Clinton Kelly and Stacy London are again collectively, and if that assertion doesn’t excite you, it might probably solely be as a result of you will have by no means seen “What Not to Wear,” the collection they co-hosted from 2003 to 2013 on TLC. (There is no such thing as a different attainable clarification.)
Premiering simply six months earlier than “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” as “Queer Eye” was identified then, it revamped its ill-dressed “contributors” with the form of delicate brutality one associates with the good Zen masters, a course of from which they emerged stylishly clad and spiritually free. Garments made the lady (and every now and then a person), however the level was that everybody’s already stunning, if solely we all know the right way to present it. (I doubt we watched all 345 episodes on this home, however a pair hundred, fairly probably; I made it some extent to interview the hosts in 2010, at the start of their eighth season, as a result of I needed to.)
London and Kelly’s new collection, “Wear Whatever the F You Want,” premiering Tuesday on Prime Video, is a distinct form of journey to an identical finish. “We finally get to do it right this time,” says Kelly, which means that they’re in “the business not of judging so much,” however of letting the visitor cleared the path.
Within the former collection, members — usually glad, or at the very least not sad, with how they dressed however unable to see themselves as others noticed them — have been elected by mates and households to obtain a makeover; it was a form of an intervention. The “What Not To Wear” system concerned secret footage, ambushes, a “360 degree mirror” wherein the topic was required to clarify her previous wardrobe, quickly to be discarded endlessly. Feelings might run excessive; there was resistance; there have been arguments. There have been “rules.”
Right here, the members have put themselves ahead, or have been recruited by means of no matter means reveals like this are populated. They’re actively searching for change; they know what they need however don’t know the right way to get it.
Stacy London and Clinton Kelly with a makeover visitor on “Wear Whatever the F You Want.”
(Prime Video)
Every has a fantasy supreme. (“Age appropriate” just isn’t a phrase you’ll hear right here, however “comfort zone,” as in leaving it, comes up repeatedly.) We meet Selena, a goth “content creator” with inexperienced streaks in her hair, a razor blade earring and a spiked choker, who wish to look extra approachable, like Alicia Silverstone in “Clueless.” Naomi, an Amish runaway turned unique dancer turned mother, has returned to dressing in sacks and bonnets since gaining some weight after being pregnant (extra a case of dysmorphia, one would say, than an goal evaluation) and is aiming for “country glitz and glam,” à la Dolly Parton. Alan, transitioning male to feminine, desires one thing “ambiguous” to precise parts of each genders. Patrick, a long-haired “brewery dad” in overalls, a Inexperienced Day T-shirt and Crocs, hopes to unleash his inside “punk rock god.” Most cancers survivor Freedom appears to be a “powerhouse diva.” And so forth, over eight, in a different way flavored, entertaining episodes.
London and Kelly have been briefed prematurely — there are dossiers — in order that when the topic arrives on the “Wardrobe Warehouse,” a room stuffed with promising togs and equipment awaits them. The concept is to work collectively, with the visitor main the way in which: “We can be supportive, we can be cheerleaders, we can be guardrails so you don’t go off the cliff but get what you want,” says Kelly, except it was London; they’re a form of two-headed creature. The hosts specific opinions — they’ll clarify what doesn’t work solely after the shopper expresses their very own doubts — and can present their delight once they love an outfit (“Awesome!” “Adorable.”), however don’t argue. (“If you’re not feeling it, that’s a no for us.”)
The place “What Not to Wear” was a five-day course of, “Wear Whatever the F” has been streamlined and compacted into an eventful, environment friendly 48 hours, together with a gap dialog; a go-wild “style session”; a phase wherein they’re despatched out to “pressure test” a fantasy outfit in a social setting; and a second fashion session wherein a extra refined, however nonetheless expressive, hopefully sustainable look is created. In the middle of all this, we get a superb image of every shopper, their household background, formative traumas, hopes and goals. Midway by means of every episode, a good friend visits to offer the stylists extra perspective. Hair and make-up full the image. As in “What Not To Wear,” the episode ends with the remodeled topic returning dwelling, to the amazement of their family members. It’s a joyous second.
Whereas the makeovers are participating, transferring and enjoyable — who doesn’t love a Cinderella story? — the principle draw of the collection are the fairy godparents. Fortunately collectively once more after a dozen years, London and Kelly are the shadow topics of the present, like detectives in a procedural. Every episode begins with them strolling arm in arm on a New York road, speaking about this or that — what sort of canine they’d be, their first large style buy, what they’d eat if they might solely select one factor endlessly, how London is so chilly she will’t really feel her face.
“They’re like our reality TV parents,” says “visionary artist” Akemi, who wish to look as psychedelic as her work, says to visiting good friend, Taj, they usually do certainly look upon the youthful topics with a type of parental fondness. On the “pressure test” occasions, they lurk close by, observing, however generally collaborating — Kelly will pole and line dance; London will get a tattoo. Of their mid-fifties now, they’ll have a couple of issues to say about children nowadays, their slang and such; they snort at Burning Man, to which they’ve by no means been and can by no means go. (“I don’t like dust,” says London. “I don’t like porta-potties,” says Kelly.)
They’re both having an excellent time — with a lot laughter and banter, and maybe a tear or two when a butterfly emerges from the cocoon — or else they’re glorious actors. I select to imagine the previous.
