Beauty spot: how do you make a TV show about looks without being shallow?
As Queer Eye reaches its sixth season, its well received mission to put the self love in selfie has led to a resurgence in makeover shows, with a much-needed twist. Queer Eye is an empathetic tearjerker with its kinder approach to the genre, but the makeover shows that dominated the noughties were better known for their caustic putdowns.
They were desperately cruel: the central premise of Snog, Marry, Avoid? was slut shaming, as well as essentially telling members of subcultures that they needed to be “normal” to gain acceptance. What Not To Wear saw Trinny and Susannah take scissors to the less-than-chic wardrobes of the public. Last year The Surjury offered a throwback to this period: a Channel 4 show that would have seen contestants attempt to convince a jury of 12 panellists that they were in need of plastic surgery. The backlash was huge, although it was ultimately pulled because of the sad death of its intended host, Caroline Flack.
So what should a makeover show look like today? The rise of body positivity, female empowerment and self care means that jibes about double chins and crow’s feet don’t go down as well as they once did. And a greater push toward diversity means hosts and experts come in all shapes and sizes, and from all walks of life. But at times it simply feels like a syrupy veneer applied to what is largely the same product.
The biggest change is not necessarily the ethos, but the tone. Hosts as harsh as Nicky Hambleton-Jones or Gillian McKeith have been replaced by those able to deliver similar messages, more delicately. BBC’s You Are What You Wear, which starts today, is fronted by the affable Rylan Clark-Neal, alongside a cohort of five diverse stylists armed with compliments. Criticism is only ever light as the contestants wardrobes are reinvented.
Embracing body positivity, one of the stylists specialises in dressing fuller figures. But much like modern “brand” feminism, there is an inherent cognitive dissonance in a show fixated on appearance while simultaneously trying to rubbish the idea that appearance matters at all. In the first episode we meet a PE teacher who lives in trackies and trainers because she finds them more comfortable. It’s hard to see why she needs a makeover at all.
How To Look Good Naked, from 2006, returned to screens this year. Gok Wan’s Channel 4 show was always well ahead of its time, so hasn’t had to update much to work for a new generation of viewers. Its central message has always been normalising the female form, celebrating stretch marks and mum tums. But even Gok fell into the trap of suggesting shapewear to cover up bad bits that viewers had just been taught to flaunt.
In today’s iteration we still see women’s bodies being paraded to the public in stunts. The opinion of strangers is still considered the barometer of worthiness. Though the comments are comparatively kind, we never quite shake the message that, bad or good, it’s what other people think about our appearance that matters most.
Another rebooted franchise is 10 Years Younger, with a new home at Channel 5. It is hosted by the amiable Cherry Healey, but that isn’t enough to smooth its sharp edges. It’s hard not to wince when the British public bluntly weigh in on how old they think the women are and then watch them being delivered the news that they look a few years older as if they had a terminal illness. Even with likable, kindly hosts, these shows cannot help but veer into “hot or not” territory. Therein lies one of the biggest issues – how does one make a show entirely about looks, without being shallow?
Queer Eye, with the gang’s multipronged, in-depth approach to all areas of their participants’ lives, seems to be one of the few programmes that has managed to truly make over the makeover genre. Another, which began last year, is Drag SOS, which saw the drag queen collective The Family Gorgeous give men and women drag makeovers that boosted their confidence. Participants developed a drag persona and learned choreographed dance routines – along with bucketloads about themselves in the process – all leading up to a one-off performance.
What’s clear is that it is not impossible to create makeover shows with heart, but many are still only willing to go skin deep.