Culture

Queer Eye: Who would be in the women’s version?

May 11 2018
Written by Amy West

(Getty)

Netflix reboot Queer Eye, formerly Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, has had fans in a permanent state of gush since it launched on the streaming platform back in February.

Many hail the show as essential viewing and call it the perfect, heart-warming escape from today’s reality but there’s one thing that many viewers have been wondering about the series and that’s that it would be great to see a female version of it too.

In case you’ve never seen the show, the reality series sees Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk, Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness travel across Georgia to help straight men improve their everyday lives and boost their confidence.

Each of the Fab Five tackle a specific group of the subject’s lives from grooming, diet and fashion to home decor and cultural activities.

There’s no denying it’s sweet nature, the charisma of its presenters or its surprising social relevance as it discusses issues such as racism, homophobia and what it means to be masculine.

But it’s still frustrating that lesbian women are still so sidelined and rarely seen on mainstream television, particularly when you consider that this is the second time that this show has been made.

So, for our own sanity – and to hopefully inspire Netflix – we’ve compiled a list of who could host a female-led version of Queer Eye…

CHRISTINA WILSON – FOOD AND WINE EXPERT

Christina Wilson shot to fame when she won Hell’s Kitchen in 2012 (Ethan Miller/Getty/Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appetit)

Chef Christina Wilson is perhaps best known for winning Hell’s Kitchen back in 2012. On the reality cooking show, she rarely put a foot wrong, proved herself to be a passionate and hard-working candidate and her prize for coming out on top was a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas.

A position that also came with a salary of $250,000. Basically, it’s safe to say that Wilson knows her way around a kitchen.

Since then, the 32-year-old has appeared on the show as one of Ramsay’s Sous Chefs and regularly helps the teams prepare dinner services every episode. Who better to be the food and wine expert on a female version of Queer Eye than her?

STAMIE KARAKASIDIS – DESIGN EXPERT

From Real L Word to real estate, Stamie Karakasidis would make the perfect design expert on an all-female version of Queer Eye (Tracy Ryerson/Instagram)

Those who have seen reality television series The Real L Word will already recognise the name ‘Stamie Karakasidis.’ You know, she was the wise-cracking girlfriend of Tracy Ryerson in the show’s first season?

Nowadays, Karakasidis works as a real estate agent in Los Angeles. She lives with Ryerson and her three children from a previous relationship and they’re all so great together, they’re the epitome of ‘family goals.’

Because she’s an estate agent, and is often responsible for getting a property ready to sell, Karakasidis knows the difference between a shabby-looking home and a chic one so she’d be great as our design expert.

Considering she’s already fairly well-known within the lesbian and queer women community, she knows homes like the back of her hand and she’s super funny – (we suggest you check out her Instagram or some of her YouTube vlogs) – we think she’d be a worthy addition to the female Fab Five.

NICOLETTE MASON – FASHION EXPERT

Nicolette Mason is the only queer fashion expert we’d want styling us on the show! (Nicolette Mason/Instagram)

Having graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York, Nicolette Mason grew her online fandom by being a fashion and lifestyle blogger. Since then, the femme fashionista has gone on to write for Coveteur, edit Marie Claire and co-found P remme, a fashion brand aimed at women of sizes 12 to 30.

“Premme was born out of a love of fashion and the recognition that the industry is still lacking when it comes to the wants and needs of plus size women,” the outlet’s website proudly states.

“We believe babes of all sizes deserve bold, fashion-forward statement pieces without compromise.

“At Premme, we think that clothing should be about expressing your personality and having fun, not feeling limited by society’s current fashion rules.”

We think this dedication to encouraging women to dress well for their shape, take risks and feel confident in their own skin would make Mason the perfect style expert for a female version of Queer Eye.

INGRID NILSEN – GROOMING EXPERT

With four million subscribers and a background in beauty, Ingrid Nilsen as grooming expert just makes sense (Ingrid Nilsen / Instagram)

YouTubers and vloggers are insanely popular these days so we couldn’t have a list of moderately famous, modern-day queer women without mentioning one on this list.

So, our pick for “Queer Gal‘s” grooming expert is Ingrid Nilsen, a 29-year-old social media personality from Orange Country, California.

Nilsen’s videos cover a whole range of topics from fashion and relationships to interviews with Barack Obama. (Seriously). But the ones which see her review make up and beauty products, or provide tips to her fans, are undoubtedly among her most popular.

Not only that but she was the first YouTuber to ever CoverGirl cosmetics on the platform… Sounds like the perfect grooming guru to us!

She’s wildly passionate about human rights and making the world a better place and as it stands, Ingrid has almost four million subscribers on YouTube.

So if Netflix was looking for someone with a loyal fan base who could easily bring in lots of viewers to a female-led show, Ingrid would be a very safe bet!

DANIELLE A COOPER – CULTURE EXPERT

Stylist, podcast host and activist Danielle Cooper would be a worthy addition to the female Fab Five (Danielle Cooper / Instagram)

If Netflix was ever grace us with a female-led version of Queer Eye, it had better make Instagram star Danielle A Cooper the show’s port of call for culture. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be very happy with the streaming service…

Cooper, a self-proclaimed fashion activist, may have made her fame through her stylish social media pages and menswear-based blog She’s A Gent, but she also hosts podcast ‘Be Free Be Conscious.’

Each instalment focuses on ‘a plethora of issues affecting various cultures, society and the LGBTQ+ communities’ and is ‘a way to share necessary information, experiences, points of view, and give a voice to those who have been silenced for so long’.

While all of the subjects on Queer Eye are straight – which means they’d likely be straight on a female version too – many suffer from anxiety, loneliness and lack of confidence; subjects that Danielle is sure to be able to help them out with given her obvious compassion and understanding for people.

While the entries in this list are fairly realistic – (we purposefully picked names that have a similar level of fame as the Queer Eye guys did before the show debuted) – we’d be lying if we said we didn’t have a ‘Dream Team’ of super famous, queer women that we’d love to see host a female version of the makeover series.

If money were no object – and let’s face it, for Netflix, it isn’t – we’d be requesting model-turned-actor Cara Delevingne be style specialist, Australian chef Kylie Kwong cook up a storm in the kitchen, Ellen DeGeneres be in charge of jazzing up the subject’s homes and Janelle Monáe take care of all things culture.

We’d still want Nilsen for grooming/beauty though – you can’t argue with almost four million subscribers!

Well, we’ve found you the right women, Netflix… Now all you need to do is get commissioning on the gender-flipped take on the show. We’re waiting.