Stylista: Rewind
This week’s episode of Stylista gave us a recap of the season thus far with the promise of salacious never-before-seen footage. Sadly, the new scenes were few and far between and not nearly scandalous enough. We have to admit that Arnaldo reciting his poetry to the house and a three-page goodbye letter from Jason rate low on the excitement meter.
But leave it to Megan and Kate to liven things up as usual. When Kate’s not throwing her weekly team under the bus or stomping around like at two-year-old when she doesn’t get her way, she’s actually quite the comedian. Her spot-on impersonations of Anne crack up the house in a brief moment of relaxation. This bonding moment doesn’t last long when Kate and Johanna exchange heated words. It’s hard to side with Johanna on this one. She is uptight and although we wish her well in this contest, she’d go further if she could just rid herself of that stick up her you-know-what.
In between reliving each and every assistant task and editorial challenge, we got to see more of Megan’s wily ways. She calls Kate delusional and sits up late at night with DyShaun to ridicule Danielle about her weight. We’re pretty sure we heard something about Danielle sitting on Megan during this repulsive pillow talk session. After last week, we thought Megan was –thankfully – above going for the jugular in relation to Danielle. If you’re going to make fun of someone, try being creative about it instead of using the obvious. It’s just a shame that Danielle had to overhear their muttering.
We can’t wait till next when we find out who leaves next. We missed the dramatic tension. What did you think? Did you glean any new insight into the personalities of our contestants from the extra footage?
November 20, 2008
Stylista: The Weight of the World
And who can blame her? She lives in a house with a bunch of size two and fours and she works in an office populated by people one bout of the flu away from their ideal weight. Even the most confident person would fall under the pressure. And for the record, crying and locking yourself in the bathroom is a sure sign of cracking up. We’re just confused as to why Danielle didn’t take full advantage of the well-stocked closet. If this journey has taught our little fashion plates anything, it’s that accessories can make or break an outfit. D -- score some righteous shoes and uncover a dazzling piece of jewelry. Nicole Kidman wore a basic black dress to last year’s Academy Awards, but that multi-layered diamond necklace taking up her entire upper torso made the ensemble red-carpet worthy.
In a scene straight outta “The Devil Wears Prada,” the contestants flank Anne at her soiree to identify all of the incoming guests. Our remaining six prepared the night before for the challenge by studying the names and faces of everyone on the guest list. Well, some studied. Johanna made flash cards and quizzed herself until the wee hours, while her teammate Kate decided to stuff her face with popcorn and snuggle up in bed. When the moment of truth came, Kate was too busy checking out her lip gloss in the ceiling mirror to notice guests even attended the function and all of Johanna’s preparation failed her, while Team Megan quickly picked up the slack. It was a depressing sight.
November 13, 2008
Stylista: Nice Guys Finish Last
The bickering continues on another episode of Stylista with no end in sight. At first, the constant tension between the contestants injected a bit of catty fun into the reality show, but who has the stamina to keep up with this level of infighting over the course of many weeks? We're starting to feel like the lone child caught up in the precursor of a nasty divorce.
Cologne's surprise ousting last week still reverberates throughout the Elle offices, especially since the stakes get raised this week and two – read it – two of our exasperating friends will be sent home packing.
Once again, Kate and Megan butt heads at the loft and at work, which is about as surprising as hunky actor Robert Pattinson reducing teenage girls to tears at every stop on his promotional "Twilight" tour. (We're hoping you can denote the sarcasm in that analogy). The big twist occurred when Kate managed to rile Danielle up into a frenzy by belittling D's retail experience as a personal shopper. (As if dropping out of law school gives Kate the prerogative to criticize). Now, we're pretty sure that when Michael physically held Danielle back from lunging at Kate (and who could blame her?), the maneuver was done in jest, but we'll never really know what would have transpired without the human blockade.
November 6, 2008
Stylista: There's no crying in fashion!
Honestly, we’re a little stunned that the California beauty exited the reality show so quickly -- and all because she tried to be the peacemaker in the midst of Kate’s habitual temper tantrums. Quick – someone get Kate a copy of “A League of Their Own.” There is no crying in baseball and we’re pretty sure hard-nosed fashionistas don’t take well to tears either. Yet, there’s Kate continuously turning on the water works at home, in the office and most horrifically, in front of Anne.
