Interview with Carson Kressley

AE: In an interview last year singer Beth Ditto said, "If there's anyone to
blame for size zero, it's not women. Blame gay men who work in the fashion industry and want these women as dolls." Do you think there is any truth to that assertion?
CK: I think there are a lot of places we can lay blame. You have to approach it practically. We'd all like to look like supermodels. We'd all love to be tall and thin and gorgeous, but the reason they're supermodels and they make millions of dollars is because they're extremely rare.

For people to want to aspire to that, or designers to want their clients to aspire to that, or advertising agencies want their target market to identify with it, we have to realize, just from a common sense point of view, that's not a standard most of us can live up to. And just deal with that and embrace the things that are great about us and learn to deal with the things that aren't so great and just live with it.

I don't know if there's anybody to blame, but women especially, and gay men as well, are just constantly bombarded with images everywhere of what the standard of beauty is supposed to look like.

I hope this show will put it out there that the standard of beauty doesn't always have to equal Giselle; it can be a wide array of things. I think in the beauty industry, you have the new Dove ads and designers that are recognizing that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and they're designing collections that have a little more range. There's even legislation pushing for models to not be so thin and unhealthy, so I think things are changing slowly.

AE: Gay men often have similarly distorted images of themselves. Why do you think that is?
CK: Obviously, a lot of marketing is driven by sex. You know the old adage is sex sells, and a lot of gay magazines and a lot of gay marketing it's a hot guy with big pecs and chiseled abs, and we see that image over and over again. After you see that for so long, you start to think that's how we're supposed to look. I think that's changing as well, but it's very similar to what I was saying about women's advertising.

AE: Would you ever do How To Look Good Naked: The Gay Man's Edition?
CK: I would love to. With really hot guys. In the privacy of my own home. No, I would definitely love to. When we did this show it was targeted to women, but there are certainly gay men out there who don't feel good about themselves because of body issues, so it really knows no race, no creed, no color, no sexual orientation.

AE: Your last show was Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, this show is for the ladies. I think your next show should be for the gay guys.
CK: I do, too. I think I'll do Flava of Love: The Gay Edition.

AE: What's the biggest difference between giving straight men makeovers and dealing with women now?
CK: Straight guys are really easy because I'm just happy if their shirt is clean, tucked in and not from 1974. Women are savvier shoppers. They're more in tune with the fashion and beauty industry and trends. They're also much more aware of their bodies and have more body issues than straight men do.

AE: Which do you prefer?
CK: I loved working on Queer Eye because I got to flirt with all these cute straight guys and it was fun and all. It's a different vibe on How To Look Good Naked, but I feel like I'm actually helping people more. These women are in more of a dire situation. They don't just have moldy pizza under their sofa. They've got some big issues that are really affecting their lives and keeping them from being happy, essentially.

AE: One of the ironies of modern America is that while we have size zero models on magazine covers and almost every actress is too thin, Americans are more obese than ever. So how do we find the right balance of telling these women to "love yourself just as you are" but also be healthy?
CK: I think it comes from common sense. Of course it's unhealthy to be obese, but it's also unhealthy to be super skinny. Use common sense to be healthy. We've received some criticism of the show saying we endorse obesity if we're not telling these women to diet and exercise. That's not really the case. We're not working with the clinically obese.

We're working with women who hate some part of their body, whether they think their butt is too big or they're too tall or too fat or too skinny. It's all about getting over those silly things that rob you of your happiness, but also remembering being healthy is important too. I think with the show, getting somebody happy and healthy and readjusting their self image is great way to start them on the road to health and happiness.