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Gok Wan

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Gok Wan
Gok Wan
Born
Ko-Hen Wan

(1974-09-09) 9 September 1974 (age 49)[1]
Leicester, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Fashion stylist, television presenter
Known forHow to Look Good Naked
Gok's Fashion Fix
Miss Naked Beauty

Gok Wan (born Ko-Hen Wan,[2] meaning "Noisy Big City" in Cantonese,[3] on 9 September 1974)[1] is a British fashion consultant, author and television presenter of British Chinese heritage.

Early life

Gok Wan was born in Leicester, England, to a Chinese father, John Tung Shing; who was born in Hong Kong, and an English mother, Myra [4]. He grew up on one of the city's council estates and his parents ran a local restaurant there. Wan stood out from his peers from a young age and the fact that he was mixed-race, tall, overweight and gay led to bullying from other children.[5] He was 21 stone (133 kg) in his teenage years and later confessed, "I was really fat".[6] He was drawn to performing arts and began attending a course at the Charles Keene College of Further Education. After receiving a diploma from the college, Wan enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama and continued to study performing arts. However, the other students had backgrounds very different to his and he felt that his weight was beginning to dictate his life, later saying:

"[It affected] everything: my personality, how people reacted to me, what I wore, everything. When you sit down with someone who's 21 stone you have certain expectations of what they're like: stupid, lazy or really funny."[5]

He felt restricted and unhappy and eventually dropped out of the course, returning to live with his family. Wan set about losing weight and at the age of 20 he began a crash diet, losing nearly half his weight in several months. Despite the sudden change, he had no problem with having been overweight, later reflecting: "I don't regret having been fat at all. I know how to throw jokes at myself and I use humour before anything else, and those skills allow me to do the chatshows. So I'm thankful for that."[5] He even lamented that, after losing weight, he had to try harder to attract attention, saying that his weight had, to an extent, defined him.[4]

Career

Fuelled by his personality and charm, he moved in to the world of fashion.[4] Over the next 10 years, Wan worked with many celebrities including Bryan Ferry, All Saints, Damien Lewis, Erasure, Vanessa Mae, Wade Robson, Lauren Laverne, Wet Wet Wet, and Johnny Vaughan. He also offered his opinions to magazines, becoming a fashion consultant, and his work has been published internationally in several magazines, which include Tatler, Glamour, Times Style, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, The Face, Afisha Mir, Clash and People. He has also worked with photographers such as Rankin, Mike Owen and Jason Joyce.

Wan has also worked as an "on-screen" fashion consultant on many television shows including: MTV Shakedown (MTV Europe), GMTV (ITV), LK Today (ITV), Big Brother's Little Brother (Channel 4), Battle of the Sexes (BBC1), The Wright Stuff (Five), Make Me a Grown Up (Channel 4/T4), The Xtra Factor (ITV2) and T4 (Channel 4).

In 2006, Wan was approached by Channel 4 and asked to present his own fashion show, How to Look Good Naked. In addition, he wrote a book to accompany the series, entitled How to Look Good Naked: Shop for Your Shape and Look Amazing!, that was published in April 2007. A second series was commissioned and was broadcast on Channel 4 in mid-2007. Along with the second series, he appeared on The New Paul O'Grady Show, in which he persuaded Paul O'Grady to strip "naked". A third series was shown in early 2008. His new series, entitled Gok's Fashion Fix was broadcast on Channel 4 in mid-2008. Wan is noted for his enthusiastic use of the words "literally" and "bangers" (his word for breasts).

Wan wrote a book titled How to Dress: Your Complete Style Guide for Every Occasion which was released by HarperCollins on 1 October 2008. The book was praised by both Heat magazine and Closer for its sensitive and feel-good approach to a style guide.[7] He also has contracts with lingerie firm SimplyYours.co.uk where he has a range of shapewear lingerie, including a 'banger booster' bra, and Dorothy Perkins, which has instore and online tips from Gok on styling its clothing lines.[8]

Wan appeared as a guest on Al Murray's Happy hour alongside Dawn French and Robson Green on 10 October 2008.

The first episode of his latest series Miss Naked Beauty, which he co-presents with Myleene Klass, was broadcast on 21 October 2008.[9] The series attracted controversy after Wan hosed semi-naked women, causing critics to question the motives behind the series; Amanda Platell described it as "vulgarity masquerading as self-help".[4]

Gok presented a documentary which was first broadcast on the 27 January 2009, entitled Too Fat Too Young, examining overweight kids in the UK. He reflected on his experience of being obese to help these teenagers.

Personal life

Wan is flamboyantly homosexual and lives in London.[10] In 2009 he remarked that he had slept with "21 and a half" men in his life, and that he had also slept with women. In the same interview he also claimed that he had lost his virginity to another boy whilst they were both under the legal age of consent.[11] His brother, Kwoklyn, is an accomplished martial artist who teaches Jeet Kune Do in Leicester.[5] He also has an older sister, Oilen, who is a child-care solicitor.[4]

Wan has been involved in various charitable projects, supporting anti-bullying charity Kidscape and launching a National Glasses Day with Specsavers to encourage everyone to wear their spectacles with pride.[12] As part of Children in Need 2008, Gok treated the workers of Coronation Street's Underworld factory to a glamorous makeover.[13] Gok also appeared in Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in March 2009. He used to be morbidly obese as a teenager but is reluctant to discuss the topic.

References

  1. ^ a b Philby, Charlotte (2007-12-29). "How do I look? Gok Wan, Stylist & TV presenter, age 33". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  2. ^ Stack, Neville (2008-08-10). "Women can't wait to strip for him". The New Paper. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  3. ^ "Gok translates his name on the Friday Night Project (at 08:55)". The Friday Night Project. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  4. ^ a b c d e "PROFILE: Gok Wan". The Sunday Times. 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d Freeman, Hadley (2008-10-21). "We are all beautiful!". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-10-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Nathan, Sarah (2007-05-14). "TV Wan: I used to be a fatty". The Sun. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
  7. ^ "How to Dress: Your Complete Style Guide for Every Occasion (Hardcover)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
  8. ^ Howden, Sarah (2008-08-28). "Gok Wan's gonna squeeze you in to shape". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2008-10-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Miss Naked Beauty". Channel 4. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  10. ^ Cooke, Rachel (2007-011-04). "In Gok we trust". Guardian. Retrieved 2007-07-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Wan: How I told my parents I was gay". hotmail. 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2009-08-03.</}}
  12. ^ Abrams, Corrine (2008-05-02). "Video: Gok Wan on finding glasses for your face shape". The Times. Retrieved 2008-12-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ "BBC Children In Need set for record". Metro. 2008-11-15. Retrieved 2008-12-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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