IF you can’t get enough of those morning show makeovers – from Maury’s extreme “Help! My mom dresses like a fat slut,” to Regis & Kelly’s “Easy, Breezy Summer Hairdo” makeovers – then you will love Bravo’s newest all makeover/all-the-time show, “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.”
Billed as “not just any makeover show,” strangely enough, that’s exactly what it is: just any makeover show. Just longer. It always starts with the fashion disaster (or what Gunn who hasn’t had dust on him in thirty years thinks of as a disaster), moves onto the shopping spree, the fancy hairstylist, makeup artist and the final makeover viewing with lots of unnecessary tears. And it seems never to end.
While most morning makeovers (I particularly like the “right jeans for your butt” segments on “The Early Show”) take about three-and-a-half minutes, each of Gunn’s shows take a whole hour. With one woman in each segment.
Man! Is that a Gunn in your pocket, or do you just hate me?
Riding shot-Gunn is the adorable Veronica Webb, former supermodel, whose mere presence and easy way with people takes the edge off Gunn, who must have been told to be even more of a stiff than he is on the much, much better “Project Runway.”
I mean, come on now, who in real life says things like, “I’m feeling woeful.” What is he – the reincarnation of Thoreau?
Or, without the slightest bit of irony, “It’s so egregiously bad!” He’s talking about a woman’s OK sundress – not hair sprouting from a giant wart, for God’s sake.
First up is a lovely woman named Rebecca from New Jersey. She likes wearing jeans and T-shirts and doesn’t feel comfortable in dresses. Gunn and Webb show up at her house, which she learns from a cell phone call.
Hello? There’s an entire film crew following her around.
Gunn and Webb go into her closet and make four piles – which they do each week with each makeover. There’s the keepers, the menders, the throwaways and the giveaways.
Webb then goes through Rebecca’s underwear drawer to find out whether her drawers look better in the drawer or on her butt. Bras are a whole other deal. Then they go shopping, to the stylists and well, you get it.
Then the makeover lady has a fashion show in front of her family and friends, and everyone cries.
No “Project Runway” – Gunn is fine in limited doses. I like him better as a design guru than the closet king.
“Tim Gunn’s Guide To Style”
Tonight at 10 on Bravo