Stacy and Clinton are back, but with less judgment, so What Not to Wear fans can finally heal | CBC News (2024)

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 28, 2024 7:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 29

WhenTaylor Swift sang "you wouldn'tlast an hour in theasylumwhere they raised me," she may have been talking about coming of age in the early 2000s.

Pop culture at the time was rife with fat-shaming, hom*ophobia, racism andsexism. Jessica Simpson was considered overweight. Ross demanded to know if hismale nanny was gay while the Friends laugh track rolled. Samantha Jonesunironicallyreferred to herself as a victim of reverse racism after dating a Black man on Sex and the City.

It wasan era when much of pop culturewas devoted to casually destroying young women with cruel misogyny and pressure to be thin, toned and stylish. And that was the environment in which many of useagerly watched the hit TLC showWhat Not ToWeargive style makeovers to unsuspecting people nominated by their family and friends.

Now, a decade later, hosts Stacy London and Clinton Kelly haveannounced that they'rereuniting for a new series calledWear Whatever The F You Want that some might interpret as ameaculpa.

"The world has changed a lot since the run ofWhat Not to Wear, and, thankfully, so have we. These days, we have zero interest in telling people what to do, based on society's norms — because there are no more norms,"Kelly and London saidin ajoint statement.

Prime Video announcedMonday that the new showwill have eight episodes and air exclusively on Prime Video. Thoughthe streamer notes thatit's still considered a "style transformation" show, instead of telling people what to wear, the hostssay they will"empower each client to live out their fashion fantasy and find their style truth."

The new show's style reflects the more contemporary, supportive values around personal identity and expression, explained Zorianna Zurba, a pop culture expert andassistant professor inthe Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

These values include"recognizing that identity includes gender expression, and, of course, financial access to clothing, beauty treatmentsand accessories," Zurba told CBC News.

Some fans say that's refreshing.

"The Gen Z kids aremoving things in a comfortable direction," one commenterwrote on London's Instagram postannouncing the show.

"There is something so healing about all of this," said anotheron Kelly's post.

WATCH | Why we're all feeling very demure, very mindful:

A product of the time

On What NotTo Wear, hosts London and Kelly ambushedpeople — mostly women nominated by friends and family —in order to methodicallypickapart their everyday outfits in front of a 360 degree mirror.

Finally, whenmost of theirwardrobes had been stuffed into acomically large trash bin, participants were given a credit card and sent to boutiques and stores to shop for new clotheswhile keeping London and Kelly's"fashion rules" in mind.

The original show attempted to offer a guideline as to how people should present themselves, and on occasion, Zurba says it did support women in a positive way, allowing them to feel their best and see themselves in a new way.

"But underlying this support was always the assumption that you were watched and silently judged for your appearance."

While the showwas beloved by many, some of its rules — like choosing slimming clothing and the importance of creating a waist— didn't age well. Personal style and preferencewas oftenquashed, and looking "flattering" (to others) was the ultimate goal.

It was sassy, sometimes heart-warming, and so popular thatit was nominated for a 2005 People's Choice Award.But it was also very much a product of the time, explainsShana MacDonald, a pop culture and digital media expert and the O'DonovanChair in Communication at the University of Waterloo.

It airedduring a time that she and other media scholars refer to aspeak post-feminism.Around the turn of the millennium, shows likeSex and the Cityembraced female empowerment, but within arelationship to capitalism and consumption.

MacDonald saysshows like this and society in general set a very specific standard of beingfashionable, thin, white, able-bodied, heterosexual and hyper-feminine."It became toxic," she told CBC News.

This is evident in some of the more problematic episodes of What Not To Wear, such as one featuring Courtney, a woman the show labelled atomboy,who repeatedly told the hosts that dressing more feminine was outside her comfort zone andcried often.

WATCH | What Not To Wear makes over Courtney:

"Courtney can't hide from Stacy and Clinton, even in her camouflage. They're determined to take this dress-hating girl from tomboy to trendsetter," notes the episode's description on YouTube.

"You can't really see if you're a boy or a girl under there," Kelly toldCourtney as she showedoff one of her favourite outfits, which wound up in the trash.

'Thank god for Gen Z'

But as some fans point out, the problem wasn't necessarily the show: it was the era.

"Every time I found myself re-watching an episode and cringing at the word 'flattering'or 'slimming'or 'camouflaging,' words that were used almost every episode, my first thought wasn't, 'Shame on Clinton and Stacy. How dare they?' " wroteOlivia Muenteron the beauty and style news websiteByrdiein 2021.

"It was, 'Wow, this is how everyone talked about bodies and clothing 10 years ago.' "

Though MacDonald says the early 2000s were a fairly problematic time, she notes that things have started to change, with audiences todaydemanding better.

"Thank God for GenZand for fourth-wave feminism, because they're pushing agendas and being dissatisfied with things we justkind of took for granted andaccepted."

But withWear Whatever The F You Want seeminglytaking into account a new perspective thatfocuseson body-positivity andhelping people embrace their own unique styles, viewers of the original show seemto be on board… mostly.

"I'm curious to see how the reboot changes makeover elements like the 360 mirror, throwing away all the old clothes, teaching style, and of course the makeover itself," Zurba said.

"I think a better title would be 'Clinton and Stacy Apologize for Things They Said on Basic Cable," one commenter wroteon Kelly's Instagram post.

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