While making the bed in one of our guest rooms, I turned on the TV to keep me company as I often do, and it was tuned to OWN, as it often is. It so happened that a show was on at that moment called "What Not To Wear". Now, I will be the first to admit that I often step out in clothing that would make the fashion police scream out loud. But that is not among my highest priorities at the moment, since I am unemployed and struggling. I have had weight problems all my life, and even though I try to keep my weight at 5'5" below 200 lbs., there has been a lot of fluctuation (not usually in the right direction) in the last 5 years of very stressful employment followed by the loss of three jobs and now one business. For economic and weight reasons, I tend to prefer slightly over-sized t-shirts and elastic waistbands on my slacks and shorts.
Many times I have seen those photos that used to have the face blocked out in magazines, or nowadays, the videos on YouTube and photos on the internet that are not so kind, showing women wearing things that really don't work fashion-wise. I'm sure fashion has its place in this world, and I am not without artistic sense. My late mother's dream career would have been clothing designer, and she had all the right skills - ability to sketch, great fashion ideas, and an amazing sense of color combinations and matching. She also could sew well enough to make all the clothing worn by her two daughters, as part of her "actual" career as homemaker. She loved my father, an independent business owner, well enough to do her part to keep food on the table and clothing on our backs while he worked 6 day weeks of 9 hour days to make a meager paycheck.
But I digress. It often occurred to me later in life that I could easily appear in these photos or videos the way I leave home. However, once I got through my first divorce and then the death of my father when I was 34 years old, I realized I didn't have a whole lot of control over anything, and I let my weight and my fashion consciousness go in favor of practicality.
So today I happened upon this show, "What Not To Wear", on Oprah's network while doing housework. I had avoided seeing this show for obvious reasons, but what I happened on today was nothing short of cruel. There was a cute woman being chided by a "fashionable" man and woman for her existing wardrobe, as things were being thrown out. Mind you, the victim was neither overweight nor unattractive at all - she appeared to be in her mid-30s with wavy chin-length hair, and had a face I would describe as at least "cute" and perhaps "pretty". The victim was wanting to keep her beloved leather jacket which was apparently no longer fitting her. Lady Fashion said, regarding the size, "yes, but SMALL? MEN's small, maybe..." to which Gentleman Fashion laughed and Victim just looked chastised.
I put myself in Victim's place for just a moment. She didn't look like she was enjoying what was going on at all. I personally would NEVER allow myself to get insulted like this in front of many viewers (at least not for anything less than a substantial sum of money at this moment of unemployment - no, probably not even that; I do have some pride). One wonders how she received this dubious "honor". Was it a friend who staged a "Fashion Intervention" of some sort? Hey, in my world, that would be an EX-friend pretty quickly.
One also wonders why Oprah saw fit to air a show like this on her network which is all about "Living Your Best Life." In what best life does a woman willingly submit to this type of put-downs in the name of, excuse me, fashion? But then I remember having seen what type of clothing often appears in O Magazine, including the $700-plus handbag, and I must realize that Wealthy Oprah has a pretty large blind spot when it comes to the less-than-wealthy (struggling) women out there.
I'm not going to get all preachy, nor will I pretend to have a better idea than Her Highness Oprah Winfrey what constitutes good TV. But what I will say is that there is so much wrong with a show like this, in my mind, that I wouldn't even know where to start. In this case, I started by turning off the TV and deciding my housework could wait, and taking a walk around the lake with my dog Jack.
