Gok Wan champions every woman's body, no matter her shape and size
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Looking good is a huge part of most British women’s lives, but for some a slick of lipstick is not enough. Welcome to the world of the TV makeover.
We are a nation obsessed with our looks, a recent survey of more than 3,000 women revealed 56 per cent are concerned about their weight yet only 23 per cent about cancer. The survey also revealed most women don’t want to work too hard to achieve a healthy lifestyle. It seems we’d rather sit at home and watch someone else do it. Makeover shows like How to Look Good Naked, Trinny and Susannah Undress, What Not to Wear and 10 Years Younger are increasingly popular; every series tops viewing charts. British TV audiences love watching ugly ducklings turn into beautiful swans via a harsh ‘fashion stylist’ and in 10 Years Younger’s case, their army of doctors, dentists and surgeons.
Dr Paul Long, a senior lecturer of media and communication at Birmingham City University and a regular watcher with his wife and daughter, believes the shows are good fun. He says: ‘It’s cruel pleasures that keep people watching. It’s gruesome yet interesting to see their lives.’
The shows are very different from each other in their approach, what they say and what they do. Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine have become internationally famous through What Not to Wear followed by Trinny and Susannah Undress the Nation, both with regular viewing figures of 4.5m. But Professor Chris Rojek, author of Celebrity and head of sociology and culture at Brunel University, isn’t impressed by their notoriously harsh and frank observations calling them “charlatans”. ‘They don’t know what they claim to know,’ he says. ‘They are good at presenting confidence but they’re not listening to the person they’re meant to be helping. It’s a kind of bullying rather than self-improvement.’
Nicky Hambleton-Jones, a qualified dietician and personal stylist, presents 10 Years Younger. Born in South Africa she moved to England to work in the City, but was made redundant three times. After seeing a life coach she realised her passion lay with fashion and founded the successful fashion consultancy Tramp2vamp before being approached for the TV programme.
Using an army of professionals, there are no limits for Nicky and, with nearly 4m watching, her emphasis on physical beauty is significant. Every week standard procedures include filing down teeth to replace with veneers, slitting eye bags open to tighten them up, rigorous diet routines and harsh chemical peels. ‘She’s from another planet, a real neo-nazi type,’ says Dr Long. The programme’s famous age surveys, where a “guess my age” vox pop is conducted on the miserable participant, are typically carried out in particularly unflattering circumstances – unforgiving natural light, baggy jumpers and dull weather conditions. By the end, they’ve got a full face of make up, new clothes and enough plastic surgery to rival Sharon Osbourne. Dr Long says: ‘It’s all part of our throwaway culture – things are fixed through consumption and money, not over time. You can let yourself go for 50 years and then get it all fixed in an instant for £20,000.’
Professor Rojek agrees: ‘You can’t defeat nature, these women end up looking like robots not 10 years younger. It’s idiosyncracies that make people attractive.’
On the other end of the makeover spectrum How To Look Good Naked presenter Gok Wan doesn’t encourage his participants to go under the knife. Instead he makes them look at what they have, and how they can make the most of it. Each show starts with his protégé taking a long and painful look at themselves and their distress makes for uncomfortable viewing. Gok gives realistic advice everyone can follow, from hoisting up our ‘bangers’ (his term for breasts!) to improving posture, yet it’s interesting to note he has the lowest viewing figures at 2.6m.
His show smashes taboos; we’re presented with nakedness in all shapes and sizes. The average dress size in England is 16 but it is ridiculously rare to see anyone over a 10 in the media and the few that break the mould are ridiculed. No wonder Dove’s campaign for real beauty found 67 per cent of teenage girls think they need to lose weight. Dr Long says: ‘Gok is not perfect, he has a quick fix aspect but he teaches self-respect, although through deeply humiliating measures.’
The presenters of these shows are now celebrities, with clothing lines, newspaper columns, advertising contracts, spin off shows and books ¬– there is no end to their style power. ‘The shows give a sense of authority to people,’ says Professor Rojek. ‘People lean on the media heavily for advice but there is no proper research into how it affects women, it is all just speculative and superficial.’
Whatever your view on makeover programmes, many British women are regular viewers. Opinions may vary as to the worthiness of shows like these but the truth is beauty sells and the classic Cinderella-style transformation is still ratings gold.
In action: naked ambition
Twenty-three-year-old Lydia Rullow, a council worker and radio DJ from Chorley, appeared on How To Look Good Naked. She hated her 36HH breasts and wore men’s clothes to hide her figure.
‘I had had a bad birthday and was feeling down, then someone mistook me for my brother’s mother even though there’s only a year between us. I was secretly dying inside. I sat down to watch the show and as it went on I saw the girl getting happier, I wanted to be her, I wanted that feeling.
I’d always thought I was confident but it was all bravado. I thought about applying to 10 Years Younger but I didn’t want to change the way I looked, I just wanted to feel good, to love myself. So I thought “sod it, I’m going to do it”. They rang me back the next day and accepted me for the show.
Gok made sure it was all about me; he was amazing, very funny and genuine. He took me and my really low self-esteem, put me in clothes that made me confident then took me out of those clothes as a new person and revealed the reality.
Gok didn’t say anything about food, but I did lose weight just by feeling better. Before I was always looking for validation, then suddenly I’m this person who doesn’t need it.
I recently came second in Miss Gay Northwest in six-inch heels and a skirt - I would never have gone for it if it wasn’t for the show. It takes a change in your head to do something about your life, everybody needs a fairy Gokfather!’
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