine Dion gig. I push my way through and find, on a platform that can also be seen from the pavement outside, my prey, in a modish black suit (Dior? Topman?) and wearing a quiff so giant it is positively cartoonish. Around him, tableau-style, are eight women in thick make-up, loony wigs and dressing gowns. Someone shouts: 'Ready?' It's a photographer, and they all turn to look at him. Then it happens. The girls drop their dressing gowns, and there they stand, naked, for all the half-term shoppers to see. A flash gun pops. Gok smiles, winningly, and narrows his eyes as if to say: 'Just look at this lot.' And look we do. It would be rude not to given the effort everyone has put in.This, it turns out, is a publicity shot for the third series of How to Look Good Naked, TV's most benign makeover show. Expect to see it on a billboard near you very soon, and do try not to crash the car as you drive by (the women are of all ages, and all shapes and sizes, which is heartening, but also somewhat startling; I'm not being unsisterly when I say that it's quite a lot to take in at one go). Job done, the girls put their robes back on, and swap their stilettoes for fluffy slippers. The crowd, reluctantly, disperses. Gok, meanwhile, having been pointed in my direction, bounds towards me, and off we go to personal shopping on the fifth floor, where we can talk - though not before he has said goodbye to each and every one of today's models. 'Bye, gorgeous!' he shouts (everyone is 'gorgeous' in Gokworld). 'Thanks for being so brave! You were great today!' There is a lot of kissing and hugging: of hairstylists and make-up artists and publicity girls. My God, I say, when we finally make it to our curtained cubicle: what is it with you and women? I mean, you're gay for goodness sake. He laughs, but behind his trademark glasses, his eyes are super-sincere. 'I've always had an amazing connection with women - a real love of them. I come from quite a heavy matriarchal family, and my older sister was a huge influence on me. But I must admit, perhaps it's getting just a bit out of hand now.'The thing is, you can't really blame these fans. Gok is very adorable. OK, so he overuses the words 'gorgeous' and 'massively' (as in: 'How women look is massively about their self-esteem'), and he has an alarming tendency to talk about himself in the third person ('I don't want people to think that they can't do it without Gok'; or: 'Gok's here!'), but he is also positive, encouraging, warm, sweetly unguarded about his own problems and, most important, genuinely non-judgmental about the way women look. Honestly, I really don't think it is faked for television. He was once fat himself, so he knows how it feels to be self-conscious about his body, but he's also someone who grew up counting his blessings, and this seems to have bled into his attitude to any given female. Give him a size 16, and all he sees is a great pair of 'bangers' (that's breasts to you). Sitting with him in this tiny, airless space (he doesn't mind at all that we're in what's basically a changing room), what makes me smile is the way that he is confident, even arrogant, and yet self-deprecating, too - with hilarious results. 'I'm thick, actually,' he says. 'But it doesn't bother me. I think I'm really clever.'A couple of years ago, I interviewed Trinny and Susannah, hosts of another TV makeover show, and their analysis of my look went like this: bad hair, awful trousers, fat thighs, rubbish colours, but your handbag is OK at a push. Gok claims that he can look at a woman and know immediately her age, how many children she has, how much time she spends on herself in the morning, even what magazines she reads. So what are his impressions of me? 'I have a strict rule that I never do it for people who ask me to,' he says. Oh, come on! Am I self-hater or a self-lover, body-wise? 'I'd say that you have a keen interest in fashion, but that you struggle with your creative side versus your academic side in your adult life.' He looks at my sensible grey dress and knitted tights. 'You use lots of textures and layers. You like to feel texture. That's a sign of your creativity. You're confident of your overall aesthetic, but a massive part of you says: "Fuck it! I'm secure in what I do for a living."' He looks at my folded arms, and mistakes them for a defensive position. 'See? That's why I don't usually do it.' But I feel fine! I think what he's trying to say, in a kind way, is that I'm a cardigan-wearing bluestocking - and I came to terms with that sad truth many years ago.Gok isn't into humiliation, and his programme does not include any element of it. Nor does he tell his willing victims to lose weight or have surgery; it is all about confidence, and learning to wear stuff that is right for you. He was working as a fashion stylist when he was first approached about presenting the series, and he made it clear right from the start that he wasn't going to play the bitch because he had his reputation to consider (styling celebrities is about being positive, not about telling them that they are too fat to fit into the sample size). His career up until that point had also taught him that there is no woman alive who loves everything about her body - he once worked with a very famous beautiful woman who refused to wear sandals on account of her ugly feet - and he sees it as his mission to do something about the low-level body dysmorphia from which he says we all suffer: 'The UK perception of beauty is totally out of whack. We're incredibly confused about what we think is attractive: women who are a size 10, but who hate their bodies; women who admire someone who is a 14, but who don't want to be a 14 themselves. We haven't a clue! We're told certain things, and we believe them. You're probably wearing that dress because you think someone else will like it.'
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
I have been told to meet Gok Wan, presenter of the Channel 4 series How to Look Good Naked, in House of Fraser on Oxford Street and, for one mad minute, as I stand outside the store in the crisp October cold, I wonder how, exactly, I will find him. Will he be in handbags looking for something lovely in this season's patent, or will he be ferreting about in lingerie, picking out a few giant pairs of his beloved magic pants?
