TV fashion guru Gok Wan made the dreams of Aintree schoolboy Sean McCormick come true when he hit the streets and shops of Liverpool today promoting his new autobiography.
Queues formed up Bold Street to meet Gok at Waterstones for a signing session of ‘Through Thick and Thin’. Gok told JMU Journalism that students on a budget need to get creative with the clothes they already have. “Make very, very ‘choice’ decisions when shopping… mix and match things,” he said.
Everton fan Sean took the chance to show him his promise as a clothes stylist. When he showed Channel 4 stye icon Gok his fashion designs, his new mentor replied: “Are you going to be a designer? I think you might do. You are very talented young man.”
Sean and his mum came to the signing with a book of fashion designs he had created. Sean was really excited to meet Gok and had been practising what to say to him all day to get him to look at his creations.
Before the encounter, Sean said: “I like the clothes that he gets for people, he can put them together really well… I hope I get to meet him.”
His mum, Paula Keeley, said: “Sean’s the big fan. We discovered Gok three or four years ago. I love his empathy for women.”
The proud mum and son were far from alone, as Lauren Quinn from Wallasey and Helen Cooke from the Wirral queued for two hours to see Gok. Lauren said she has loved him since watching ‘How to Look Good Naked’ on TV and that she thinks he is a great inspiration for women and body-confidence. She said: “It’s such a big thing with all the pressure from magazines. He is a breath of fresh air.”
Aftre only an hour in the city, Gok said he was loving Liverpool already. He told his fans on Twitter: “It’s a stylists dream!”
A spokeswoman for Waterstones said: “We are expecting about 400-500 people today. We have had people queuing outside since 9 o’clock this morning and he doesn’t arrive until 5 o’clock.”