Snap judgment: 'Tim Gunn's Guide to Style'
Sep 7, 2007, 10:51 AM | by Michael Slezak
Categories: 'Project Runway', Reality TV, Television
True confession: A few minutes into last night's premiere on Bravo of Tim Gunn's Guide to Style — at the precise moment the handsome, silver-haired host told jeans-and-t-shirt gal Rebecca Pennino that her makeover journey was likely to be "painful emotionally" — I was ready to dismiss the show as ridiculous hooey. And for the most part, it is. I mean, that panty-store proprietor's proclamation that "a solid foundation in lingerie absolutely gives a woman the most confidence she'll ever have"? Come on! More than a good education? Or a rewarding, high-paying job? Or true love?
But then again, I'd be lying if I said I didn't experience a moment of fashion introspection when Gunn and co-host Veronica Webb (pictured with Gunn) started the segment about how "silhouette, proportion, and fit" should be a person's primary considerations in choosing his or her clothes. Especially when my own criteria basically boil down to "color, price, and ability to hide troublesome spare tire." Cut to scary daydream where I'm trying on all my favorite garments as Gunn and Webb tut-tut and gasp about how my cherished plaid pants make my legs look stubby.
Seriously, though, Guide to Style works as more than an amusing quip-fest precisely because the co-hosts really know their way around a rack of clothing. The trench coat, white wrap shirt, and Catherine Malandrino patterned dress that ended up in Rebecca's closet were as stylish as they were practical. I just wish that horrendous software program Tim was using hadn't added forty pounds to Rebecca's frame. And that the show's producers had left Jai Rodriguez 2.0 in the sample bin. Anyone who thinks wearing a plastic bag and listening to the music in your head is the world's best one-hour self-esteem booster has clearly never seen a little show called Oprah (or eaten a pint of Häagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche).
Even worse, time spent with hokey new-age cheerleaders cuts into Gunn time, and it's ultimately his dry wit, big heart, and plus-sized vocabulary that might just draw me back for a second or third helping of Guide to Style. Gunn's visceral response to leggings was funnier than most scripted sitcom punch lines; ditto for his "I'm feeling woeful" comment after seeing which of her clothes Rebecca had identified as "keepers." Webb, to my surprise, tossed in several winning bon mots of her own, particularly the observation that Rebecca's fashion rut was "so deep there's, like, magma down there." Sure, I'm a little worried that if Tim always makes his makeover subjects buy the same "10 essential items" — trench coat, little black dress, sweatsuit alternative, etc — that Guide to Style could get stuck in its own deep rut. But at least until the new fall season kicks into gear at the end of the month, I'm planning on carrying on and tuning in. How 'bout you, P-Dubs?
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