Left to proper: Flea Market Flip (Screenshot); Worn Stories (Photo: Netflix); Stylish With Jenna Lyons (Photo: HBO Max)
Shopping was one of many few actions that was by no means totally suspended throughout the pandemic. But the times of perusing the wares of companies and distributors on some metropolis block or industrial hall have been placed on maintain. (At least, they need to be on maintain, if we need to keep away from one other spike.) Sure, you possibly can scroll by way of on-line retailers, however there are some parts of in-person looking and shopping for that simply can’t be recreated: the fun of an important discover, getting a buddy’s opinion on the spot.
But, as has typically been the case during the last yr, TV has supplied an alternate. Let’s face it, fashion competitors sequence—be it Project Runway, American’s Next Top Model, or Making The Cut—replete as they’re with extravagant, out-of-attain-for-most-of-us appears to be like, are tantamount to window purchasing. There are different promising newcomers, although, in addition to some hidden gems. The A.V. Club has put collectively a profitable ensemble of fashion docuseries and actuality TV shows that may let you safely indulge.
Worn Stories (Netflix), season one
This enchanting docuseries from bestselling writer Emily Spivack and Orange Is The New Black creator (and writer in her personal proper) Jenji Kohan recreates the intimate vibe of a clothes swap, one of many many staples of our social lives which have been shelved during the last yr. At clothes swaps, you normally get the historical past of a brand new-to-you cardigan or pair of cords, or share the anecdote behind the pair of heels you’re parting with. Worn Stories reinforces that human connection all through its eight chapters, as interview topics reveal the bond established by a late-night time seek for a beloved coat, or the stitching prowess that enabled a matriarch to take care of generations of her household. There’s additionally a spread of pleasure in a non-binary teen’s giddy preparations for his or her b’nai mitzvah and one other teen’s donning of her beloved grandmother’s chambray pants. And, as a result of there’s all the time somebody at a swap who’s simply seeking to unload gadgets they’d fairly not reside with anymore, Worn Stories kicks off with just a few segments with nudists from a Florida neighborhood. There are additionally various tearjerking moments, as we see how garments supply one man a strategy to begin over after spending most of his life in jail, whereas a quilt reunites a household separated by the legal justice system. That’s a bit past the scope of the typical garments swap, however who is aware of what we’ll be keen to share as soon as we may be round one another once more?
Flea Market Flip (Discovery+), 13 seasons
This HGTV stalwart stays on hiatus as a result of pandemic, host Lara Spencer just lately revealed. But there are 13 seasons of Flea Market Flip out there to anybody seeking to scratch an itch for antiquing or a brand new DIY venture. The present’s premise is easy, however a basic. Two pairs of flippers—some are seasoned professionals, whereas others battle to tell apart between mid-century trendy and Mission—store for gadgets that may be upgraded for a 3-venture design competitors. Ideas abound, as these flippers group up with grasp craftspeople to reimagine and refinish their finds. The present has seen the whole lot from previous dressers to ladders and rusty oil barrels upcycled into sensible and generally downright attractive furnishings. And whereas the reveal of the top product is normally thrilling (although often flummoxing), the true draw of the present is the transformation course of. The contestants apply each creativity and elbow grease to the problem, generally studying to sand or reduce glass for the primary time. Satisfaction comes as a lot from seeing their imaginative and prescient come to fruition as promoting it to some LIC Flea & Food shopper.
G/O Media might get a fee
Stylish With Jenna Lyons (HBO Max), season one
Season one in every of Stylish With Jenna Lyons sees Lyons, the previous inventive director and president of J. Crew, attempt just a few new roles on for measurement as she prepares to launch a way of life model. There’s a little bit of the whole lot: sensible, prepared-to-put on appears to be like are showcased together with upcycled furnishings and residence items (and an entire lot of succulents), as Lyons branches out past private styling and fashion into her position as a budding life-style guru. Stylish pairs Lyons’ foray into impresario-dom with some good previous-normal competitors: an formidable group of designers, artists, and stylists all vie to hitch the nonetheless-forming firm. At occasions, this mixture remembers season two of America’s Next Top Model, when Tyra Banks sought to kickstart a music profession whereas additionally judging up-and-coming fashions. (Sadly, there’s no Lyons counterpart to “Shake Ya Body.”) But largely, Stylish With Jenna Lyons is the equal of window purchasing: taking in a little bit of the whole lot whereas shopping for little (if any) of it.
A Stitch In Time (Acorn TV), season one
If, as Louis XIV stated, “fashion is the mirror of history,” then this pleasant BBC Four sequence is intent on capturing the methods fashion displays altering social mores and even political rule. Hosted by fashion historian Amber Butchart, A Stitch In Time explores the methods fashion has formed historical past and the methods it’s been formed by historical past. Despite its half-hour runtime, every episode is kind of an enterprise in re-creations. The inspiration for a venture comes from a well-known portray, like Jan van Eyck’s “The Arnolfini Portrait” or the scandalous “Marie Antoinette In A Chemise Dress” by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. As historic costumier Ninya Mikhaila and her gifted group of tailors work to recreate the memorable or provocative look, Butchart tries to uncover what the clothes should say about their respective time intervals. The pooling skirt and verdant inexperienced of the “Arnolfini Portrait” converse to the wealth of the rising service provider class, which unsettled the the Aristocracy. A visit to a textile firm in search of the wool for the gown reminds us that fashion has all the time been large enterprise; that theme carries by way of to the story of Marie Antoinette, who dabbled with a “pastoral shepherdess” look late in her in the end temporary life. The French queen’s affect was so huge that her desire for muslins over silks threatened to undermine the nation’s textile manufacturing as an entire. A Stitch In Time provides a shifting take a look at a side of tradition that’s all too often dismissed as ephemeral or capricious.
This two-half restricted sequence from 2017 combines two of our favourite actions: drooling over high fashion and listening to Olivia Colman. For six months, director Michael Waldman (Stephen Fry In America, Inside The Foreign Office) was given unique entry to the maison de la couture based by Christian Dior. The filmmaker and his group journeyed to the French designer’s beautiful residence, Château de La Colle Noire, which now serves as extra of a museum. They visited with everybody from the “small hands,” or tailors in the prepared-to-put on division, to Maria Grazia Chiuri, the primary lady to function inventive director for Dior. The decadence that Dior promoted along with his early collections ran counter to the beliefs of many in a put up-WWII world—the docuseries even notes that a mannequin dressed in one in every of his designs was besieged on the road by ladies who took offense on the extravagance. But Dior believed everybody ought to share in that luxurious, which is why he wished to promote the whole lot from night robes to perfumes (which make up an enormous chunk of the model’s multi-billion-greenback gross sales). And the resilience underpinning the historical past of Dior, one of the crucial storied designers, may be seen in the artisans and designers conserving excessive fashion going sturdy in 2021, after we’re nonetheless mid-pandemic. (Plus, the footage of Princess Margaret having fun with a private Dior present at Blenheim Palace is only a good complement to Colman’s narration.)
