Bobby Berk Gets Real About His Style Evolution And Fans Can't Get Enough
Ever since the Season 6 "Queer Eye" debut on Netflix in December 2022, fans of the reality makeover show and its cast — among them fashion guru Tan France, celebrity chef Antoni Porowski, beauty maven Jonathan Van Ness, wellness/culture expert Karamo Brown, and design master Bobby Berk — have celebrated accordingly. Welcoming the series after a pandemic-related hiatus, many have taken to the internet to show their love for the "Queer Eye" gang — including posting "glow-up" homages of what members of the cast looked like, then and now. It seems even some of the "Queer Eye" core members have gotten in on the joke — but only to an extent.
As People magazine reported on January 13, Bobby Berk, the resident interior design virtuoso on "Queer Eye," took a moment to poke fun at the online trend with a post of his own on Instagram, which contained split images of Berk from Season 1 and Season 6. The most recent features Berk's current, full but-finely-maintained beard and hints at his current predilection for patterned button-ups. It contrasts greatly with his Queer Eye Season 1 look — one which saw the famous interior design expert don a bleach blonde spiky hairstyle, a more clean-shaven face, and almost uniform-line penchant for monochromes. Berk, predictably, took it all in stride, joking that he didn't "see any difference" between the two, capping it off with a laugh-cry emoji. However, one of Berk's "Queer Eye" co-stars took a little more umbrage with the exercise.
Bobby Berk made light of his 'glow-up," but Karamo Brown had some words about it, too
While many, including Bobby Berk, found the "Queer Eye" glow-up trend on social media to be all in good fun, his co-star Karamo Brown had other thoughts on the matter. Per People, Brown shared his thoughts on Berk's initial post, making sure to point out that while "glow-up" posts like these can be made all in good fun, they can also have a detrimental effect. After referencing an article which had been recently published about the "Queer Eye" cast's purported glow-ups, Brown posited the following: "Why compare people to where they used to be instead of just appreciating and loving people where they are," before adding, "This is how people get complexes."
As People noted, Brown's commentary might be heavily influenced by living in the "now," especially due to the two-long year COVID-19 pandemic, which put a lengthy pause on producing Season 6 "Queer Eye," and which ultimately also kept all members of the "Queer Eye" team isolated from each other, both as colleagues and as friends. In an earlier interview with Entertainment Weekly (which People quoted) in November 2021, Berk himself nearly said as much. "[The experience] made us realize the value of the connections that we had, and the good that our show does, and the effect that it has on people's lives and the value of hugging and those human connections that we had lost over the year," said Berk.