The women who cry on What Not to Wear...

Btw it seems maybe the UK show is more fashion based while the one shown over there is for women who need to change clothes for their jobs? I dont know

The ones here in the UK are nearly always just about random women with low self esteem, who these people are claiming lack fashion sense. Their jobs arent really mentioned

 

that's the one i watched. i didn't know there was another until this thread.

 

I've only seen the American version, which I've been watching it for a few years now. They take into account the woman's lifestyle (hobbies, kids or not, etc.) and her occupation and try to dress them appropriately for each situation. They try to dress women in classic pieces that have endured, rather than chasing trends or putting them in weird couture stuff that's not practical, which I always respected.
I've seen people on the show that aren't always terrible dressers, but that either have issues finding stuff that fits their body type or that don't seem to know the difference between dressing casually and dressing for laying around the house. They aren't always "out there," and sometimes they only miss the mark by a little bit.
Sometimes I question some of the consultants' choices, and a fair amount of it does seem to be fluff to give the audience a good show, but a lot of the time, they just make sense.

 

those british bitches are VICIOUS. fuck, man.

 

Haha, wow, doesn't sound like I would like the UK show... The American consultants get in a little good-natured ribbing, but I never considered them to be really cruel. So we were watching two different shows? That explains a lot...

 

oh, MAN. not only are the "consultants" flat out evil, but the "friends" of the people are shitheads, too. it's fucked up. i watched them work over this one poor woman so bad that i thought that had it been on an american show, there'd have been a lawsuit.

and i don't find their fasihon advice to be at all special.

 

Because she is a therapist, she must be perfect? That doesnt exist. Everyone is perfectly human and has their own learning cut out for them. Must have been a healing process for her. If she can understand her own emotions and do new things for herself, you;d think it would make her a better therapist because she could empathize, understand, and evaluate yourself as well.

 

i tell ya, even though it makes me insane, i've learned to let people cry for whatever the hell reason they want to.

 

I suppose it just struck me as a little hypocritical that she tells people that their psyches need fixing for a living and that THEY NEED TO CHANGE when she has these problems that she was obviously aware of and didn't seem to feel she needed to change at all.
What makes it okay for her to tell everyone that they can't live with their problems but she can be complacent about hers?

 

probably because those people seek her out because they're unhappy. maybe she was content and settled.

 

I'm just saying that if she had recognized something in a person that wasn't right, she would have tried to change it. Someone does the same thing to her and she loses it. I just wonder what it was like to be on the other end of it for a change, and I hope she learned some things about herself and that she gets better, especially since she makes a career out of pointing out others' mental and emotional faults.

 

Just wondering, since this seems to be the root of our discussions, do you think a person with low self-esteem should be content and settled with it? Because I firmly believe that we should not accept such limitations. I'm just wondering where you are coming from. Whatever you think, that's fine, but it might help me understand...

 

she doesn't make a career out of seeking people out to ruthlessly point out their faults and mental problems. peopel come to her to be gently and professionally walked through problems they have with themselves.

i guess it would be like a mother who puts all her time, attention, energy and money into her children because she loves them. she falls to the wayside and feels she's doing the best she can, given limited time, energy and money. but then someone comes along and says "you've really let yourself go." and it's APPALLING, because she's invested the best part of herself into a job that's truly noble and all anyone is giving a crap about is that her hair's gone frizzy and she's not a fashion plate.

 

So... if they were "gentler", it would be okay?
Or should they be totally left alone... and it doesn't matter what they look like at all?

 

in an ideal world, they'd be left alone. it's not an ideal world. we're too much occupied with visual appearance instead of performance. unless it's in those male brainiac activities. those guys can roll out of bed smelling like cat piss and show up to the office and still get mad loot for it. i know. i've been around them.

 

It always comes down to the injustice of the world.
I agree that something should be done. For now, I'm content with someday. Putting on a clean shirt that isn't six sizes too big is a small price to pay in my opinion. I know others might disagree. I just choose to pick my battles and minimize unnecessary conflict. It's up to the individual to decide what's important to them.
Which is why I don't understand... if nothing matters but that person's personal comfort with their own clothes, why do they take the money, throw out their stuff, and go on TV?
Hopefully, they learn something about themselves.

 

they likely learned that they had no idea how painful it would be.

 

I highly doubt any of them (on the American show anyway) are deeply emotionally scarred from the experience. If they are, something else is wrong. People shouldn't just go on living unhappily. Poor self-esteem by definition is not being happy with yourself. How can you be happy with anything if you're not happy with yourself? I'm not saying this show fixes everything, but I can see it being a first step in most cases.
Once again- American version, not UK. I just saw a clip from the UK version on youtube, and I'm wondering how these chicks haven't been sued... or at least charged with sexual harassment. The clip I saw, they were grabbing this girl's boobs incessantly and giggling.
:leaving:

 

i want to go shopping with tim gunn.

 

i dont' think anyone should live with self esteem, but i dont' think someone feeling the pain of their first steps out of it should be belittled. it's not like THAT helps.