We caught up with the Queer Eye star as he got ready for dinner with L&rsquo;OFFICIEL and Omega on Tuesday night.

Antoni Porowski&rsquo;s fall is already off to a busy start. This past weekend, the Queer Eye star was in LA for the Creative Arts Emmys, where he and the rest of the beloved Netflix show&rsquo;s &ldquo;Fab Five&rdquo; took home the award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. But the food and wine expert&mdash;who also hosts the National Geographic show No Taste Like Home&mdash;didn&rsquo;t celebrate the win on the West Coast for long. By Tuesday afternoon, he was back home in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/new-york-city-fashion-beauty-lifestyle-store-openings-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York City</a>, preparing to kick off New York Fashion Week at dinner with L&rsquo;OFFICIEL and Omega at the Chelsea Hotel. And while getting ready, he was still letting the magic of the weekend soak in&mdash;with his newly minted trophy in sight, of course.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m staring at it right now, and I&rsquo;m still in pure shock,&rdquo; he tells L&rsquo;OFFICIEL. &ldquo;We did not expect it&mdash;and I don&rsquo;t mean that in a self-deprecating way, but we were fortunate enough to win [six] years in a row, and then we didn't win last year. So I think we were all kind of shocked to find out that we were back on. It was lovely, especially because [co-star] Jeremiah [Brent] got to celebrate with us as an EP on the show, and it was his first Emmy.&rdquo;
Porowski is keeping the good vibes going&mdash;and although he&rsquo;ll be missing most of NYFW while &ldquo;back on the road&rdquo; for work, he&rsquo;s already feeling the hype in the city. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very much <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/fall-2025-fashion-trends-back-to-school-collections-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back-to-school vibes</a>,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was away for most of the summer filming Queer Eye and working on another exciting project, and now everyone is rushing back to the city. It&rsquo;s gone from empty to really chaotic&mdash;it&rsquo;s fun but also stressful. It reminds me of when I was in elementary school and loved going to the paper store with my parents to get all of the pens and paper for back to school. That part was really exciting and fun, but then there&rsquo;s also the nerves of jumping back into it&mdash;especially in New York. There&rsquo;s a lot of stuff happening at the same time.&rdquo;
Keep scrolling for our full interview with Porowski, where he talks all things fashion week, summer-to-fall dressing, and, of course, food.

Antoni Porowski. Photography courtesy of Omega.

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: What inspires you most during NYFW? Is it the street style, the shows, the parties?&nbsp;
ANTONI POROWSKI: I'm a bit of a proud geriatric. I typically like to start my chamomile tea and my nighttime <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/la-prairie-gold-essence-skincare-serum-price-buy-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skin routine</a> at 9 p.m. So, parties maybe not the most&hellip;but I love going to some of the shows. Unfortunately, this is one of those years where I don't get to be part of it as much as I have been historically, but it's always a really fun energy. I've loved going to Ralph [Lauren], Thom Browne, Jonathan Simkhai, and other <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/natasha-lyonne-nyfw-interview-veronica-beard-icons-party-event" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York designers</a>. It's nice to go to a couple of shows with friends and try to sneak in a fun little lunch at La Mercerie at RW Guild, or Balthazar.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: I was actually going to ask what your favorite spots were to grab food or drinks between events, since you are the food and wine expert.&nbsp;
AP: I can list you five more. I already mentioned La Mercerie, which is definitely one of my favorites&mdash;classic French cuisine, and it's downtown by the Financial District so it&rsquo;s away from everything, which makes it special and nice&mdash;and Balthazar. Bond St., not only because I worked there as a server for five or six years, but it's also been such an institution and it&rsquo;s got good energy. Indochine always feels very fashion week-y, in a fun way. And then I'm a big fan of all the ABCs&mdash;ABC Kitchen, ABC Cocina, and ABCV. They&rsquo;re always super close to a lot of the venues and have really incredible food. And then Polo Bar, of course. If you&rsquo;re in between shows and don&rsquo;t have a lot of time, Lodi is really fantastic. It's right by Rockefeller Center, where the old Dean &amp; Deluca used to be. You can go there for a quick little charcuterie board with a nice soup and salad situation, and then across from it is a really good spot called Le Rock, which looks like it's been there for a long time, but it's very modern French deco&mdash;like traditional, but also modern French cuisine.

