Tan France and Gigi Hadid on 'Next in Fashion' Season 2 and Industry Diversity

If you weren’t already aware, you will soon find out: Gigi Hadid and Tan France are best friends. And not just both-like-fashion-and-have-young-babies-best-friends but let-me-fix-your-collar-can’t-stop-laughing-best-friends. Just watching them on my Zoom screen as we chat about their upcoming show leaves me smiling.

Binging the Netflix series Queer Eye in 2018 alongside the rest of the world, Hadid felt a connection to France, who starred on the show as the fashion expert of the Fab Five. What started with an invitation to come over and hang out evolved into a friendship and now a working partnership. When France asked Hadid to co-host the second season of Next in Fashion, she says “it was an automatic yes.”

Next in Fashion is a reality competition that challenges 12 designers to create different looks over a number of weeks for the chance to win $200,000 and a debut namesake line with Rent the Runway. While France and Hadid serve as the co-hosts and judges, every week guest judges join the venture; these include some of the biggest names in fashion such as Donatella Versace, Isabel Marant, Emma Chamberlain, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, and more.

Ahead of the release of season two, the duo spoke with BAZAAR.com about the joy of working with such a diverse group of young designers, what it was like to host the series, and their advice for finding your own distinct sense of style.

How did it feel to return to hosting Next in Fashion, Tan?

Tan France: I couldn't have been happier to return. As much as I love Queer Eye, it’s so emotionally taxing that sometimes it's a really hard show to film. I'm not the most emotional of people, so doing that for three or four months a year is not easy. Whereas this show, I find it's such a joy and I'm getting to do what I love so much, which is engrossing myself in design and being inspired by whoever it is on that season. It's my favorite job I've ever had in my life.

How did you feel when you found out Gigi would be your co-host?

TF: I didn’t find out that Gigi was gonna be my co-host, I FaceTimed her and I said “Hey bitch, will you be my co-host?” [laughs]

Gigi Hadid: It was a very easy yes for me, too.

So you got to pick who you wanted to host with?

TF: They said, “Who would you like to work with?” And I said, “Gigi is one of my very good friends and I know she's going to be major at this.” And so then they started looking through everything she'd ever done and said “It's all well and good that she's great on her own but you need chemistry for a show like this.” They made us do a Zoom and watched us chit-chat and be ridiculous and then as soon as it was over, one of the big executives at Netflix texted me saying, “Oh yeah, done.”

Netflix

I could tell you guys had so much fun filming. Gigi, what was the hardest thing about hosting for you?

GH: I was a fan of season one, so saying yes, that part was easy. The hard part was the self-confidence part and the impostor syndrome. I was thinking, I know that I have gotten to this place in my career to do this but do I have what it takes? But going through the process and doing the thing gives you a lot of confidence. And Tan gives me a lot of confidence. From episode one to episode ten, I felt my confidence grow and remember thinking, Hey, I'm good at this.

From the get-go, you feel how happy you both are to be there, which is such a refreshing feeling for reality TV. It doesn't just feel like Oh, another season. You both were excited to be there, which is part of what made it so fun to watch.

GH: It wasn’t like We’re the judges and you’re the contestants. We tried to make the set an environment where we're there to support and help them do their creative process. We're not there to be these TV judges that you can't look at or touch.

TF: I liken it to fashion school and having that favorite teacher or lecturer or...

GH: Or teacher’s assistant…

TF: Yeah, who you loved, but who was still in a position of power. They were going to just give you constructive criticism, not necessarily say “Get out of here.”

So what was the criteria when it came to judging?

GH: The point of this show was to find creative directors: people who can take inspiration from the wildest places and be able to speak their design language through that to create a concept that then speaks to us emotionally. That doesn't mean I want to wear the thing. That means if somebody walks down the runway, it makes me feel something.

TF: People will watch this and yes, sometimes they're gonna see a really pretty dress go down the runway and that isn't the one that wins. We love that there was that dress you could buy at the mall tomorrow, but that's already available. This is Next in Fashion. It's not Next in the Mall, or Today in the Mall. We were looking for something inspirational and editorial, that you could see on the front cover of Harper's BAZAAR, not just a pretty black dress.

Netflix

Netflix

As the challenges went on week by week, we got to learn more about the contestants. Episode four, in particular, is one that stuck out to me. The challenge revolved around childhood. What was it like to reflect on the contestant's childhoods with them?

TF: It's our favorite episode. The plan was always to have a childhood episode and we just so happened to have James [a transgender contestant], and therefore James's story unfolds. It was lovely to experience all their childhoods, but with James specifically, it was going to be quite surprising for the audience. I can't give the production company enough credit as it was so beautifully done. We are both—[turns to Gigi] respectfully, I see you as a gay man [turns back]—and so we are both very understanding of people from marginalized groups who don't get the representation that they deserve and understand the complexity of how gently and respectfully we tell that story. I love that the story just came out naturally.

GH: That's the beautiful thing about a show like this. Each challenge draws out something unique from different designers. Speaking directly to James's story, people are going to fall in love with James because of the person that he is, especially up until episode four when you find out more about his childhood—and that in and of itself is is an amazing message to go across the world. Fall in love with this person first, now we're going to tell you his story. And now tell me you can't love that person.

Did that episode reveal something about yourself and your style?

TF: I was raised in a culture and religion where we wore modest clothing, so I didn't get to experience a lot of western clothing. We also didn't have a lot of money so I would go look through fashion magazines for free at the library. I was obsessed with Versace. I used to ask my mom from a very young age if we could have something made, which was a black silk shirt with gold buttons because I'd seen it in that magazine. I recently spoke to my mom about it and she was like, “You always asked me about this damn shirt and we didn't understand where you thought we were going to find the money to have something custom-made.” So the fact that I get to sit next to Donatella [Versace] now, you have no idea how much that blows the mind of that kid in me.

What advice do you have for people when it comes to creating a personal point of view and style, whether it's about designing or just everyday dressing?

GH: What do you wake up and put on that makes you happy? How do you express yourself to have a better day or to feel the most you? I think that's where everyone has to start in finding a unique style perspective. And if you're a creative person, that’s the same place you draw from.

Okay, final question. What's been your favorite fashion moment of the past few months, whether on the show or just in general?

GH: Zendaya, appearing anywhere, in garments of any kind.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Brooke LaMantia is an NYC-based culture and fashion freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Cut, Cosmopolitan, W Magazine, InStyle, NYLON, and more.

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