Back to shooting my favorite show, Next in Fashion, and celebrating my son’s first Eid.

Every time I come here to write a new post, I wanna start it by saying “wow, what a week”. I guess every week has felt a little bit nuts over recent years, and it just never gets old. That’s a good thing. I love the excitement I still feel.

On Friday, I started rehearsals for Next in Fashion, with Gigi Hadid as my co-host. Gigi and I have been friends for about 4 years now, and have become pretty close over that time, but never did I ever think we’d end up shooting a show together. It’s crazy how life turns out, but this all literally came from her asking if we could Facetime, when Queer Eye first came out. I can’t believe that one call led to us hosting a show.

None of us really knew how it would go, as this is Gigi’s first series of a TV show, and hosting isn’t easy, even though I always thought it looked that way. It takes skill and charisma. We went straight in to script reads the first day of rehearsal and I was so bloody excited when Gigi started to read. She was so sweet and excitable. She came alive and it got us all pumped for what could be when we started filming the live show.

Rehearsals were going so well that it looked like we might wrap by 4pm, which meant I could possibly fly home for 30 hours, to see my boys for Eid. Eid is like Muslim Christmas (terrible comparison but does the trick) and this was to be my son’s very first, and my first one as a father. I desperately wanted to get home. We wrapped at 4:15, which gave me less than 2 hours to get to the airport and on that plane. I left literally everything and left with just my wallet, phone and lip balm. I managed to make it, and had the most wonderful time, at home with my boys. We dressed in traditional Pakistani clothes, and my heart couldn’t even handle it.

Back in NYC, and yesterday was our first day of filming. I won’t lie, even now, after all this time, I get nervous the night before the first day of any shoot, and I can barely sleep with excitement and anticipation. I got to set at 7am, and saw Gigi already in hair and makeup. We screamed with excitement, and were like two giggly school girls about to be play dress up.

We started shooting shortly after I arrived, and got to meet the designers. We love them already. It’s literally been just one day, but they are such fun, positive people who are just so passionate about what they do. It was such a great first day, and Gigi crushed it. She couldn’t have been more likeable and sweet.

We ended up wrapping at 9pm. The days are SO long, usually 14 hours, but because I got to be with my friend all day, it did not feel like work at all. It was such a great first day that’s gotten me so excited for the rest of the season. After work, we apparently hadn’t had enough of each other, so I went over to Gigi’s house for dinner and bad TV. The perfect way to end the day!!

Right, time for me to get to set. Ooh, before I forget, the Selling Sunset Reunion, that I hosted, is coming this Friday. Be sure to check it out!

xx