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Issue Date: October 1, 2006
An eye on TV fashion
We teamed a blue-ribbon panel of newspaper critics with our E! TV guru for a look at the best (and worst) that the small screen offers.
By Kristin Veitch
Bravo's "Project Runway" uses fashion as its hook.
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In a perfect world, Jack Bauer would change his clothes, the passengers of Lost's Flight 815 would be stylists who were en route to Fashion Week, and The Office's employees would work for Versace.
At least, that's the way some of the nation's top fashion critics would want it.
"Fashion is not having a good moment on television right now," says Suzanne Brown of The Denver Post. "It's all about the story. It's all reality shows and dramas like 24 and Lost and Grey's Anatomy with people wearing the same thing all the time. What happened to the fashion eye candy?"
This was the overarching question posed by a special panel of fashion critics that was created exclusively by USA WEEKEND as a part of our three-part series on the fall TV season. Three boob-tube-savvy style gurus -- Amy DiLuna of the New York Daily News, Sara Glassman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Denver's Brown -- gathered to discuss the prime-time shows with the most promising (and pathetic) use of fashion. Their collective opinion can be found in the lists on this page.
If you think color, texture, fabric and cut don't really matter to a TV series, these panelists beg to differ. "Style is very important to character development," Glassman says. "It can speak volumes about who someone is, and it gives the viewers more to look at, too."
Shows like "The OC," "Desperate Housewives" and "Entourage" have been doing just that, which is why they made our critics' Best list, along with two reality shows that focus on fashion: Bravo's "Project Runway" and MTV's "The Hills."
Still, such style-conscious series are few and far between, according to our panelists, who described the current state of fashion on television as "grim," "boring," "sad" and "disturbing."
And yet, miracle of miracles, there is hope: Fashion could pull a dramatic 180 this TV season. For starters, not only does CBS have an ensemble comedy by a Friends producer -- David Crane's "The Class" (a fact that's noteworthy if only for the millions of girls who once ran out to get their hair cut into "The Rachel") -- but also, ABC's new drama series "Six Degrees" is being styled by the woman who is arguably the most famous TV fashionista of all time: "Sex and the City's" Patricia Field.
"Because of Pat Field, "Six Degrees" is the show to watch for style," Glassman says. "It's [from Lost creator] J.J. Abrams. It's in New York. It stars Erika Christensen and Bridget Moynahan, who know how to wear the clothes. I can't wait to see how style becomes part of the show and how the characters are connected."
This serialized drama about a group of intertwined strangers has six main characters, but Brown predicts there will be a seventh. "Everyone knows there was a fifth girlfriend on 'Sex and the City,'" she says, "and that was the fashion. People tuned in to see what the fashion would do."
Two other new ABC series caught our panel's eye: Notes from the "Underbelly," whose pregnant lead has Glassman "hopeful, because maternity clothes are so cute now," and "Ugly Betty," the comedy about a Plain Jane (America Ferrera) who works alongside a fashion diva (Vanessa Williams) at a glamour magazine. "It juxtaposes poor America Ferrera, who is so beautiful and is made to look so heinous in her Guadalajara poncho, against Vanessa Williams, who looks out-of-control gorgeous," DiLuna says. "That's going to be hilarious side by side."
Yes, bad fashion can make for good comedy -- which is why our panelists had to appoint NBC's The Office to their Worst list. But ABC's Dancing with the Stars is apparently no laughing matter. "That, to me, is the scariest of the scary," Glassman says of the competition show's costumes. "Those coordinated outfits are so awful. I feel like the clothes keep falling off of these women because they're running away from their bodies. They are saying, 'Get me out of here!' "
And ABC's upcoming comedy about a wedding, Big Day, could be worse. "Think about it," Glassman says. "Have you ever seen a fashionable bridesmaid dress?"
Kristin Veitch is E! Entertainment's TV expert. Catch her on E! News Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., or read Watch With Kristin at eonline.com.
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Shows with the Best Style
1. Project Runway (Bravo): As Heidi Klum would say, "You're in!"
2. The OC (Fox): They're flawless. They're stylish. They're everything we didn't look like at their age.
3. Desperate Housewives (ABC): It's been compared to Sex and the City -- not too shabby.
4. The Hills (MTV): Lead girl Lauren works for Teen Vogue. She better look good.
5. Entourage (HBO): Hollywood glamour, movie-star budget. We should all be so lucky.
Shows with the Worst Style
1. Dancing with the Stars (ABC): Their trot might be foxy, but the clothes are not.
2. Survivor (CBS): Rats? Dirt? Not a dry cleaner in sight? A fashionista's worst nightmare.
3. Lost (ABC): Sure, they're stranded on an island. But didn't anyone pack a little Marc Jacobs?
4. Law and Order (NBC): Dark suits and more dark suits. We have reached a verdict: Zzzzz...
5. The Office (NBC): So bad it's funny. And fans wouldn't have it any other way.
New Fall Series with Most Fashion Promise
1. Six Degrees (ABC): These characters won't be strangers to fashion.
2. Ugly Betty (ABC): Vanessa Williams is devilish in Prada.
3. Studio 60 (NBC): Amanda Peet proves network executives can look good.
4. The Class (CBS): 20-somethings with ties to Jennifer Aniston? What could be better?
5. Notes from the Underbelly (ABC): Should keep empire waists in fashion for a good nine months.
Greatest TV Trendsetters of All Time
1. Sex and the City (below): The gold standard.
2. Friends: With pals like these, who needs stylists?
3. Dynasty: Decadent and delicious.
4. Miami Vice: They gave pastels panache.
5. The Avengers: We spy 1960s trendsetters.
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