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American Morning

Fashion Flogging

Aired January 24, 2003 - 08:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to fashion, you have to be cruel to be kind. That is the concept of a hit British TV showed called "What Not to Wear." And every week, some four million people watch the show. The hosts zero in on unsuspecting victims, secretly videotape them, then unleash some brutal criticism.
Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is she wearing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't figure out if it's a negligee and she's been caught out, or if -- what is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's platform shoes, wedges! Huge wedges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God. What is a toil chain doing around your waist?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know where to begin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder what inspired her to wear that head gear?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The good news is the host then clean out the victim's closet with a $3,000 siphon, help them shop for looks that work, and you can begin to see the show here in this country on Tuesday night at 10:00 on BBC America, and the hosts Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine join us now.

Congratulations.

I guess you two, when you came up with this concept, never dreamed that four million in your own country would be watching this every week. Why do you think it's so popular?

TRINNY WOODALL, "WHAT NOT TO WEAR": I think it's so real for women when they watch it. What you're doing is seeing an emotional progress of a woman from when she has all of her friends and family saying, they nominate her and say we think you have no style, and then we film her secretly for about two months. The husband is putting a camera in the bedroom. It's very dramatic. And then she's confronted, and then we kind of help her on her path. ZAHN: Well, that's interesting about your philosophy, because you say that you have to be cruel to be kind. How mean do you two get?

SUSANNAH CONSTANTINE, "WHAT NOT TO WEAR": We do get pretty mean, as we said, but our cruelness comes from a real passion and a real desire to make the best of these women. And, you know, it doesn't matter how big you are, what size, how old. Every woman has something good about her and you don't need to lose weight, you don't need to have plastic surgery to look fantastic. You just need to wear the right close.

ZAHN: Now we don't see anybody breaking down in this video, but have you ever made anybody cry?

WOODALL: We've only had people cry at the end of the show through the emotional journey they've gone through, and then they're kind of relieved. We had one woman who had been married and got separated, and it had been very traumatic for her, and we said, we feel you should get rid of that wedding ring at some stage, and at the end of the show, she turns around to us and takes off her wedding ring, she's ready to go on to her new life.

ZAHN: No wonder people watch, transformations on live television.

You have a group of tips that I will put up on the screen, and you don't have to mention to every one, about what woman can do to improve their look. Have you always cared about how you look?

WOODALL: Yes, I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Actually, because I suffered for years from acne, so I've been aware of, you know, trying to look better, because I felt like an ugly duck duckling for 38 years. But I think with these tips, what's very important is you can, you know -- we've also brought out a book on you can. Everybody has the opportunity to look better. And you just have to stand in front of a mirror naked and say, OK, let me analyze my . Do I have a big bum, or do I have big boobs, and am I flat-chested? And look at what you love and look at what you don't love.

CONSTANTINE: It's even actually more simple than that. You just have to be honest about what you love and hate about your body, and then you cloak what you loathe about your body and you show off what you love. What you hate about your body might be the envy of your best friend.

ZAHN: We just saw your do; we're going to quickly put up the don'ts -- no leather pants, check for panty lines, shoes matter, keep pants looser. Anything else you want to tell us before you sail off?

WOODALL: A black bra under a white top, it's kind of basic stuff that you don't focus and say, my goodness, look at that, covering her boob, and just look at the right thing.

ZAHN: What is the worst thing you've ever said about someone on your show? CONSTANTINE: God, there have been a lot of things. I think one of the girls actually Micadah (ph), the blond lady we saw, probably her that she should have been kind of street walking. She was like a hooker in an area called King's Cross in London, which is a very dodgy area, and that's what she looked like, because she was showing too much breast and too much leg, and the combination made her look taughty.

ZAHN: So part of the lure of the show, is people get to watch you vicariously beat up other people and then watch them come around.

WOODALL: Yes, but it's not an unemotional beating up. It's a very emotive one, and that's the difference.

CONSTANTINE: And when we do criticize someone, we will always come back with a solution. So it's not just a vacuous criticism. There is always a solution, and that's why everybody has something great about them.

