'Stylista'
TELEVISION REVIEW
Yet another reality show about the fashion industry is cut from the same cloth as all the rest.
Mr. Blackwell died Sunday. I remember when he had the TV fashion franchise practically to himself. You can imagine.
It's different now. Fashion has never really gone out of fashion, in the wider world, but never on television has it been such a spectator sport. Not just "Project Runway" and "The Rachel Zoe Project" and more make-me-a-model shows than I care to research, but "What Not to Wear" and "Gossip Girl" -- which is like a "Teen Vogue" spread with dialogue, alcohol and making out -- and "Paris Hilton's My New BFF," in which it is imperative for contestants to look hot always. And "Ugly Betty," which wraps it all up in a comic nutshell. And we might as well count reruns of "Sex and the City" for all those who didn't live it on HBO. And all those who-are-you-wearing red carpet moments. And so on.
Hitting the air tonight is the CW's "Stylista." Set at Elle magazine, it pits wannabe fashion editors in a foot-in-the-door reality-competition version of "The Devil Wears Prada" -- a meme the network itself released into the atmosphere. In "Project Runway" terms, it's a show for those who aspire to be not Michael Kors -- I believe Top Designer Michael Kors is now his full legal name -- but Nina Garcia, a former Elle editor now of Marie Claire. Except in the decorative details, it is exactly the same as every other gimme-a-job reality show ever made, with the contestants all banged up in a fancy dormitory from which they disappear one by one after themed weekly challenges.
The killing catch-phrase this time is "You're not the right fit," and the woman who delivers it is Elle Fashion News Director Anne Slowey, who did a little "Project Runway" judging in its first season. (That show, like Garcia, is also transferring its affections from Elle to Marie Claire, which will reportedly provide the background for yet another fashion-themed reality series. Watch this space.)
Slowey and Garcia have been or are now either feuding or are not feuding. I did a little research into this subject, but it only hurt my head.
The 11 starting contestants are mostly 25 and younger, not so far out of the "Real World" demographic, which means they're long on drama and short on actual experience; most of them don't yet know what they don't know. Contestant Megan, who has inherited money, is the show's Mean Girl; DyShaun is her sidekick, Ashlie her adversary and Kate, a law school dropout whose cleavage precedes her, her target. Danielle is, superficially, the Betty Suarez of the piece -- as she says, she's "bigger than most girls" -- though unlike Betty, she's fashion-conscious.