L&rsquo;O: How do you make sure to eat well, even when you don't have time to cook?&nbsp;
AP: So this is not sponsored content, but I really love my Barebells protein bars. Really good macros and they're delicious&mdash;they taste like candy bars, in the best way. If I'm going from show to show, I tend to forget to eat. I&rsquo;m really good at that, even though food is really important to me. So I always love having a little protein bar on me. But I think even more important is just trying to get eight hours of sleep. It&rsquo;s next to impossible, but it kind of sets me up so that I can be a normal human being in front of people.
L&rsquo;O: What immediately gets your attention when you walk into a NYFW event? What are you making a bee-line for?&nbsp;
AP: I&rsquo;m usually starving after a show, so if there&rsquo;s an event going on right after, it&rsquo;s always a beeline to the bar. I'm just trying to figure out where the servers are coming out from catering with the hors d'oeuvres, so that I can be the first to snag whatever little baby lobster roll or Wagyu crispy rice is being served. I typically tend to gravitate towards the food.
L&rsquo;O: When it comes to dressing for fashion week, how far in advance do you plan your looks? Or do you weigh your options day-of, depending on your mood?&nbsp;
AP: Aspirationally, I would love to be a planner, like I am with a lot of things, but I tend to wing it. I'm really grateful to work with a really great stylist, Marcus Allen, and Izaake [Souza Zuckerman] at The Society Archive. They typically do that work for me and I trust them inherently. A week or two before an event, I'll start getting old clippings from magazines. They're as obsessed with vintage as I am, and they're always trying to figure out what's the story or what's the mood board that we're going for.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;O: When we&rsquo;re in between seasons in NYC, like we are right now, what&rsquo;s your approach to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/fall-plaid-to-shop-transitional-dressing-prada-celine-ralph-lauren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transitional dressing?&nbsp;</a>
AP: It's definitely something that I struggle with, and I wish I had the perfect solution where I've mastered it, but unfortunately I haven't. I wore shorts and a T-shirt to take my <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/nicola-peltz-beckham-interview-actress-director-who-is-photo-editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dog</a> on a walk and I was a little too cold. My legs are always warm&mdash;too much information that you didn't ask for&mdash;but I have two or three jackets that are just thin enough that they&rsquo;re perfect for two to three weeks and then it's full winter wear or full summer. So, it's that awkward time where I try to wear something&hellip;if it's a sweater or a light jacket, I can tie it around my waist. I love feeling good and dressing well, but I think function is extremely important. If I'm not comfortable, then I'm going to be miserable. And I'm not really good at a poker face; it'll show. So, I have to be cozy&mdash;and it&rsquo;s always good to have a layer&mdash;but at the same time, make sure I'm not overheating.
L&rsquo;O: How did you choose your look for tonight&rsquo;s dinner with L&rsquo;OFFICIEL and Omega?
AP: We're doing <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/ralph-lauren-ask-ralph-ai-styling-assistant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ralph</a> tonight. I hear suitcases opening up in my bedroom right now as [my stylists] are unpacking stuff. But they've been pulling a lot of really cool references&mdash;at the Creative Arts Emmys, we sort of did a pull on some vintage and archival Versace with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/donatella-versace-best-celebrity-runway-moments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donatella</a> leaving and the brand taking a new direction. We were also recently on a little stint where it was a lot of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/jfk-jr-young-photos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JFK Jr.</a> vibes, sort of oversized and the cab driver hat and that kind of stuff. They're both obsessed with old magazines and Abercrombie and old Ralph and they'll typically send photos kind of weeks leading up to [an event], and then I get excited about it. I love a good historical reference.

