Four seasons after “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” reinvented the television network Bravo, the pop-culture phenomenon that made five fabulous gays famous is going off the air.

“Queer Eye” (which dropped its “…for the Straight Guy” to cater to all audiences in its third season) will bow out after its final 10 episodes air. The daytime icon Susan Lucci (Erica Kane on “All My Children”) will host a straight-guy beauty pageant in the season premiere, Oct. 2 at 10 p.m.

At the surface level, there’s a shallow makeover-show premise, but it’s far from what the Emmy award-winning surprise hit show became known for, according to one of the Fab Five, fashionista Carson Kressley.

The show made Kressley a household name, but with the show behind him, he isn’t going to fade into has-been “Surreal Life” territory. In fact, with a number of upcoming projects, Kressley’s future looks bright.

“We are done taping it; we taped 100 episodes – so, it’s been on the air longer than ‘Gilligan’s Island.’ I can’t believe it,” he said. “And we’ve all moved on to our own individual projects.”

Kressley’s bond with the other four men will extend well beyond the show’s final mani-pedis.

“I miss the guys like crazy, and we talk all the time, and we’re all hanging out – because we are certainly all friends,” Kressley said. “But, what I miss is that we all had the greatest job in the world, and when you move on to other projects, you miss the five of us hanging out together every day.”

When Kressley spoke with the Gay & Lesbian Times he was driving to El Monte. With “Queer Eye” looming large in his rear view mirror, he shared his thoughts on the show’s long-lasting impression.

“That pleats are the Devil’s playground,” he said, firing off the quick wit that made him a fan favorite. “Honestly, when we started doing the show we just thought, ‘Hey, maybe we’ll make some guys look better, feel better about themselves – help them get a job or a girlfriend.’ And that was it.

“But then as the show gained popularity, I think the most important thing, and the coolest thing, is that some 16-year-old kid would come up to us in the mall and say, ‘Hey, I’m a gay kid and I didn’t know how to broach the subject with my family, and your show helped us talk about it. And now my family’s totally cool with it.’ So, I think that helping gay youth feel that it’s OK to talk about it, that it’s OK to be gay, maybe making it easier for someone to come out – as crazy as that sounds, we were just fixing people’s hair, but maybe we did actually make it easier for some kids. We were just building bridges one manicure at a time.”

The it’s-OK-to-be-yourself theme is the basis for another of Kressley’s projects, You’re Different And That’s Super. The children’s book, penned by the Bravo star, is about a one-of-a-kind pony with a horn on his head and sass to spare. The story has roots in reality.

“Growing up gay, I certainly felt different,” Kressley said. “Kids have such a limited perspective, and you can feel different and uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. I think it’s really important to say to kids, ‘There’s lots of people just like you, and sometimes you feel like the only one, but there are a lot of people who are different and made their diversity a strength.’”

And while he’s famous for his onscreen antics, writing is not new territory.

Kressley also authored the 2004 style guide Off The Cuff and co-authored Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five’s Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better.

And what better for a fashionista to do than launch a clothing line? In 2006, Kressley launched “Perfect,” a QVC line for men and women. He even took up acting in The Perfect Man opposite Heather Locklear and Hilary Duff, and in The Year Without A Santa Claus.

With all this under his Prada belt, Kressley’s headed back to television in two new shows.

“I did just finish eight episodes of a new show for the CW called, “Crowned,” Kressley said. “It is a new mother/daughter beauty pageant that is really about not only outer beauty but inner beauty and the relationships between mother and daughter. Of course pageants always equal drama! There was a lot of screaming, hair pulling and name calling – but that was really just between us judges!”

“Crowned” is being called “the mother of all beauty pageants” and is set to air in January.

Presley’s two-fold return to the tube bears a striking resemblance to the show that put him on the pop culture map, but with a twist.

“How To Look Good Naked,” which will air in January on Lifetime, is based on a successful British reality show that explores a different kind of makeover. It doesn’t take a diet, exercise or plastic surgery to change a woman’s perception about her appearance, Kressley said of the show’s premise.

“On ‘Queer Eye’ I was used to just layering on the clothes – the more the better, usually,” he said. “‘Here put on a sweater! How ‘bout that shirt? Add a hat! A necklace?! Some boots. No, don’t forget the boa! How ‘bout a pocket square?’”

“And this has been really educational for me of learning the lesson that looking great in clothes starts with feeling great about yourself with nothing on. It’s been a real eye opener for me, and it’s a great concept and there’s a real message.”

When pressed for his definition of inner beauty, Kressley slipped right back into his quip-tastic self.

“Mariah Carey,” he said. “Why I love doing it is I am working with women now, I’m ‘doing’ women now – which is new and interesting. So much more difficult than men – they always say girls are harder than boys, which I never believed, but it’s true. The real message of it (the show) is that you don’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. I think loving yourself and being happy with it and confident is my definition of inner beauty. Oh, and having a great sense of

tonsils!”