The bra thing just seems to be a huge, huge problem. I remember an Oprah episode from a couple of seasons ago, when she had everyone in the audience fitted for new bras -- women talked about it like it had changed their lives.
It does. You can't fix what's on top unless the foundation is correct. It's like building a building. If the foundation isn't right, whatever goes on top of it doesn't really matter. All these women, even in the stodgy, old everyday clothes that they greeted us in, with the right bra, they all looked better. And what was most important was that they felt so much better. They had an undergarment epiphany.
But the other common denominator was that in the beginning, not one of the women was able to look in the mirror and really see the same person I saw. They saw someone else. Of course, I have to say, the same thing happens to me. Our brain is filled with what we think we look like, and we project that into that image in the mirror.
Does watching yourself on TV make you critical of your own style?
If I don't do it, my mother does it. She'll call me and she'll say, "Why didn't anyone tell you your collar was askew? Why did you wear that suit with that shirt?" Oh, Mother, please! I haven't seen the rough cuts from the new show -- I'll wait for the show to air. But Veronica [Webb], my co-host, looked at them and she said, "You should see how I look in this scene! You should see my hair!" I have to say, but Veronica, how was the show? [Laughs]. But I know what she means.
When I look in a mirror, I'll think -- even though he's dead -- "What's my father doing here?" Then I realize, oh my God, it's me. And I think, oh boy, I'm a much older man than I thought.
Do you find that your background as a professor -- and specifically your professor persona -- helps you do this kind of work now? Do you go to each taping thinking of yourself as Henry Higgins?
In a manner of speaking. I certainly never want to lose my voice as an educator. At the same time, I don't want to change these women; I just want to make them better. When we have the reveal at the end, and the family and friends are there, they always express to me huge relief that they recognize the person Veronica and I have been working with. Because they come with an expectation, an awful anticipation, that they're not going to know who she is. But why would we do that? Furthermore, whatever change happens, happens from within the person. Whoever you're looking at in the end, that person was always in there. We just help that individual come out. It's been incredibly rewarding to help these women, and I hope that our viewers take lessons to heart and can do some of this work themselves. If nothing else, clean out your closet!
You and Veronica talk a lot about women falling into fashion "ruts." What are the telltale signs?
The most indisputable sign is simply wearing the same items of apparel over and over and over again. And having them not show you off at your best. There are lots of people who have uniforms. I in my own way do -- I'm comfortable with the shapes and silhouettes and proportions that I wear, and my wardrobe's all black and grey and that's just the way it is for me. God knows Michael Kors has a uniform -- we see it on "Project Runway" every week. But, again, it works for him.
But when it's a pair of jeans and a T-shirt? And you're a professional woman or man, and you're not in an IT position, or dog training? One of the subjects in our first season is a teacher, and I said to her, "You're a role model for your students! Do you not consider what you're wearing to be part of that message?"
The same thing happened when I was on Capitol Hill a number of months ago, advocating for the Design Piracy Prohibition Act. I can't tell you how many women on the Hill saw me coming down the hallway and lunged, shrieking, "No! I'm not a fashion person, don't look at me!" Some of these were elected women, congresswomen and senators, and I finally said to one of them, "You know, you're an elected official, the clothes you wear send a message about how you want to be perceived -- and you have constituents who are clearly sitting in judgment of you. Don't you think that what you wear is important?" One of the messages of my book and certainly of the show is that we need to take responsibility for our dressing. We at least need to be cognizant of it. That's all that I ask: that people accept responsibility for how they're presenting themselves.
For more Salon TV Week coverage, click here.
About the writer
Sarah Karnasiewicz is a former Salon editor.
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