John Gidding (born January 7, 1977) is a

Turkish-American Turkish Americans ( tr, Türk Amerikalılar) or American Turks are Americans of ethnic Turkish origin. The term "Turkish Americans" can therefore refer to ethnic Turkish immigrants to the United States, as well as their American-born descend ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, television personality, and former fashion model. Gidding started

modeling A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

in 2000 as a graduate student, performing

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

shows for

Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrance ...

, and

Hugo Boss Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, ...

before being represented by

Wilhelmina Models Wilhelmina International Inc. (NASDAQ: WHLM), formerly Wilhelmina Models, is a full service modeling and talent agency headquartered in New York City, United States. The company also has offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Founded in 196 ...

in New York City. Before entering the design profession, Gidding was the spokesmodel for

Jhane Barnes Jhane Barnes is an American designer of clothing, textiles, eyeglasses, carpets and furniture, and the owner of the ''Jhane Barnes'' fashion design company. Barnes is known for incorporating complex, mathematical patterns into her clothing desig ...

in 2004 and 2005. He has also been on the covers of numerous

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

s. He was voted one of "Yale's 50 Most Beautiful People" in 1999 by ''

Rumpus Magazine ''Rumpus'' is a tabloid publication produced six times a year by students at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. Visually resembling the ''New York Post'', ''Rumpus'' is a controversial, humorous publication with content ranging from campus g ...

'', one of "Boston's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors" by

The Improper Bostonian ''The Improper Bostonian'' was a glossy lifestyle magazine first published in August 1991 "highlighting the people and places that make Boston a world-class city." After 28 years, publisher Wendy Semonian Eppich announced that the magazine ceased ...

in 2002, one of "Atlanta's 50 Most Beautiful People" by ''Jezebel Magazine'' and as one of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles's "Emerging Talent: Twenty Under 40" in 2008.

Biography

Gidding was born in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey, to an American father and a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

mother. He lived in Turkey until moving to the United States for college after attending

Leysin American School Leysin American School (also referred to as LAS), founded in 1960 by Fred and Sigrid Ott, is a co-educational independent boarding school focusing on university preparation for grades 7–12 (as well as optional PG and 13th grades). Approximatel ...

Leysin Leysin is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in the Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''. Located in the Vaud Alps, Leysin is a sunny alpine resort village at the easter ...

, Switzerland. He graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1999 with a BA in architecture, then the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

with a Master's in architecture. At Yale he sang

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

with

The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, also known as the SOBs, is an all-male '' a cappella'' singing group from Yale University. Founded in 1938, The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus is the longest-running all-male acappella group in the United State ...

, and choral music with the

Yale Glee Club The Yale Glee Club is a mixed chorus of men and women, consisting of students of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1861, it is the third oldest collegiate chorus in the United States after the Harvard Glee Club, founded in 1 ...

, and at Harvard he sang with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. Gidding moved to New York City, where he started John Gidding Design, Inc. after working for two years as a designer for Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Gidding's start in television was with the

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

TV show ''

Knock First ''Knock First'' is an American reality television series in which an adolescent is chosen for a total room makeover by the Knock First crew. The series first aired in the Fall of 2003 on ABC Family. The premise of the show was to shape the ro ...

'', where he and three other designers took turns making over teenagers' bedrooms. ''

Designed to Sell ''Designed to Sell'' is an HGTV American reality television show produced by Pie Town Productions in Los Angeles and Chicago and Edelman Productions in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Each 30-minute episode focuses on fixing up a home that is ab ...

'' (Giddings' previous show from 2006 to 2011) was cancelled in early 2011 by HGTV, and ''Knock First'' is still running in syndication internationally. He is best known as the designer on ''

Curb Appeal Curb appeal is attractiveness of the exterior of a residential or commercial property, as viewed from the street. The term was extensively used in the United States during the housing boom and continues to be used as an indicator of the initial a ...

: The Block'' where his team spent $20,000 on improvements to the exterior and landscaping of chosen homeowners. Less expensive touch-ups were done for 2 or 3 nearby neighbors' homes to improve overall neighborhood property values. In 2015 he was one of the expert judges on the Fox TV show '' Home Free''. He joined the reboot of ''

Trading Spaces ''Trading Spaces'' is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series ''Changing Rooms''. The first ...

'', joining the cast alongside

Paige Davis Paige Davis is an American television personality and actress. She is best known as the host of the TLC home improvement reality television program ''Trading Spaces'' from 2001 until 2008, and hosted the morning talkshow ''Home and Family'' o ...

and

Vern Yip Vern Yip (born June 27, 1968, in Hong Kong) is an American interior designer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He periodically appeared on TLC's ''Trading Spaces'' through its fourth season, and was known for frequently including silk, candles and flow ...

. He is currently back on HGTV, with a relaunch of the popular franchise, Curb Appeal Xtreme.

Personal life

Gidding was married to ballet dancer Damian Smith. The two later divorced.

References

External links

The Official John Gidding website
*
HGTV's Designed to Sell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gidding, John 1977 births Turkish people of American descent Turkish emigrants to the United States American male models American architects American LGBT entertainers Living people Yale University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Turkish LGBT entertainers Turkish male models LGBT architects Gay models LGBT people from New York (state) Turkish architects American expatriates in Switzerland Turkish expatriates in Switzerland Gay entertainers