Style-challenged individuals are everywhere, and Tim Gunn just can't stand it.
Excessive accessories, too-tight clothes, too-loose clothes: Whatever the fashion blunder, "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" attempts to beautify the world, one fashion victim at a time.
Gunn, who co-hosts the Bravo makeover show with former supermodel Veronica Webb, imparts his sound sense of style to seemingly helpless fashion-phobes; regrettably, the show as a whole is not all that entertaining.
Gunn recently ended his seven-year run as Chair of Fashion Design at Parsons the New School for Design in New York and made a name for himself in the world of reality television on "Project Runway." As mentor to "Runway" competitors, Gunn regularly offers up his fashion knowledge in his charmingly prim way. He's become an audience favorite, so the jump to hosting his own makeover show is a logical one.
However, without the crazy contestants, design challenges, and Heidi Klum, can Gunn's undeniable charm and finely honed sense of style really carry a show?
Each week, Gunn and Webb will make over a different person with a flawed fashion philosophy. In the first episode, that person is Rebecca, a jeans and a t-shirt kind of woman who hates her curves and shies away from dresses.
Rebecca is a pretty easy makeover subject, as her body is not particularly difficult to dress. During a lingerie shopping trip with Webb, it becomes clear that Rebecca is rail-thin with a larger bottom half: a perfect candidate for an empire waist dress. How misguided she was! So begins Rebecca's style education.
Oddly enough, her next lesson involves wearing a garbage bag and staring at herself in fun house mirrors. This exercise was presumably meant to increase Rebecca's confidence, because as resident life stylist Jared Weiss puts it, "if you can wear a garbage bag, you can wear anything." The exercise may, however, have backfired, for Rebecca seems to feel self-conscious and slightly ridiculous throughout the activity.
No makeover show would be complete without a shopping trip. Before she heads out to the stores, Gunn and Webb give Rebecca a list of 10 essential items that every wardrobe needs. Among them are a basic black dress, a classic dress pant, and a sweat suit alternative.
On her quest to find the elusive S.S.A (sweat suit alternative), Webb suggests leggings under a trapeze dress with a pair of ballet flats. Gunn's immediate reaction to hearing the word "leggings" can best be described as shouts of pained disdain. He then apologizes to Webb for doubting her fashion sense, explaining that his reaction to leggings is a visceral one.
Just a moment later, Gunn accidentally touches Rebecca's breast and has another small freak-out. It's these scenes and a few similar ones - for example, when Gunn analyzes the contents of Rebecca's closet and claims that one item "looks like a shaved hamster" - that add spark to the show.
Here, the audience sees more of the Gunn fondly remembered from "Runway." Unfortunately, these moments happen too infrequently to make Gunn's show stand out amongst other makeover shows of the same mold.
One way in which "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" does differentiate itself from the pack, most notably TLC's fabulously bitchy "What Not to Wear," is that each makeover subject gets to go to a designer boutique and select one couture piece for his or her own wardrobe.
Since season four of "Runway" does not begin until November, "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" is not a terrible substitute. Gunn is as knowledgeable and likeable as ever; the show just lacks characters for his deadpan commentary to play off of.
Plus, at the end of the day, isn't bettering one's own confidence by watching others suffer shame and ridicule what reality television is all about?