L&rsquo;O: You&rsquo;re a brand ambassador for Omega, which has a rich history of its own. What is it about the watches that speaks to you?
AP: I've been obsessed with the brand since I was a kid. I was a swimmer growing up, and the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/watches/omega-aqua-terra-30-mm-campaign-tems-ashley-graham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OMEGA</a> symbol was always on the chronometer on the stopwatch, so I associated it with excellence and precision. What I love is that it&rsquo;s not only a luxury brand with beautiful pieces. It&rsquo;s also the official watch of James Bond&mdash;and I&rsquo;m a big fan of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/new-james-bond-actor-rumors-predictions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Bond</a>. It's the first watch that was in space and on the moon. It's the watch that's made it to the deepest part of the ocean, in the Mariana Trench&mdash;they literally designed a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/men/omega-seamaster-watch-collection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seamaster</a> that has that release pattern so when you look under a certain light, you can sort of see the topography of it. There's incredible storytelling and history and innovation, with respect for the past but a strong pulse on the future and what's happening right now.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: What is your go-to Omega watch for everyday?
AP: OK, so, even though I haven't seen the movie, this is kind of like Sophie's Choice. But I have two. So, if we're going for new, it would be the Seamaster with the dark brown dial, the James Bond with titanium mesh. You can wear it with jeans, sweatpants, or a suit and it looks just as good. But my very favorite is the first one that I ever had that I wore on <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/queer-eye-is-back-to-makeover-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queer Eye </a><a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/queer-eye-is-back-to-makeover-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Season 1</a>. The watch didn't even work, but it was the reason why the brand even reached out to me because they saw close-ups of me cooking. But it's a 1952 <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/watches/omega-constellation-manhattan-29-mm-by-omega" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Constellation</a> with a black dial. And it's a white and yellow gold sort of like I'm usually not into two-tone, but it's just this beautiful thin watch. I replaced the strap with cordovan leather with a single baseball stitch. And that's the one that just love, because I remember where I was at in my life when I got it. It's nostalgic.

L&rsquo;O: Other than deciding on your watch for the night, what does your getting-ready routine entail leading up to a big night out?
AP: My lovely friend and groomer Anna Bernabe shows up with all of these wacky potions that she uses, and I really love them to help me get centered. I'm a big scent guy, so she'll do orchid sprays. Tata Harper has a really good Energy roller ball, and Anna taught me to roll it around in your hands, slap your hands together, and do a bit of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/wellness/sound-baths-vibrational-meditation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mindful</a> breathing. There&rsquo;s one more product from another good friend and groomer that I work with, Amy Komorowski. She started an oil that we use sometimes called Circa 1970. The bottle is a beautiful amber color, and I'm Polish, and Polish people are obsessed with amber. It sort of has notes of frankincense and myrrh, which kind of reminds me of going to church growing up&mdash;it&rsquo;s like that church-y smell in those things that priests would burn. I'm not necessarily a church-y or super religious guy, but something about that just grounds me and chills me out in a really good way, the way a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/best-fall-candles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">candle</a> would.
L&rsquo;O: And, on the flip side, how do you typically end the night after an event&mdash;before the chamomile tea?&nbsp;
AP: It depends on how hungry I am. If I am medium hungry, it's going to be a double patty from 7th Street Burger on a potato roll. And then I would order the disco fries that come with this really good&mdash;in the best way, trashy&mdash;queso and you can get Impossible ground meat crumbled over it and a lot of caramelized onions. If I want a real meal, the single best one you can order from a higher-end restaurant is lemon chicken rice with crispy chicken skin from ABC Cocina. You can also get these little ham and potato croquettes that are really delicious, and there&rsquo;s a mango habanero hot sauce for three bucks that's amazing. And they have really good tres leches, as well. They take forever to deliver, but if I order it 30 minutes before I leave, and then it takes me 20 minutes to get home, it arrives 10 minutes after I arrive.

How Antoni Porowski Does NYFW—Restaurant Recs Included

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