Gok’s Fashion Fix is back for another series, creating the latest designer looks from high-street stock and transforming god-awful wardrobes into fashion-friendly rest, work and play outfits.
Now in its third series, Gok’s Fashion Fix is arguably one of Mr Wan’s best makeover/fashion shows, mainly as it’s more lighthearted fare than his previous heart-string tugging ‘fix-me’ personal overhauls. There is a lot going on in Fashion Fix though, the highly structured format of the show encompassing four main sections:
• The creation of four themed outfits (i.e. American sportswear, red carpet glamour) by Gok – buying from high street stores – and fashionista Brix Smith-Start – splurging unchecked on designer creations.
• A wardrobe makeover for [insert location]’s worst dressed, resulting in the creation of what Gok calls a ‘capsule’ wardrobe of 24 interchangeable pieces.
• The testing of products (i.e. jeans) from different brands by a group of ‘average’ people in a stylised VT piece
• The high street vs. designer catwalk show, the audience voting for which side they prefer
Whilst some would argue that there is too much content stuffed hodge-podge into Gok’s Fashion Fix and that the format is too rigid, I’m quite fond of structured TV shows (think America’s Next Top Model or Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares). I find it comfortingly familiar knowing what sections to expect, like reading a monthly magazine for regular features. It also gives the show a sense of purpose and the viewer a feeling of value.
The catwalk finale
My only criticism here is that Gok doesn’t go far enough on his quest to make all women appreciate their bodies. Sure, he may style up a ‘normal’ woman and create high street outfits that all shapes and sizes can wear, but does he use models representative of this on the catwalk? No.
- Gok Wan: full beam ahead
Unlike in How to Look Good Naked, where curvy girls of all shapes and sizes feature in VTs and on the catwalk, the Fashion Fix ladies are the standard model body type. The problem with this is that the outfits Gok has created – being from the affordable high street – are meant to be a way for your average British female to recreate designer looks.
The clothes are for normal women, so they should be modelled by the same. My feeling is that Gok can’t quite let go of his high-fashion leanings (you could drown in the pool of Gok drool on the floor when Smith-Start shows off her designer outfits), and using size 4 models is the norm in the fashion industry.
Additional little niggles with the first episode are as follows: Brix Smith-Start should not be allowed to do her own segments –either staring blank-eyed, frozen-faced whilst reading the autocue or squealing like a amphetamine-addled chipmunk – and Gok Wan needs to stop dressing his victims like air hostesses (oh god, the neckerchiefs!).
A word of warning...
You will only like Gok’s Fashion Fix if you can stomach the man himself. Whilst I’m fairly desensitized to Gok Wan’s "GET YOUR BANGERS OUT, GIRLFRIEND!” attitude, others may find the man and his lack of personal space awareness irritating and not a little patronising. I prefer to see Gok Wan as a well-meaning but slightly fashion-obsessed Tin Tin lookalike on a mission to empower women, even if the only way he knows how to do it is to turn himself into a flaming caricature.
