June 25, 2023When shopping for vintage fashion, jewelry and furnishings, “1stDibs is my first port of call,” says Tan France, the effusive fashion influencer best known as cohost of the wildly popular Netflix shows Queer Eye, now in its seventh season, and Next in Fashion, in its second. This month, France has curated a special auction collection for 1stDibs. Its breadth reflects his interest in everything from Italian mid-century lighting to antique paintings in gilded frames.
France became interested in fashion as an adolescent, while working in his grandparents’ clothing factory in Manchester, England. Architecture and interiors came later, when he and his husband, Rob France, bought and renovated a 1906 home in Salt Lake City, Utah. In both fashion and furnishings, France embraces a personal design aesthetic he describes as “pretty simple and classic.” His advice: Eschew the trendy, and invest in quality items with timeless appeal.
France began shopping 1stDibs for vintage fashion for himself and vintage jewelry for his cast mates, as gifts. “The sustainability element with buying vintage is key for me,” he says. On his initial foray into the online auction world, he had a stroke of beginner’s luck. He bid on a pearl-and-sapphire ring on 1stDibs Auctions but didn’t think he was going to get it. When he did, it was a thrill, he says, adding cheekily, “The best part is knowing that I got something that everybody else wanted — such a nice feeling.”
Now that he and his husband are building what they describe as their dream house in Salt Lake City and are just a few months from moving in, he has been “on the hunt” for art and furnishings, scouring 1stDibs for vases, vintage paintings, pieces with an “Old English” feel and “things that add richness to a home” — perhaps like the 1960s Scandinavian cabinet with an arched top and the pair of curvaceous black opaline-glass lamps that are among the items France zeroed in on for his 1stDibs auction collection.
He cops to being daunted by his new living room’s vast expanse of empty shelves, the lower of which France anticipates will be filled with toys (the couple has a toddler son, Ismail, and a new baby boy, Isaac). For shelves beyond the little ones’ reach, he says, “we’re looking for special things that make a house feel warm and lived in.” That might include such objects as a cylindrical green Murano glass vase and a pair of French blue-glazed terracotta vases from the Art Deco era, also among France’s auction picks.
How does France shop 1stDibs? The process is straightforward. “Let’s say, for example, we’re looking for sconces, which are actually a really important component of our new house,” he says. He’ll search for “sconces” and start to favorite as he reviews the available options. “Then I’ll go through my favorites folder and whittle down even further. Right now, I am obsessed with this pair of Swedish sconces from the nineteen fifties that I think are gorgeous. They’re floral, and they’re heaven.”
The pieces France has chosen for his 1stDibs Auctions collection are wide-ranging in period and style. Most furnishings are similar in palette, with natural woods predominating. Bolder accent colors come from eclectic art selections, including a geometric Swedish textile and contemporary abstract paintings by emerging American artists. But all are the kind that would indeed enrich and enliven a home, newly built or otherwise.
