If you're familiar with the U.S. TV show "What Not to Wear" (not to be confused with the short-lived U.K. version), you've seen the makeovers of frumpy ladies into fashionable women wearing more modern wardrobes. The gist is often that the makeover targets tend to put themselves last in their lives or are generally dissatisfied with their bodies, & all of this leads them to avoid shopping for & wearing clothes that fit, flatter, & show off their features & create a cohesive sense of self & style.
As reality TV goes, the show is actually rather positive & personally affirming. It has a formula, but there isn't the hugely exploitative feeling that so much of that edu-tainment has.
Yes, I've watched quite a bit of this series, particularly since it has thrived where the U.K. version floundered. WNTW-U.S. had a rocky start, but it persevered until the hosts gelled & the self-improvement themes emerged over the catty, bitchy tone of the U.K. version (sure, it was fun, but that didn't translate, & I suspect that's why it didn't last more than a few seasons either).
Most interestingly to me, there have been several episodes over the 10-year course of WNTW where the makeover candidates began with an alternative fashion sense, albeit always stunted/misshapen & being used to hide self-perceived flaws instead of express inner beauty. In these episodes, the hosts didn't make over the women to look boring & mainstream, but they encouraged the women to create more sophisticated (often more mature & less teen-ager-y), strongly defined styles that took advantage of modern trends to flatter the individual's features & personality.
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| image from TLC.com |
I stumbled across an excellent example of this just the other day in this season of WNTW -- the makeover target was
Heather, a 26-year-old woman who manages a "youth retail store" that I easily identified as Hot Topic in the clips.
She's worked there since high school & tends to buy a lot of what she wears there, but mostly jewelry & big, ill-fitting T-shirts with animal cartoons printed on them. Her wardrobe consists of said shirts, leggings, & the occasional shapeless black dress. As a plus-size gal, she's uncomfortable with her body & doesn't want to try on clothes to fit.
By the end of the episode, she not only has a fantastic CorpGoth wardrobe all in black, jewel tones, & graphic black/white prints, they even dyed her dirty blonde hair to jet black & gave her a sharp bob! She looks fab & is wearing clothes that fit & show off her curves in an attractive fashion for work or play.
This episode is proof that neither alternative style nor size are excuses for a person to not have great wardrobes that will get them taken seriously at a job while letting them have fun & express themselves.
Check out the
video clips online & watch for the full episode in repeats on TLC!
