Comments on: Stylista & Lipstick Jungle

By: littlem

littlem — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:56:09 +0000

“Show us doing things other than trying to feed our faces.”

Bree, you’re assuming television writers have things like vision, or imagination.
Come back to sad reality with the rest of us, now…

After all, this is the industry that gave us Kevin James and Leah Remini, and Jim Belushi and Courtney Thorne-Smith.

(I happen to think those two boys are cute, but I hate their characters, and I hate the setup. And I don’t think I’m the only one.)

By: jella

jella — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:18:25 +0000

If Lipstick Jungle had portrayed a successfull, happily in love, dancer woman, who happened to be fat too, I could gladly accept this Victoria person putting her foot in her mouth, because, guess what, this happens in reality. So to have a bunch o size 2 girls be hyper-supportive and 100% pc would not only be no tv story, it would also be unlikely.

However they apparently went the severe body image issues and in need of a generic Brooke Shields pep talk route. BLECH!

By: kelly

kelly — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:17:31 +0000

i think the lipstick jungle bit is CRAP. I mean what are they trying to say that women who don’t wear a size 2 are bound to be unhappy?!
full figured women look amazing in clothing that works with their proportions just like everybody else! you just have to know how to dress your proportions whether you are skinny, athletic, fuller, etc.
tv needs a makeover!

http://bsidegirl.blogspot.com/

By: elife

elife — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:14:34 +0000

I saw the Lipstick Jungle episode and was not impressed. First, the woman was not a dancer currently, she was one years ago (the implication being she was thin). Second, as some have mentioned, the dress Victory made her was horrific. When the woman came in, she looked like an attractive woman. Once Victory put her in her creation…I was so distracted by the shiny 101 Fat Girl Dress, Lane Bryant circa whenever they first opened.

By: Nels

Nels — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:58:54 +0000

There might have been other reasons why Danielle was cut in this episode, including the fact that the tried to throw Johanna under the bus when it was shown that they misidentified that one person on their page. Danielle’s defense/ “I typed what I was told.” Well, Danielle, you were supposed to memorize the same faces and names as everyone else, so if you admit that you didn’t do that and try to blame others when mistakes were made is slimy. It was your job to get it right, too.

I wonder if this emphasis on her weight is done to distract from her other screw ups. She was really strong at the beginning, but her later editorial decisions seemed weaker and weaker. Perhaps that’s why she was cut? It’s why I think she was cut.

By: Alice

Alice — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:25:10 +0000

“Should the fat girl trying to make it in fashion take it as a given that the odds are against her?”

Yes. She doesn’t need to accept that that’s the way that it should be, and and doesn’t need to accept that that’s the way it will be, but she MUST understand reality, and that reality is that fashion is all about crazy skinny folks.

I think that she was probably flustered because of all of the crazy reality-show-ness of it all, but I think that a challenge where her weight put her at a disadvantage in a concrete way wasn’t unexpected.

By: Bree

Bree — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:17:08 +0000

I don’t know why I’m commenting, because a: I have never heard of Stylista and don’t watch fashion reality shows, and b: Lipstick Jungle has since been canceled by NBC.

Wait, I do know why I’m commenting. I want to make a point about TV being so reluctant to show big women being confident about their size. Unless Mo’Nique produces the show, we’ll hardly ever see fat chicks being seen as happy and carefree. Instead, we have to be doing drastic diets for the world to see, or completely batshit insane (“The God Warrior”) on Wife Swap.

Come on Hollywood, give us some credit. Just because 99% of you out there is starving and food-obsessed, doesn’t mean us fatties are. Show us doing things other than trying to feed our faces.

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:52:07 +0000

I watch Lipstick Jungle regularly and this is the first time they’ve dealt with anyone larger than a size 2. I have to say that I was disappointed not so much because of the superficial way they “addressed” the issue but because the gown Victory created for her in the end made her look like a parade float. Hello? Bring in a plus size fashion designer to put together something amazing and perhaps the character wouldn’t have needed the extra pep talk from Vic and Dahlia. (Sorry, ugly plus sized stuff makes me crazy because it does NOT have to be that way!!!)

By: bethany

bethany — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:07:05 +0000

Danielle had been relatively strong in her self-image until that point; but I think most of us fat women realize that it can get really tiring to keep combatting lies and stereotypes and thin-centric images of beauty day in and day out. And, being in the fasion industry, that’s what Danielle had to do in a big way. I didn’t see it so much as if this one specific challenge set her off — so much as it was just a reaction of someone who has had to fight against the grain every moment for years, and is just tired. Yes, she chose the industry, but she’s a human, and everyone gets fed up sometimes. As a fat woman who tries not to let the negative messages of culture bring me down, I know what that tiredness is like; and it was kind of cool to have someone to relate to on TV.

All that being said, in a way I’m glad Danielle was voted off, because she was the only reason I was watching that otherwise bland, ridiculous show. Buh-bye Stylista!

By: ChloeMireille

ChloeMireille — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:47:46 +0000

Uh…being the big girl on a fashion-oriented show?

At least she wasn’t getting stabbed in the ass with straight-pins like Toccara was on Top Model.