New in America, that is. I don’t know how long you guys in the UK have been seeing it.
I really like it, although I admit it sometimes walks a fine line between painful and funny. The premise: two fashion advisors, who remind you of a sober Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, swoop down upon some unsuspecting woman who has no fashion sense, browbeat her, tell her how to dress, and give her a check for 2,000 pounds and send her shopping. Once I get over feeling sorry for the poor set-up woman, I enjoy the show, because I get a lot of good ideas of What Not To Wear (they seem to zero in on women without perfect figures).
I’ve watched it, but I’m still not sure I want to take fashion advice from British fashion advisors!
This from the woman who wears black, because even I can match blacks!
I’ve seen bits two or three times, and was curiously entertained.
The fashion judge reaches into somebody’s closet, pulls out a brief, pink synthetic fur top, and says “I can’t imagine anywhere it would be appropriate to wear this.” I’m agreeing. The woman says (taking it fondly) “But I like it. It’s warm, it’s snug, and it feels good.” Okay, fair enough. Seem like good reasons. Nice to know why such things exist.
NightRabbit, it’s on BBC America. If you get Changing Rooms, Ground Force, and Monty Python, then you should get BBC America.
Tanaqui, it can get uncomfortable – I mean, who’d want Edina and Patsy rummaging in their closet and throwing everything away with a sneer? But in the end, the subject woman usually looks 10,000,000 times better, and is happy about it. Maybe they film shows where the subject chases the fashion judges out of her house with a shotgun, but those don’t make it on the air.
Can’t remember the details of the episode, but one of the “consultants” said “now with a bra that . . .,” grabbed the victim’s breasts, and shoved them up. I was watching with my ex-wife and daughters, and the consensus among the female contingent was that the “consultant” would end up on her ass. Not in anger, but from reflex.
Both of these women have been accused of being latent lesbians for the way they like to grab the victim’s boobs. In one episode both of them kissed a poor woman’s breasts when she was wearing a low cut top.
I must admit to enjoying it. Yes, at times they’re a pair of insufferably rude, vacuous types, but the end results do generally make the victims look an awful lot better. They do also seem to pick people who fight back or are equally irritating more than I would have expected.
Crusoe
I guess the makers think it’s better television to have conflict and pick people who argue the toss about the advice (which, despite the presentation, is usually very sound).
I watch it occasionally. It’s on BBC America. The commercials make the fashion consultants seem bitchier than they are on the show. The skinny one (Trinny?) comes across on the show as a nice, sympathetic person. I do wish she’d gain some weight though. And yes, the participants seem much happier at the end and it’s kind of sweetly sad how they say the makeover has changed their personality/perception of the world/their life.
If Trinny and Susannah ever come near me (and yes, they’ve victimised at least one bloke on the show) they are going to be needing some pretty extensive dental work.
I mean, really. The only sensible response to someone saying “Oh, you shouldn’t dress like that, you look terrible” is a good solid punch in the mouth.
I have seen this show once so far ( can’t seem to find it again)
and it was mesmerizing and painful at the same time.
The one I watched was with a mid 40’s woman with a way less than perfect model body who never thought she could wear designer or trendy things because of being too short and stocky.
When after all the outfits were decided upon and they talked with this woman afterwards, she had *tears * of joy because she always felt that she could not wear things from *stores like that * because her figure was not stick thin.
Being short and built like a normal woman and never being able to buy things from up scale stores, I totally related to this woman.
I could never do Survivor, Jackass, Marry a Millionaire and the like because they just rub me the wrong way. I mean, the above forementioned shows just make my neck hair bristle.
But *I would sign up for this show in a heart beat * because a) I won’t spend money on myself b) It is very frustrating to find nice things when the fashion world says that for a woman of my size, 5’3 (small boned) , I should be a size 6. (I am between a 12-14, but before kids I was a nice, fit 10. A short 10. A petite in leg length, but not in waist. I have broad shoulders too. Shopping for me is a nightmare.) and more importantly, c) I think I would have a blast with these two woman.