Jess From 'Queer Eye' Is Still Rocking Those Great Jackets The Fab Five Gave Her

Spoilers ahead for Queer Eye Season 3. Part of the excitement of the Queer Eye reboot is that unlike its predecessor, the show is not limiting itself to applying a Queer Eye to a Straight Guy in most of its episodes. While many of the show's early clientele have been straight white men, the episode "Black Girl Magic" introduces Jess, a gay black woman looking to find her place in the world. Looking at Jess from Queer Eye now that her episode has aired, it seems that the show has given her a crucial boost of confidence and a simple but powerful mantra to repeat to herself — that she is a "a strong, black, lesbian woman," and that is something worth celebrating.

Ahead of the release of Queer Eye Season 3, Jess Guilbeaux took to Instagram to tell any inquisitive viewers that "this experience was life changing for me. i learned how to love my natural curls, love my highly melanated skin, and all of what makes up who i am (a fierce gay kween™️)" The positivity that the Fab Five instilled in her is still present in her Instagram feed, where she shows off the tips that Jonathan Van Ness and Tan France passed on to style herself in a way that helps her feel comfortable in her own skin.

When the Fab Five pulled up to Lawrence, Kansas to meet Jess, she was living with two friends, working as a server at a Greek restaurant, and out of regular contact with her adoptive parents, who kicked her out when she was a young teen after she came out as gay. She strung together the rest of her life with whatever she could get by with, repurposing furniture found for free and eating ramen noodles for almost every meal.

However, while the Fab Five did their usual work of helping to spruce up Jess' apartment, hair, and style, they also helped to change her negative outlook. She closed herself off from the world because she felt like she didn't fit in, and while none of the guys could directly relate to her experience as a young, black, lesbian woman living in a red state, each of them were able to provide advice and encouragement on specific topics. Bobby spoke about his own experience having to leave home at 15 to show Jess that you can make your own family, while Karamo assured her that there was no such thing as not being black "enough." Together, they showed Jess that all of her identities make her the wonderful person she is.

If there's one aspect of her life that Jess' social media shows that she's changed, she's absolutely embraced Tan's fashion advice and expanded her wardrobe beyond the "lumberjack lesbian" style she rocked in the Queer Eye episode. Her last Instagram post before the episode is captioned "things just keep getting better," a reference to the show's theme song. And while she got a lot of help from the Fab Five, her episode proved that she was already capable of becoming the proud, confident woman she is today — she just needed a slight push.