It’s easy to feel sorry for Kate, especially when her housemates describe her on camera as “tragic and not very bright” (Michael), but if she keeps throwing people under the bus we’re soon going to root for her departure. When the crew heads out to beef up their birthday party presentations for Anne’s scary niece, Kate forgets her money and Cologne lends the airhead some bills out of her own spending stipend. Kate fails to return the favor when she causes a stink during the editorial challenge about the choice of models, the layout, the use of metallics as a trend – the list goes on and on. Instead of making her voice heard, she sulks in the corner while teammates Cologne and Ashlie make all the decisions.
When the team goes before an unimpressed Anne, a tearful (big surprise!) Kate throws Cologne to the wolves. And then, Megan comes to Kate’s defense in the biggest WTF moment of the season thus far. We actually got up off the couch and looked out the window to check for flying pigs when Kate pledged to never say anything bad about Megan again. The whole affair reeked of an ulterior motive and sure enough Megan candidly admitted she took sides with Kate in an effort to oust Ashlie, her biggest competition.
Continue reading "Stylista: There's no crying in fashion!" »
November 5, 2008
Exclusive! Stylista's Anne Slowey on Her Editorial Beginnings
Stylista's Anne Slowey wasn't always an editorial diva -- she started off as a lowly assistant like everyone else! Check it out as she tells us what that first assistant job was like, and shares what it's going to take to win the competition!
October 30, 2008
Stylista: Megan on the attack
Somehow DyShaun escaped elimination even though he mismatched the names of two stores in the team’s editorial layout. In journalism school, any assignment containing the most minute spelling or factual error warrants an immediate failing grade. DyShaun’s mistake would comprise the reputation of the magazine if his sloppy editing ever made into the print edition of Elle. So we’re a little confused as to why Jason must pack up his desk instead of DyShaun.
October 24, 2008
Stylista's Big Bad Boss Anne Slowey Speaks!
We are loving the new show Stylista, but we have to admit we're maybe a little bit afraid of fire-breathing boss Anne Slowey. We're not sure we'd last the day in her office!
Fortunately, our buddy Andrew Ramos at WPIX is much braver than we are -- he not only sat down and questioned the formidable Slowey, he actually dared to ask her for a fashion assessment! See Slowey's take on the outfit, and find out what prompts her to says "Sometimes bold doesn't mean good... "
Plus, check out Slowey's appearance on the WPIX morning show, where she admits that yes, her dietary needs really are that stringent, but there's a reason for it all:
October 22, 2008
Introducing Stylista
Yes, it's a transparent attempt at re-imagining the hit movie The Devil Wears Prada into a reality competition, but Stylista actually works! Elle magazine may not match the reputation of Vogue and fashion news director Anne Slowey is no Anna Wintour, or Meryl Streep for that matter, but the show builds upon the strengths of reality programming’s success stories. It's part The Real World (posh digs with minimal privacy – check), part The Apprentice (team challenges and mock boardroom scene – check) and part America’s Next Top Model (industry experts throwing around fashion vocabulary terms unidentifiable to the average Target shopper – check).
Here's the drill: 11 contestants compete for the chance at a one-year junior editor gig at Elle, a New York apartment for the duration of the position and a one-year clothing allowance from H&M. The first task involves fetching Ms. Slowey’s breakfast, making it clear that working in the fashion industry isn’t all about sample sales, but the second assignment inches closer to actual editorial decision-making. Our young, frenzied contestants are separated into three teams and given the run of H&M to shop (hey, can we sign up for this job?) and choose three outfits to wear on display at a fashion show in front of Slowey and Elle staffers. Next, the teams must create a mock contributor page for the mag showcasing the mini-runway’s best. Sounds pretty easy, right? Remember, there’s no I in team and a few of our 11 new friends may need a refresher course in lessons first introduced in kindergarten.
June 19, 2008
New CW Shows Podcast: From 90210 to Stylista
You asked, we delivered! Sarah, Mia and I discuss The CW's fall lineup on our new shows podcast. We're skeptical about Stylista's concept, excited about 90210's stars, and waiting for more information on Surviving the Filthy Rich (pictured at right).
We go on a few tangents about CW shows that have gone before us like Hidden Palms, Summerland, and Runaway. Oh, and there's some intense discussion of Saved By The Bell, grapples, and whether or not we're sick of rich people yet (are you?). Plus, we discuss what we're hoping to see on our favorite established CW hits this fall.
Listen to our new CW shows podcast and tell us what you think!