Why Every Woman Needs to Watch “What Not to Wear”

I’m going to be honest with you: I hate reality TV. Recently, my roommate forced me to watch an episode of TLC’s “What Not to Wear.” Here it is again, said my cynical self, another show emphasizing a woman’s looks. In my hard-edged line of thinking, the show sent the message that changing your life is as simple as changing your clothes, and we all know this can’t be true —or can it?

After watching one episode, my iceberg cynicism melted, and the show became my new pet research project.“What Not to Wear” targets people (usually female) with severe fashion issues. Friends or family nominate style-blind guests for a makeover. TLC hidden cameras capture footage of the candidates wandering their hometowns in their drowsy everyday wear.

One thirty-three year old’s wardrobe was stuck in her grad school days, while another women’s wardrobe consisted only of oversized flannel pants with writing on the bum. Soon after, hosts Clinton Kelly and Stacy London ambush the woman and offer her a $5000 shopping spree in New York. In return, the woman must toss her current wardrobe and accept Stacey and Clinton’s expert advice.

What becomes revealed throughout the course of the show is that these women’s fashion issues are actually deeper than surface level; more than lacking a sense of style, these women lack a sense of self. The show usually features overworked mothers or teachers, who never take any time for themselves, or young women on the brink of womanhood who are uncertain how to confidently assert their sexuality.

My favorite guest was Erin, a twenty-five-year-old music journalist from Nashville, Tennessee. Growing up, Erin has a severe case of breast asymmetry, and she had to undergo five reconstructive surgeries. Since then, she’d gained thirty pounds and masked her upper body in bulky sweaters, desexualizing herself in an effort to detract any sexual attention.

Erin didn’t know how to dress her body, and she couldn’t quite find a style that communicated who she was. After some serious shopping and soul-searching, Erin took time to interrogate her desire to appear asexual. What was she hiding? Who was she hiding from? Why did she want to hide?

Erin’s big reveal at the end of the show, like all “What not to Wear” transformations, displayed a woman reacquainted with herself. She appeared confident and sexy, but more importantly, she felt confident and sexy. Through style-searching, Erin accepted the physical scars that years of surgery left marked on her body, and made strides towards recovering from some deep-seated emotional scars Perhaps “What Not to Wear” sends the message that changing your life is as simple as changing your clothes, but changing your clothes isn’t simple, especially for the styleblind.

Changing your clothes requires an honest inventory of self, a reconsideration of your place in the world and the message you want to communicate. The show forces women to ask themselves, “Why don’t I care about what I’m wearing? What do the clothes I’m wearing say about me? What’s my style? What would I like my style to be? Who am I really? How can I convey this to the world?”

The show posits that fashion is a direct signifier of ourselves, and that style non-verbally generates information for the world about how we’re feeling. You see a young woman with a playful purple hat, and you think “fun,” or you see a smart-looking man in a dapper suit, and you think “successful.” Or, you see a thrown together woman in sneakers, and you’re certain she’s given up on life. Why should you put any effort into getting to know her when she can’t even put effort into herself? In this sense, someone’s style becomes a barometer of the headspace they occupy. This may all sound superficial, but whether we like it or not, our first message to the world is communicated on surfacelevels, and fashion is your opportunity to tell the world how great you are.

Image from MorgueFile

Amanda Cosco
		About the author:
		Amanda Cosco is a freelance writer. The city is her muse.  After completing a master’s degree in English Literature at Ryerson University in Toronto, Amanda packed up her life and moved to the city in pursuit of jazz, sex, and soup. Amanda completed her bachelor of arts at York University, where she had one foot in literary studies and one foot in journalism, earning her a double-major in English and professional writing. Amanda has presented her scholarly work at academic at conferences across Toronto, and her research on the metaphor of hunger in women’s fiction has received over $30,000 in grants and prizes. With her pen name, Lady Medusa, Amanda has left her digital footprints all over the internet. Currently, she’s blogging for several social media websites, and composing her first book of poetry, entitled "Autobiography of Skin. Follow her on Twitter @ladymspeaks
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