Trinny and Susannah no more

May 11, 2006 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

Lesson: few presenters have an innate ability to make a deep,
trusting and authentic connection with their audience. If you find it
in your employees, your partners, your friends etc…for God’s sake
appreciate it and don’t try to change it!

I adored the BBC What Not to Wear
show. The ‘original’ presenters, Trinny and Susannah, are beautiful, in
their 40’s, understated, with just the right touch of severity in how
they dealt with their fashion victims.

But, unlike their U.S. counterparts
who have an often annoying, whiney and loud! approach, they never
crossed the line into rudeness or vulgarity. They combined impeccable
taste with quiet and intelligent determination, sex appeal, and a
compassionate touch of class. I never missed a show and learned 90% of
how to dress from watching it. I also learned about how to work with
resistant clients. I loved them and emulated them when working with my
lifestyle clients as well as with my business clients. I even
appropriated a variation of their original slogan on one of my site pages.

Business owners and managers can get stuck in a rut and
live in denial. Often, their partners, employees and even their best
friends will not tell them the hard truths. But we are not your best
friends…and we will!

- Mary and Melissa – (with credit for our slogan to BBC ‘What Not To Wear’)

Alas, like other favorites, the show completely changed format..probably to appeal to a wider (translate: younger!) audience. 

In contrast to previous seasons, the girls no longer
pounce on unsuspecting victims. Instead, crowds of female volunteers
who are desperate for some style compete for the duo’s brutally honest
wardrobe dissection.

From hundreds of applicants eager for the girls’ cruel-to-be-kind
treatment, Trinny and Susannah meet with a select few to learn more
about their daily challenges.

Then they choose two of the most desperate cases for the complete
What Not To Wear transformation. With full access to the women’s lives
for a day, Trinny and Susannah visit their workplaces and homes and
talk to their friends and family.

I hate it now. There are elements of America’s top model and its so
sad to see my heroines putting on the Tyra Banks superior bitch
manipulation routine. And what is with the Trading Places reality show
wannabee bits where Trinny and Susannah switch places for a day with
their chosen victims? What does it have to do with style and fashion?
Why did they kill such a terrific show? Don’t they know that we look to
the BBC for something different?

I see on the web site that my heroines are soon to be replaced:

Supermodel Lisa Butcher and soul singer Mica Paris are
lined up to present the next series of BBC ONE’s What Not To Wear, due
to air later this year.

The new duo promises to bring a fresh and vibrant feel to the
series. They have a huge amount of experience working on their own
styles and know how important image is in people’s everyday lives. They
have also been best friends for many years.

Fresh and vibrant..we know what that means – loud, obnoxious, phony
and likely appealing to lowest common denominator of viewer. Yes, I
know I’m being harsh but I’m upset and I take my style stuff very
seriously. Sadly, the show comes off my favorites list but hopefully I
can find the original show downloads on the BBC. An interview on Trinny
and Susannah’s page (I’m surprised its still there) exemplifies their originality and coolness:

Who’s your biggest style icon?
Trinny: I take different things from different people. As a woman in
her 40s, I know what suits my body but I still long to be Sienna
Miller, Kate Moss or Sarah Jessica Parker. The big mistake when you
hanker after someone is you forget your own body shape. Kate Moss looks
great but she has no tits and bandy legs, and that Bohemian chic just
isn’t me!

Susannah: you’ve got to find someone who’s a similar body shape to
you and whose dress sense you admire, and let them be your icon.

Has having children affected the way you dress?

Susannah: I think it gives you more confidence in a funny way. Being
pregnant teaches you to experiment. You have to if you want to look
good. And once you’ve lain on a bed with your legs spread, with who
knows how many people looking at your nether regions, you lose any
sense of embarrassment!

What were you wearing when you met your husbands?

Trinny: my hair was long, I was wearing jeans and I still had spots. That’s all I can remember.

Susannah: I know exactly what I was wearing – crushed velvet
leggings, really tight (Trinny mouths: "Oh my God!") and zip-up boots,
an unfitted black jacket with a round neck and a sequin body
underneath. I had very, very long hair. God knows where that look came
from!

Trinny: it was an early 1990s moment!

Which three items could you not live without?

Trinny: it would have to be very wide-leg trousers, a pair of
extremely high platforms to make my legs look longer and a
single-breasted, one-button, knee-length coat.

Susannah: a pair of full-on dangly earrings that can be worn in the
daytime as well as the evening, a really great bra (Susannah shows us
hers). If you’ve got tits, Elle MacPherson’s is the best bra. I can’t
live without a good bra and a pair of really well-fitting jeans such as
Gap Long and Lean or Seven.

Filed under: Consciousness, career, going solo
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