Tan France’s 5 Favorite Brands for Patterns and Prints

Tan France—born Tanveer Safdar—still remembers the day he fell in love with style. He was seven years old and growing up in a strict Pakistani Muslim family in Doncaster, England, when he visited his grandfather’s denim factory. Touring the factory floor, began to understand where clothes come from and how they are created. Most important, he understood how they could make him feel.

In 2018, Netflix cast Tan in its reboot of the makeover show Queer Eye, which turned out to be a wildly popular, Emmy-winning sensation. Tan became one of the most visible, sought-after personal stylists in the world—and made history as the first openly gay South Asian man on television. He was tapped to appear in cultural touchstones as disparate as The Great British Bake Off and a Taylor Swift music video, all while racking up more than 3.5 million Instagram followers. In 2019, he published his memoir, Naturally Tan, which became an instant New York Times bestseller. Tan also cohosted the 2020 Netflix fashion design competition series, Next in Fashion, alongside designer Alexa Chung.

Illustration by Shyama Golden

From florals to splashy geometrics, these brands will keep you on trend.

1. 1. Prabal Gurung. “Prabal actually specializes in prints and patterns. He incorporates his ethnicity—he’s Nepalese, so his prints are unique because they’re not what you’d normally find in the American market. He offers a different culture in his clothing that we don’t ordinarily see elsewhere.”
2. 2. Missoni. “Missoni is the most iconic print and pattern brand. They have a print, it’s almost Aztec-y, that has been around for decades, and it’s a print that they’ve done over and over again. They just change up the colorways. They also apply patterns to menswear and women’s wear, which I really appreciate. When a print is timeless and transcends gender, I think it’s really impressive.”
3. 3. Erdem. “Erdem is a British brand. They specialize in classic florals and really posh prints. So everything has a very vintage and British feel to it, which I think is beautiful.”
4. 4. MSGM. “MSGM has got almost a rock feel to it. It’s a more youthful brand, so it’s a little more accessible, and they’re targeting people in their 20s. They do a lot of paint prints, and then logos or verbiage, or larger, more abstract prints.”
5. 5. Casablanca. “I love Casablanca. It’s a Parisian brand that’s very of-the-moment. They do a lot of handkerchief-print clothing—so if you were to have a bandana or a vintage handkerchief with a print, they turn that into large-scale clothing—but they will tie in a very modern element to it. A lot of their clothing is gender-fluid, which I really like.”

Get a MasterClass Annual Membership and let Tan France be your very own style spirit guide. Queer Eye’s fashion guru spills everything he knows about building a capsule collection, finding a signature look, understanding proportions, and more (including why it’s important to wear underwear to bed)—all in a soothing British accent, no less.