Tan France Is (Literally) Getting into Bed with Pete Davidson

The wave of existential dread and shame that accompanies waking up after a one night stand is pretty much a guaranteed universal experience, shared amongst people at all points on the sexual spectrum. But it turns out, it’s not universal enough to apply to Mr. Pete Davidson, who gets to play dress-up with Tan France after the two cuddle in bed—after washing down some "Plan B" (Davidson's words) and Cheetos, that is. Ah, to find love in this cruel world!

For the season finale of France's new YouTube/Netflix series, Dressing Funny, the stylist and gray hair god styled everyone’s favorite SNL Lord for the second time, this time treating him to a very gentleman-ly morning-after. There are Saint Laurent Chelsea boots and cropped plaid moto jackets. There is also Pete Davidson expressing, through a mouthful of bacon cheeseburger, that he would love for his mom to get laid. Respect.

But there’s actually a lot more than just makeover chops behind France's series, which, over the course of six ten-minute episodes, has put the classically-minded John Mulaney into a DSquared2 hoodie and given Ali Wong a brand-new word for butthole. France hopped on the phone with GQ while shooting Queer Eye’s fifth season to elaborate on the show’s fruition, why it’s not the same as a Queer Eye makeover, and his own personal style grails. (Spoiler: they’re Gucci.)

GQ: Can you start by telling me a bit about how Dressing Funny came about?

Tan France: Well, the response to the first video with Pete was wonderful, and Netflix wanted to do something similar for Hasan Minhaj [for Patriot Act] because of the response. And then I spoke with Netflix about doing more for their YouTube channel, and they said they were interested in doing a season, which was wonderful, so we decided to proceed with more comedians who were on Netflix's platform. The response so far has been incredible.

The one thing I will say is that you get this thing that you never see on Queer Eye on Dressing Funny, you get to see a more playful side of me. You get to see a more vulgar side of me. I just want people to watch the show and actually enjoy the show, because it's a passion project of mine. It's something that I desperately wanted to do, because I've been obsessed with comedy since I was a kid. SNL's one of my favorite shows. So to have the luxury of being in a space with my idols blows my mind. Like, the fact that I stood in a room with Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch—you should've seen the reaction once they left the room. I literally screamed at the production saying, "I cannot believe that that just happened."

Do you have an all-time favorite SNL comedian?

It's gotta be Tina. She's my favorite comedian of all time. And the fact that I get to call her my friend just fucking blows my mind. I feel like the luckiest boy in the world.

So you had your pick of comedians from the Netflix platform—how did you decide who to shoot with?

We ended up doing mostly my friends. I texted a few of them and said, "Hey, I'm doing this project with Netflix, would you be a guest on my show?" and thankfully they said yes. The only ones I didn't know beforehand were Ali Wong and Miranda Sings. But everyone else was already a friend.

For the second time around with Pete, what was the first thing you wanted to see him in?

I wanted to see him in something more dressed up. Actually, the thing I wanted to put him in was an outfit that I would see John Mulaney in.

You swapped them, right?

Yes. So, Mulaney, [for Episode One], I wanted to put in something Pete, and with Pete, I wanted to put him in something Mulaney. He has a really good friend called Colson, who goes by the name Machine Gun Kelly, and he loves the way Machine Gun Kelly dresses, and so I wanted to give it a hybrid of Mulaney and Colson. The thing that's lucky about Pete's wardrobe is, because he's so playful, I can do whatever I want and he's game for it. A lot of people aren't. But he's willing to put on whatever I want him to. And he'll do it with respect.

Alright, so while we're on the topic, I've got to get your official stance on the hypebeast look. Pro? Anti?

Oh, I love it, personally. Here's the thing: I'm trying to pull back a little bit, because I'm in my thirties, and I realized that I needed to stop, 'cause it's a younger man's game, but I love it. If I were 21, you would see me in Justin Bieber clothes every day. I sound like a dad. But I love that younger guys and girls are really playful with their fashion. So, yeah, I'm all about the hypebeast stuff.

Any grails you've recently acquired?

