Tan France

Tanveer Wasim "Tan" France (né Safdar; Urdu: تنوير وسيم فرانس‎; born 20 April 1983) is an English-American fashion designer, television personality, and author.[1][2] He became "one of the very first openly gay South Asian men on a major show",[lower-alpha 1][9] and one of the first openly gay Muslim men on western television,[9] as the fashion expert for the Netflix series Queer Eye, host of the web series Dressing Funny, and co-host of Next In Fashion.[10][11][12][13] His memoir, Naturally Tan was released in June 2019.[10]

Tan France
France in 2018
Born
Tanveer Wasim Safdar

(1983-04-20) 20 April 1983
Doncaster, England
Alma materDoncaster College
Occupation
  • Fashion designer
  • Entrepreneur
  • Television host
Years active2011–present
TelevisionQueer Eye, Next In Fashion
Spouse(s)
Rob France
(
m. 2007)

Early life

Tanveer "Tan" Wasim Safdar was born and raised in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, to Muslim Pakistani parents.[14] In his memoir, France has discussed how he felt alienated due to his experience of growing up in a strict Muslim household where homosexuality was viewed negatively, the lack of representation in media of his community and of LGBTQ South Asian people in particular, and his personal experiences of physical and verbal racism in his childhood and adult life. France said "our home wasn't super religious but we had a profound connection to our Muslim heritage."[15][16]

France’s interest in fashion began at a young age, inspired by the Disney clothing that was made in his grandparents' denim factory in Bury, England where he spent time working.[17] By age thirteen, he had learned how to construct and embellish a denim jacket. In 2019, he allegedly learned that his grandfather had to close the factory due to the products being Disney knockoffs.[18]

France attended Hall Cross School and later Doncaster College, where he studied fashion,[19] after which he moved to Manchester, and then to London.[20]

Career

After graduating from college, France began to work as designer and director for Zara[17], Selfridges and Bershka, among other retailers, to further improve his knowledge of the wholesale business of retail; he later went on to work at Chanel in order to learn more about manufacturing.[1] He started in menswear and later progressed in womenswear, where he majored on his fashion degree.

France began working in the United States in 2008, initially living in NYC, and emigrated to the US in 2015.[20] France was company director at Shade Clothing before he opened his solo fashion company in 2011, called Kingdom & State.[17][21] The brand included clothing designed to meet Mormon clothing guidelines, a group that represented a significant population in Utah, where France was living.[22][23] He later created two smaller apparel brands. France's designs were purchased by retailers ModCloth and Forever 21[24]. The designs were displayed on the website and stores under the brand name for many years. In 2016 he later became co-founder, fashion designer and CEO for the Rachel Parcell Inc clothing line, which was sold at Nordstrom.[25]

After selling his businesses,[26][27] France officially retired, having the intention to start a family with his husband, but he was later contacted by Netflix. This started his journey as a media person through his role as the fashion expert on Queer Eye which premiered in February 2018. In 2019, France appeared in the music video for Taylor Swift's song "You Need to Calm Down. "[28] He also appeared in 2020 in a special charity edition of The Great British Bake Off to raise funds for Stand Up To Cancer.[29] That year it was also announced that France would be co-hosting the new Netflix series Next In Fashion with Alexa Chung.[30] In an interview with the ITV programme This Morning, and NPR, France disclosed that he had sold all three of his businesses after starting work for Netflix.[31]

In 2019 he designed an eye wear line by partering up with EyeBuyDirect. Since 2019 he's GQ Middle East official columnist, From 2020 he's Express monthly stylist.

Personal life

Tan currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his husband, pediatric nurse and illustrator Rob France.[32][33]

France married his husband twice, first in London and then in NYC when it became legal.

He released a memoir, Naturally Tan, in June 2019 through St. Martin's Press.[10] France has a deep love for cooking and especially baking. He learned how to cook and sew at age nine.

France was naturalized as a US citizen on June 9, 2020 after "working towards" it for twenty years.[34] He kept his British citizenship, making him a dual citizen of both countries.

In September 2019, France, who is vocal about the colorism, racism and Islamophobia he has endured throughout his life, created an Instagram account called "Shaded", where he promotes black people, people of colour and cultural diversity.[35][36][37][38][39]

Books

France released a memoir, Naturally Tan, in June 2019 through St. Martin's Press. It became a NYT best seller. It is about his experience growing up "gay in a traditional Muslim family, as one of the few people of colour in Doncaster, England". The memoir starts with Tan's childhood in England where episodes of racism were an everyday occurrence, like having to run back to school to avoid getting beat up by racist thugs. The book follows up with heavy topics such as colourism within the South Asian community and the Islamophobia he faced before and after the 9/11 attacks. For more lighthearted episodes of Tan's life he describes his first trip to NYC, how he started his brands, how he got involved in fashion, and how he fell in love with his husband, everything peppered with notions about fashion.[40]

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2018–presentQueer EyeHimselfMain cast (47 episodes)
2018Nailed It!HimselfEpisode: "3, 2, 1...Ya Not Done!!"
2018Don't Watch ThisHimselfEpisode: "Antoni Psycho"
2018Crazy Ex-GirlfriendFett RagosoEpisode: "I'm Making Up for Lost Time"
2019Lip Sync BattleHimselfEpisode: Queer Eye
2019–presentDressing FunnyHimselfHost
2019Big MouthHimself (voice)Episode: "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!"
2020Next In Fashion[41]HimselfHost
2020 The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C Himself Contestant
2020 The Big Process Ep.5 Himself Contestant
2020 Served! Himself Guest
2020Boost My Business By FacebookHimselfHost
2020 Celebrity Family Feud Himself Contestant

