How To Look Good Naked

January 14, 2008 /

I caught an episode of Lifetime’s new makeover show, How To Look Good Naked, last week. The premise is that style guru Carson Kressley (of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame) takes a woman who is unhappy with her body, and helps her to come to terms with it…nay, to LOVE it, to flaunt it, to feel sexy in it. You can see an entire episode, if you wish, here.

The episode started with the body-hating woman having a picture of her body, sans head, clothes only in her underwear, shown on the side of a building in Los Angeles, where Carson asked passers by what they thought of the person’s body. That all of the comments were positive, especially in Los Angeles, seemed contrived to me, but all the same, I didn’t want to hear negative comments anyway. The comments ranged from what a great ‘rack’ she had, to ‘that’s what real women look like’ (I hate that comment…as though skinny women aren’t just as real.), and all thought she looked fine. Then Carson had her stand in front of a mirror in her underwear, and really LOOK at her body, and talk about what she didn’t like about it. Then he told her, no, I don’t see these same things you are seeing, let me tell you what I see. And he worked with her on seeing that her body wasn’t at all horrid or bad or somehow indicative of evil or sloth.

He talked to the woman about diets. She said she had been on diets for about 20 years, since she was 12 years old, and had spent thousands of dollars and way too much energy on trying to lose weight.

There was some time spent in showing her how the right clothes can project a confident image, and he worked toward trying to convince her that confidence is what is sexy, that valuing yourself as you are is more important than your dress size or what the numbers on your scale say. Then they went for the fun makeover, hair, facial, nails, etc. Carson is so screamingly gay it’s a caricature, and it made me wonder how many women would just love to hang out with him for the day, listening to him be supportive. And how many would find it exhausting (like me).  At the end, they took a photo shoot of her in the nude (without really showing anything), and projected the picture on that same building in L.A., and she asked people on the street if they thought she looked good naked.

And you know what? She did. She looked hot, and while some of the hotness may have been her pose, lighting, makeup, hair, etc., most of it was that she looked like she was having FUN, and like she was confident that she was a beautiful woman. She looked comfortable in her own skin, perhaps for the first time since she started a diet, back when she was 12 years old.

I liked that he didn’t try to make her look thinner, just tried to show her how to dress so that she would look confident. I liked that he told her that everyone should figure out what styles of clothes are flattering on them, and ignore unflattering trends. I liked that he told her ‘no more diets’, because clearly, they don’t work, and why the hell should she be tortured anymore? I liked a lot about the show.

I don’t think, though, that I need to see another episode. Seems like they’ll all end up pretty much the same way, going through the same steps along the way. But it may be a hit for at least awhile.

My favorite moment may have been when one of the (female) commenters on the street told her that she looked like “A hot piece of ass”.  While that surely is about as objectifying as you can get, as is putting your naked picture on the side of a building and asking people what they think, this was clearly the first time the woman had ever thought of herself that way, or thought that someone else might think of her that way, and the hug she gave the commenter was honest and heart felt.

(There are versions of this show in several countries, I believe, and probably the first one started in England.  FYI.)

12 Comments

  • Jimmy

    January 14, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    Well,that certainly caught me off guard? I didn’t expect to come here and find you talkin’ bout nekid chics!!LOL
    Next thing you know…….you’ll be doing a bookumentary on Playgirl magizine!!!!LOL

  • Kvetch

    January 15, 2008 at 4:56 am

    I watched one episode of this, then watched another one with my daughter who’s 12. Some of it is a bit risque, but I thought the message would do more good than harm. And I was right. The best part is how the “participant” lines herself up in a row of women, putting herself in size order. In both episodes the women had perceptions of themselves that made them much bigger than they were. And the part where men and women comment on the body on the building — where in both episodes these women were referred to as hot, normal, sexy, curvaceous and even when someone said she had a “nice rack” — I thought it was fabulous, showing that everyone has good points and different people see different things but what we see in ourselves is most important.

    You’re right, both episodes were almost the same, but to drive the point home (and laugh too, as that Carson is funny) I think I’ll watch again — with my daughter.

    🙂

  • LauraH

    January 15, 2008 at 4:58 am

    I don’t think I could handle a day with Carson, discussing my body either. Your entry made me think of a Tyra Banks show I had watched. I like that she has a lot of shows about self image and confidence and this one had women dress in skin colored leotards for pictures. The pictures were then showed to a group of women and a group of men. The women were horrifyingly mean about the pictures as in,”Put down the fork honey” to a woman who couldn’t have been more than a size 10. I was almost afraid of what the men would say. But they were wonderful in their comments. I think women, a lot of the time, tend to be more critical of themselves and of others.

  • CuriosityKiller

    January 15, 2008 at 11:08 am

    I believe it was Sophie Lauren who said, “Sex appeal is half what-you-got, and half confidence.” Ever since I heard that (read it in ‘Seventeen’), she became my heroine. I so believe that – it’s a lot to do with the smile, the sparkle in your eye, and the way you can hold your head up high. Isn’t it amazing? Something that seems so subtle makes such a huge difference in the way a person is viewed.

  • Jenny

    January 15, 2008 at 11:14 am

    I am so glad no one said you look like you need to lose weight. That would of been really heart breaking for her.

  • Nance

    January 15, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Jules, thanks for mentioning the other side of the issue in your comment when you said that some people imply that “skinny women aren’t as real” when people say that more curvy women are what real women look like.

    I’ve been every size from 0 to 18–currently a 2, which is now my metabolic setpoint–and trust me, though many people term me anything from “anorexic” (which I’m not) to slender (which is less offensive), I’m plenty real.

    Obviously, more is said and written about the hurtful comments made to women who are not the “Hollywood Ideal” of thin, but for those of us who are slender, the backlash is definitely there.

  • dew

    January 16, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    I didn’t see this, but I LOVE that he says to choose clothes that flatter you and ignore unflattering trends. In my job, I see so many young women wearing those horrific shirts that show the stomach, along with those really low-riding jeans, and it’s unflattering on nearly everyone.

    I don’t like, though, when women are told it’s confidence that’s sexy, because most women know they’re not confident, and that makes them feel like they’re walking around hunched over and ashamed looking or something. I would rather be told that being comfortable with ourselves is sexy, because it’s easier to try to be comfortable with yourself than confident, though really they’re about the same thing, just different degrees.

    I think the real comment is being taken wrong. I think when people say that, they don’t mean the person isn’t skinny. They mean the person isn’t airbrushed into looking like plastic. Skinny women get airbrushed, too.