This is dumb of me: it's obvious where he is the moment I step inside. By the Lancôme counter is a small crowd. It consists mostly of middle-aged women, who are standing very still and staring in the direction of the shop's window. The atmosphere is - how to describe it? - chaotic, but reverential; a few hold their camera phones above their heads, as if they were cigarette lighters and this gathering a Celine Dion gig. I push my way through and find, on a platform that can also be seen from the pavement outside, my prey, in a modish black suit (Dior? Topman?) and wearing a quiff so giant it is positively cartoonish. Around him, tableau-style, are eight women in thick make-up, loony wigs and dressing gowns. Someone shouts: 'Ready?' It's a photographer, and they all turn to look at him. Then it happens. The girls drop their dressing gowns, and there they stand, naked, for all the half-term shoppers to see. A flash gun pops. Gok smiles, winningly, and narrows his eyes as if to say: 'Just look at this lot.' And look we do. It would be rude not to given the effort everyone has put in.This, it turns out, is a publicity shot for the third series of How to Look Good Naked, TV's most benign makeover show. Expect to see it on a billboard near you very soon, and do try not to crash the car as you drive by (the women are of all ages, and all shapes and sizes, which is heartening, but also somewhat startling; I'm not being unsisterly when I say that it's quite a lot to take in at one go). Job done, the girls put their robes back on, and swap their stilettoes for fluffy slippers. The crowd, reluctantly, disperses. Gok, meanwhile, having been pointed in my direction, bounds towards me, and off we go to personal shopping on the fifth floor, where we can talk - though not before he has said goodbye to each and every one of today's models. 'Bye, gorgeous!' he shouts (everyone is 'gorgeous' in Gokworld). 'Thanks for being so brave! You were great today!' There is a lot of kissing and hugging: of hairstylists and make-up artists and publicity girls. My God, I say, when we finally make it to our curtained cubicle: what is it with you and women? I mean, you're gay for goodness sake. He laughs, but behind his trademark glasses, his eyes are super-sincere. 'I've always had an amazing connection with women - a real love of them. I come from quite a heavy matriarchal family, and my older sister was a huge influence on me. But I must admit, perhaps it's getting just a bit out of hand now.'The thing is, you can't really blame these fans. Gok is very adorable. OK, so he overuses the words 'gorgeous' and 'massively' (as in: 'How women look is massively about their self-esteem'), and he has an alarming tendency to talk about himself in the third person ('I don't want people to think that they can't do it without Gok'; or: 'Gok's here!'), but he is also positive, encouraging, warm, sweetly unguarded about his own problems and, most important, genuinely non-judgmental about the way women look. Honestly, I really don't think it is faked for television. He was once fat himself, so he knows how it feels to be self-conscious about his body, but he's also someone who grew up counting his blessings, and this seems to have bled into his attitude to any given female. Give him a size 16, and all he sees is a great pair of 'bangers' (that's breasts to you). Sitting with him in this tiny, airless space (he doesn't mind at all that we're in what's basically a changing room), what makes me smile is the way that he is confident, even arrogant, and yet self-deprecating, too - with hilarious results. 'I'm thick, actually,' he says. 'But it doesn't bother me. I think I'm really clever.'A couple of years ago, I interviewed Trinny and Susannah, hosts of another TV makeover show, and their analysis of my look went like this: bad hair, awful trousers, fat thighs, rubbish colours, but your handbag is OK at a push. Gok claims that he can look at a woman and know immediately her age, how many children she has, how much time she spends on herself in the morning, even what magazines she reads. So what are his impressions of me? 'I have a strict rule that I never do it for people who ask me to,' he says. Oh, come on! Am I self-hater or a self-lover, body-wise? 'I'd say that you have a keen interest in fashion, but that you struggle with your creative side versus your academic side in your adult life.' He looks at my sensible grey dress and knitted tights. 'You use lots of textures and layers. You like to feel texture. That's a sign of your creativity. You're confident of your overall aesthetic, but a massive part of you says: "Fuck it! I'm secure in what I do for a living."' He looks at my folded arms, and mistakes them for a defensive position. 'See? That's why I don't usually do it.' But I feel fine! I think what he's trying to say, in a kind way, is that I'm a cardigan-wearing bluestocking - and I came to terms with that sad truth many years ago.Gok isn't into humiliation, and his programme does not include any element of it. Nor does he tell his willing victims to lose weight or have surgery; it is all about confidence, and learning to wear stuff that is right for you. He was working as a fashion stylist when he was first approached about presenting the series, and he made it clear right from the start that he wasn't going to play the bitch because he had his reputation to consider (styling celebrities is about being positive, not about telling them that they are too fat to fit into the sample size). His career up until that point had also taught him that there is no woman alive who loves everything about her body - he once worked with a very famous beautiful woman who refused to wear sandals on account of her ugly feet - and he sees it as his mission to do something about the low-level body dysmorphia from which he says we all suffer: 'The UK perception of beauty is totally out of whack. We're incredibly confused about what we think is attractive: women who are a size 10, but who hate their bodies; women who admire someone who is a 14, but who don't want to be a 14 themselves. We haven't a clue! We're told certain things, and we believe them. You're probably wearing that dress because you think someone else will like it.'
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
Gok Wan Fashion Tips FASHION TIPS FOR WOMEN FOR MEN FOR GIRLS 2013 FOR PLUSE SIZE WOMEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS FOR BALD MEN QUOTE3S FOR TEENAGERS FOR FAT MEN
No comments:
Post a Comment