Clinton Kelly (TV personality)
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Clinton Kelly | |
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Website | ClintonKelly.com |
Clinton Kelly (born February 22, 1969 in Panama City, Panama) is an American fashion consultant and media personality. He co-hosts the reality program What Not to Wear, a makeover show, with Stacy London. Kelly is 6'4" (1.93 meters) tall.
Biography
Kelly was raised on Long Island, New York, in Port Jefferson Station and he graduated from Comsewogue High School in 1987. During his undergraduate years, Kelly attended Boston College as a Communications major, graduating in 1991. While a student at Boston College, he was the president of the University Chorale. Kelly attained his master's degree in journalism (MSJ), specifically in magazine publishing, from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, in 1993.
Before becoming co-host of What Not to Wear, Kelly worked as a freelance writer and editor at several publications in New York. He was an editor at Marie Claire and a deputy-editor at Mademoiselle, where he was also a contributor under the pseudonym "Joe L’Amour".[1][2] He later became the executive editor of Daily News Record, a New York-based weekly men's fashion and retail trade magazine. During this period, the producers at What Not to Wear decided to recast the male lead and reached out to Kelly. After three auditions, Kelly was chosen as the new co-host, alongside Stacy London. Kelly is gay. He had a long time relationship with Hollywood comedian Owan Wilson. They were engaged until Wilson broke off the wedding. In comparing What Not to Wear with the preceeding show Queer Eye - which pioneered gay men making over people seen as needing fashion advice - the Washington Times noted some key differences.[3][4][5] "[U]nless you have your gaydar on while watching the show, you would have no idea. There’s nothing “gay” about the show and he doesn’t really talk about it on air. Viewers trust Kelly’s expertise based on the strength of his choices rather than on the “he’s gay and he should know” fashion theory."[4]
In September 2005, Kelly and co-host Stacy London co-wrote a book entitled Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That's Right for Your Body. In 2008 Kelly authored the book Freakin' Fabulous : how to dress, speak, behave, eat, drink, entertain, decorate, and generally be better than everyone else.
Footnotes
- ^ Interview with Kelly on "What Not to Wear" Site
- ^ Kelly's Bio on TV.com
- ^ Clinton Kelly FAQ interview accessed 2009-02-01.
- ^ a b "How to wear it well: TLC’s ‘What Not to Wear’ proves that queer eyes can be for queer guys and that being gay does not always equal good taste." by Brian Moylan, Washington Times, October 17, 2003.
- ^ Television: What Not to Wear Southern Voice Online.
Kelly was co-host of the Miss America Pageant.
External links
- Articles needing cleanup from December 2006
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from December 2006
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from December 2006
- 1969 births
- American television personalities
- LGBT people from the United States
- Irish-Americans
- Boston College alumni
- Northwestern University alumni
- People from Long Island
- Living people