Right now, I'm wearing a pair of shoes that are so insane that if you had told me a year ago that I'd put them on my body, I would tell you, "that is never gonna happen, you're out of your mind.” But they are these Gucci really chunky dad sneakers, and they've got diamonds.

The ones with the wraps?

Yeah! I'm obsessed. I've put them on for this scene that we're doing, and the whole production team is making fun, but I love them so much.

What color do you have?

It's, like, an ecru. Love. I also got the plain black and I put the chain on the black. Love.

Can you tell me about the difference between styling these famous comedians as opposed to the Queer Eye makeovers?

There's a huge difference. So the people that we’re helping on the show, I'm actually fully making them over 'cause they don't really feel comfortable in what they're wearing. But with comedians, they work in this industry so they've had stylists. So they're a lot more comfortable with their style game. However, the thing that makes the biggest difference is that they are industry people, so I don't have to protect them—I can be really vulgar and make fun. And that's actually the real me. I love what I do on Queer Eye but that's a very trimmed-down version of me, and when I'm working on Dressing Funny, these people live a certain life, so to be able to make fun of that and just be ridiculous is so nice. I don't have to protect them the way I do my heroes. Usually these comedians know how to roll with the punches, and I'm used to laughing at myself at this point, so it puts me in a very different position to be able to just fuck around and know that I can rag on something they're doing or wearing and they know that it's just all for comedy.

Do you feel like this side of you is closer to—

The real me? Yes. I'm very vulgar. On Queer Eye they pitch me as, like, the glossy one, but I'm a lot more vulgar.

Well, you have some moments on Queer Eye where they let you loosen up. Are you the most vulgar of the cast?

I'm definitely the most vulgar, yes.

Is there a comedian whose style really stands out to you?

Nick Kroll. When he was on my episode, he dressed down for it because he knew that that's what I wanted to see, the transformation. He actually dresses very, very well. And what I didn't know before the show is that man comes from real wealth. So when you have a lot of money you can afford to pay people to create a style for you, and I think that he's had that for so long where he now knows 100% how to dress. He does not need my help. As far as women go, Tina [Fey]'s style is wicked.

If you could pick any celebrity to go shopping with in the way you do on Dressing Funny, who would it be?

I've got my answer locked and loaded. Adele.

Oh, she'd be fun.

Fucking hilarious. Could you imagine the privilege of being able to spend two and a half hours with her? Awesome. Or Beyoncé. Let's not forget her. Either of those two. Beyoncé, purely because I wouldn't even try to dress her, I'd just say, "Teach me these moves I'm obsessed with and sing along, and I'm gonna try and do those moves." It wouldn't be dressing, it would be a choreography session.

Would you rather sing with Adele than go shopping?

I have always said I want to go on a road trip with Adele. I wanna turn up the radio and have her sing her whole album, and I'll sing along. She would start with "Don't You Remember" or "Someone Like You."

Sounds like you've got your own spinoff show already planned. But will there be another season of Dressing Funny first?

I hope so! We're already thinking of who to have. And people are already requesting, which is a lovely position to be in—to have comedians say, "I want to be on an episode." Before I had to go out, and now it's so nice for people to say, "Oh no, how do we get on this show?"

Was there anyone you really wanted to dress this season that you didn't get to?

Oh my god, desperately. So I will say this: It wasn't that I wanted to dress them, it's just that I thought it would be fun to be with them, and to basically shop with them. We're not seeing it as a makeover, it's not meant to be, like, a Queer Eye moment. It's just meant to be a playful way of having an honest conversation that they ordinarily wouldn't be having. Everybody has an opinion on clothes and how they view their bodies, or view themselves, so that's why we wanted to do it. Not necessarily dress them up. So people who I want to have on the show—there are many, but not because of the fact that I think they need to dress better. So for example: Amy Schumer, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Dave Chappelle, some of my very favorite comedians. And every one of them dresses well. It definitely wasn't about styling them. I have three hours where I get to play with them! It's honestly the best job in the world.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Originally Appeared on GQ