Music videos
Year Song Artist
2018 "This Is Me (The Reimagined Remix)" Keala Settle, Kesha, & Missy Elliott
2019 "You Need To Calm Down" Taylor Swift

Notes
  1. Ranj Singh came out as a gay Indian Sikh in 2009, and has appeared on British & International TV since 2012,[3][4] Mawaan Rizwan came out in 2012 and has appeared on British & International television.,[5] Tamal Ray came out in 2015 while appearing on The Great British Bake Off televised internationally,[6][7] and Sushant Divgikar is an openly gay Indian TV personality known for his appearance in Bigg Boss[8]
gollark: I don't have that much RAM so I have to resort to manually suspending tabs when I run low.
gollark: 80-ish on my phone.
gollark: I'm at 380 open tabs on my laptop alone.
gollark: Why close tabs when you could *not* close tabs?
gollark: You may not need a massively expensive mesh network.

References
  1. Shores, Lindsey (13 October 2013). "British fashion in Utah with Kingdom & State". Herald Extra: The Mom Click. Herald Communications. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  2. Ross, Sophie (7 February 2018). "The One Thing You Should Never Wear to a Wedding, According to Tan France of 'Queer Eye'". The Knot. XO. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  3. "Strictly's Dr. Ranj Singh: 'Coming out as gay to my wife was hard, but telling my family was another level'". Attitude. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  4. Thompson, Danny (20 November 2018). "Dr Ranj Singh Gaysians cover interview: "As queer Asians, we have so much to offer ourselves and to the wider world"". Gay Times. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  5. Zane, Zachary (27 November 2017). "The Doc 'How Gay is Pakistan?' Is Now on Netflix, and It's Required Viewing for LGBTQ Millennials". Hornet. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  6. McGrath, Rachel. "'Great British Bake Off' Star Tamal Ray Shares His Coming Out Experience: 'The Conversations Were Canyons of Awkwardness, The Freedoms They Gave Me Were Priceless'". HuffPost. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  7. Rudolph 11/26/2019, Christopher. "When "The Great British Bake Off" Met "RuPaul's Drag Race U.K."". LOGO News. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  8. Service, Tribune News. "I cried like a baby". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  9. Sarner, Lauren (31 January 2020). "'Queer Eye' expert Tan France lands new show 'Next in Fashion'". New York Post. Retrieved 14 April 2020. "France is also the first out gay South Asian man – and openly gay Muslim man – on TV".
  10. Peregrin, Tony (26 June 2019). "Books: Tan about town, 'Queer Eye' guru pens new memoir". Windy City Times. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  11. Crummy, Colin (9 March 2019). "Queer Eye's Tan France: 'The word gay was never mentioned in my parents' home' | Queer Eye | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  12. "Naturally Tan". US Macmillan. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  13. Peregrin, Tony (26 June 2019). "BOOKS Tan about town, 'Queer Eye' guru pens new memoir - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News - Windy City Times". Windy City Times. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  14. Bahler, Kristen (20 February 2018). "'Queer Eye' Star Says Getting Dumped Helped Launch His Career". Time. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  15. Article 'attitude'
  16. interview 'guardian'
  17. Melody (8 December 2014). "An interview with Tan Safdar, Owner and Designer at Kingdom & State". Omika. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  18. Interview, Wednesday, 6 January 2020 episode with Jane Fonda; The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
  19. Thomas, Chris (8 December 2017). "Meet the Five Fab Men of Netflix's Queer Eye Reboot". Out. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  20. Mulkerin, Tim (21 February 2018). "Tan France on his hopes for a second season of Queer Eye and the thousands of DMs about his hair". Mic. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  21. "Kingdom & State – About". Kingdom & State. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  22. Article 'guardian
  23. Crummy, Colin (9 March 2019). "Queer Eye's Tan France: 'The word gay was never mentioned in my parents' home'". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  24. France, Tan, Naturally Tan, p. 113, ISBN 978-1-250-21107-1, OCLC 1105752822
  25. Tan France: ‘We don’t really talk about successful gay relationships’
  26. Article 'express
  27. Article 'refinery
  28. Grady, Constance (17 June 2019). "An annotated guide to Taylor Swift's star-studded "You Need to Calm Down" video". Vox. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  29. Fenwick, George (24 March 2020). "Tan France reveals his deepest, darkest fear on Bake Off". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  30. Bruce Haring. "'Next In Fashion' Reality Competition Will Bow on Netflix, Offering Designers $250K And Showcase". Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  31. Queer eye's Tan France is changing the narrative
  32. Sarner, Lauren (21 February 2018). "How a Muslim immigrant became the breakout 'Queer Eye' star". New York Post.
  33. Harding, Laura. "Queer Eye's Tan France: I will use surrogacy to have children". Irish Independent. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  34. Kinane, Ruth (10 June 2020). "Queer Eye's Tan France becomes an American citizen, is ready to vote: 'The timing couldn't be more perfect'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  35. "Queer Eye star 'bleached skin as a child'". BBC News. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  36. "Tan France says he won't return to living in the U.K. because of racism". NBC News. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  37. Moodley, Kiran (22 June 2019). "Queer Eye's Tan France on racism and why he left the UK". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  38. "Tan France launches 'Shaded': 'A place to celebrate every shade of skin'". Topics. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  39. Staff, Images (10 October 2019). "Tan France has something to say about fairness creams". Images. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  40. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1117506/naturally-tan/9780753553732.html
  41. Petter, Olivia. "Next in Fashion: Alexa Chung and Tan France to Host Netflix Show". The Independent. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.