Fashion Makeovers

I went to secondary school with a homely girl – let’s call her "Anne" – who dressed like an extra on Macleod's Daughters. The check shirts, the tapered jeans, the sensible pony-tail – she was the epitome of farm fashion chic. A few years later I spotted a girl I vaguely recognised in a university lecture; although this was quite a different Anne then the wrangler-jean loving girl of old. Black hair, an enormous nose-piercing, a voluminous purple crushed velvet dress – Farmer Anne had been replaced by scary angry Goth Anne.

This kind of image makeover is pretty common in the adolescent years, when rebellious teens break away from Pumpkin-patch cute to angry Emos with tartan skirts and badly-applied eye-liner. But when it happens a little later in life, if it happens all the time or when it is such an extreme change, it kind of gets you wondering. Are these people Fashion Chameleons or do they really have no idea about what to make of their own image/identity?

If you were to describe your own 'style,' would you say something like "ever-changing" or "a mad fusion of tastes"? Are you always saying things like "That was sooooo last year" or "I can’t wear that anymore, it doesn't go with my look." When does a 'make-over' turn into an identity crisis?

There are many different reasons for wanting to reinvent your personal style. A painful break-up can provoke a fashion shake-up [a la Reese Witherspoon], as well as personal changes like weight gain or loss and lifestyle shifts – from student to professional, or real-estate agent to rock star.  Motherhood and the flaunting of post-baby bodies are also pretty popular make-over movements amongst celebrities at the moment. Age milestones can also lead to a fashion rethink as you pass the milestones of 16, 18, 30, 40 and 50.
 
A complete style overhaul often happens with young girls - and even some of the lads – working in the entertainment industry. A new album or movie release signals the need for a new look, the 'rebranding' of an artist - often at the risk of challenging or contradicting the values or genre of their original image. We saw it to an extent with coming-of-age albums by the likes of Britney, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore and Delta Goodrem; all young girls who now wanted to be perceived as grown women [sometimes to unsavoury effect].

Former child stars are usually the most outspoken about being seen as 'serious' actors when they become adults and so try to create an image as far removed from their cutesy gush-inducing days as possible. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are perfect examples of this phenomenon, with the Bratz doll look-a-likes preferring now to dress as a homeless Boho and forty-year-old trailer-park crack whore respectively.

So it is only natural that in real life, with all of the wonderful and terrible role-models out there for young girls, that they will take serious steps to make-over their image to take part in an adult world. Cringing over the many fashion faux-pas that took me on the journey from girl to woman, I wish now that I had had a Queer Eye for the Teenage Fashion Disaster instead of having to burn the photographic evidence in later years… I went through a serious vintage phase that involved wearing brown old-man pants and cardigans. Then I went through a pseudo punk phase, where I wore petticoats over my jeans and tie-dyed dresses with strategic holes. Then there was the Kurt Cobain homage to Grunge – complete with home-made arm warmers. I had six months where I thought I was Ginger Spice, and another eighteen months with bleached Baywatch hair.  How I evolved to writing fashion articles I will never know! 

Like the extreme actions of the male mid-life crisis, many women decide to overcome the milestone of middle age with a serious fashion rethink. From the trendy short hair-do, a splash of tastefully cut and colourful outfits, to matching statement accessories – many a Mum of my friends has revelled in a 40+ image overhaul. There are also those ladies – much like the sad Dads who buy gaudy sports cars and toupees – who start dressing as if they are aging backwards. Standing in a baby-doll dress with the other soccer mums is only something that Posh Spice could pull off – and even she has more sense then that.

One of the worst possible perpetrators of a never-ending cycle of makeovers is Madge Ritchie – otherwise known as Madonna. Yet, instead of 'image crisis', Madonna is rewarded with the moniker of "queen of reinvention." From lace gloves and eighties perm to Blonde Ambition, Eva Peron, Japanese Goth, Cowgirl, Disco Queen, Housewife and International adopter, Madonna can’t even hold down the same accent, let alone a singular style. At least with celebs like Gwen Stefani and even Kylie, you can say there is a certain consistency of image. But then I guess Madonna did not go as extreme with her 'makeovers' as Michael Jackson…

When a makeover turns to complete bodily reconstruction, then you know there has to be a serious crisis of image. The continuous addition to a tattoo collection by the likes of David Beckham, Tommy Lee and Robbie Williams point to issues ranging from simple rebellion against a former image, [i.e. Boy band to bad boy] to a desire to prove their masculinity, or reinforce their virility. Plastic surgery and treatments such as botox have given older actresses an extension on their viable acting years, or given other Celebs a certain type of 'identity' where they become renowned for certain physical assets – such as those displayed by Pamela Anderson and Jordan.

One celeb who has certainly regretted her surgical makeover is Jennifer "Nobody puts Baby in the Corner" Grey. At the age of 20, Jennifer earned the envy of women worldwide playing Patrick Swaze's love interest in the cult film Dirty Dancing. After a ho-hum career aftermath, Grey thought a rhinoplasty would aid her chances in winning roles. A disastrous first operation was followed by a second reconstruction which saw Jennifer emerge as completely unrecognisable even to her own family. Her struggles to contend with her entirely new image was even made into a sitcom It’s like, you know, which unfortunately lasted a lot less longer then her new nose.

A few years ago, make-over Shows were the Kingpins in the reality television phenomenon. From the ground-breaking Queer-Eye, to hoity-toity Trinny and Susannah's What Not to Wear, these shows made ordinary people with "no taste" into style gurus, after a humiliating dissection of wardrobe and character. I remember watching one show where they got some poor hillbilly sap to stand in the middle of a shopping mall and let random people guess how old they were, most assuming at least ten years on the actual age. 

Of course nothing was more 'extreme' then Extreme Makeover. From an unfortunate cowboy who had smashed his face falling from a bucking bronco, to a middle-aged woman who has never had a boyfriend and was scared of leaving her house, even a heavily-pierced Goth girl who wanted to become a true conservative housewife. Those bronzed surgeons with scary white window-sized teeth would then magically transform them into the hideous Ken and Barbie dolls they always dreamed of being. Was it just me, or did the 'victims' on these shows always look more scary after their extreme make-overs? The most common statement they all seemed to say in the follow-up interview was “Nobody even recognises me!” How can this be a good thing?    

Okay, so a makeover is not always the best fashion choice. On a simple level, changing your style can be expensive – the more extreme, the more of your everyday clothes will have to be sacrificed. It might also be high maintenance, particularly with the unfamiliarity of an elaborate hair-cut or move to a more contoured couture look. You have to think about what kind of style you would be comfortable with, day in and out. Most of us don’t have the help of a wonderful stylist to have a seamlessly successful makeover like Nicole Ritchie. But, don’t despair, you can always Ask Bronny!