Fashion TV: The Golden Age

Off the Rails returned on Wednesday night but with two new presenters - Sonya Lennon, a well-known stylist and long-time contributor to OTR, and Brendan Courtney, a man credited with bringing back The Clothes Show. The new duo is clearly more knowledgeable than their predecessors so it’s a pity then that a lot of the programme consisted of voiceover and stilted reading from an autocue. Brendan especially gives the impression that there is a lot of fun and mischief lurking beneath the rehearsed pieces to camera and hopefully as the season progresses, we will see a little more of this. Sonya was responsible for the makeover of geochemist Bernadette and while she lacked the more extreme bullying tactics of Trinny and Susannah, there was some prodding of flesh and of course mention of magic knickers, which have become a big, reinforced cliché. There is a lot crammed into this half hour slot so the emotional punch that accompanies some other makeover shows is lacking but instead you get a fun, glossy and very Irish take on fashion, from the Parisian catwalks to Naas high street.

All of this got me thinking of fashion tv shows in general and how they really don't make them like they used to. The golden age of fashion tv was undoubtedly the late 80s/ early 90s. My ultimate favourite was Fashion TV with Jeanne Becker although I always found it slightly strange that it was based in Toronto, not exactly known as one of the world's major fashion capitals. Some might say it wasn't completely appropriate viewing for a 6 year old but when your after school ritual included watching Knots Landing, Fashion TV was par for the course. Oh the joys of having a working mother. FTV was obsessed with supermodels as was I and fittingly its theme tune was Obsession by Animotion.




Another must see was BBC's The Clothes Show - presented by that ultra 80s triumvirate of Caryn Franklin, Selina Scott and Jeff Banks - Caryn actually knew her stuff, Selina was really posh and Jeff claimed to be a designer but everyone just knew him as that guy from the Daz ads. The show opened to a remix of In the Night from the Pet Shop Boys - (whats with fashion TV shows having excellent theme tunes?) Ah - the simple days when you would dream of attending The Clothes Show Live - if only you lived near Birmingham.

RTE had its own take on The Clothes Show - Head 2 Toe - with another strange threesome to rival theirs : classy Barbara McMahon (now "fashion consultant" to Dunnes Stores), kooky Jennifer Keegan (now a yoga teacher), and, um , Pat O'Mahoney (hmmm...anyone?)

And no trip down fashion tv memory lane would be complete without a mention of MTV's House of Style. It was at its apex when fronted by my favourite super, Cindy Crawford, but it was downhill all the way when it brought on the Cindy wannabes in her wake - Niki Taylor, Daisy Feuntes et al - don't even try, ladies - you could never compete with Cindy, the supreme queen of wooden tv presenting.





So will there ever be a return to the glory days of fashion tv? - well, there are a couple of treats in store this autumn - BBC2 has a 5 part series called British Style Genius and Alexa returns with Henry Holland, and not Gok Wan, by her side for Channel 4's Frock Me - she's no Jeanne Becker thats for sure, but for now, she'll just have to do.