ZAHN: Based on our crew's reaction to you, you two are looking just fine.

Good luck with the new show and the rollout here in America. Nice to meet both of you. We're going to be very nervous when we know the fashion police are in our neighborhood.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 24, 2003 - 08:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to fashion, you have to be cruel to be kind. That is the concept of a hit British TV showed called "What Not to Wear." And every week, some four million people watch the show. The hosts zero in on unsuspecting victims, secretly videotape them, then unleash some brutal criticism.
Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is she wearing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't figure out if it's a negligee and she's been caught out, or if -- what is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's platform shoes, wedges! Huge wedges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God. What is a toil chain doing around your waist?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know where to begin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder what inspired her to wear that head gear?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The good news is the host then clean out the victim's closet with a $3,000 siphon, help them shop for looks that work, and you can begin to see the show here in this country on Tuesday night at 10:00 on BBC America, and the hosts Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine join us now.

Congratulations.

I guess you two, when you came up with this concept, never dreamed that four million in your own country would be watching this every week. Why do you think it's so popular?

TRINNY WOODALL, "WHAT NOT TO WEAR": I think it's so real for women when they watch it. What you're doing is seeing an emotional progress of a woman from when she has all of her friends and family saying, they nominate her and say we think you have no style, and then we film her secretly for about two months. The husband is putting a camera in the bedroom. It's very dramatic. And then she's confronted, and then we kind of help her on her path. ZAHN: Well, that's interesting about your philosophy, because you say that you have to be cruel to be kind. How mean do you two get?

SUSANNAH CONSTANTINE, "WHAT NOT TO WEAR": We do get pretty mean, as we said, but our cruelness comes from a real passion and a real desire to make the best of these women. And, you know, it doesn't matter how big you are, what size, how old. Every woman has something good about her and you don't need to lose weight, you don't need to have plastic surgery to look fantastic. You just need to wear the right close.

ZAHN: Now we don't see anybody breaking down in this video, but have you ever made anybody cry?

WOODALL: We've only had people cry at the end of the show through the emotional journey they've gone through, and then they're kind of relieved. We had one woman who had been married and got separated, and it had been very traumatic for her, and we said, we feel you should get rid of that wedding ring at some stage, and at the end of the show, she turns around to us and takes off her wedding ring, she's ready to go on to her new life.

ZAHN: No wonder people watch, transformations on live television.

You have a group of tips that I will put up on the screen, and you don't have to mention to every one, about what woman can do to improve their look. Have you always cared about how you look?

WOODALL: Yes, I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Actually, because I suffered for years from acne, so I've been aware of, you know, trying to look better, because I felt like an ugly duck duckling for 38 years. But I think with these tips, what's very important is you can, you know -- we've also brought out a book on you can. Everybody has the opportunity to look better. And you just have to stand in front of a mirror naked and say, OK, let me analyze my . Do I have a big bum, or do I have big boobs, and am I flat-chested? And look at what you love and look at what you don't love.

CONSTANTINE: It's even actually more simple than that. You just have to be honest about what you love and hate about your body, and then you cloak what you loathe about your body and you show off what you love. What you hate about your body might be the envy of your best friend.

ZAHN: We just saw your do; we're going to quickly put up the don'ts -- no leather pants, check for panty lines, shoes matter, keep pants looser. Anything else you want to tell us before you sail off?

WOODALL: A black bra under a white top, it's kind of basic stuff that you don't focus and say, my goodness, look at that, covering her boob, and just look at the right thing.

ZAHN: What is the worst thing you've ever said about someone on your show? CONSTANTINE: God, there have been a lot of things. I think one of the girls actually Micadah (ph), the blond lady we saw, probably her that she should have been kind of street walking. She was like a hooker in an area called King's Cross in London, which is a very dodgy area, and that's what she looked like, because she was showing too much breast and too much leg, and the combination made her look taughty.

ZAHN: So part of the lure of the show, is people get to watch you vicariously beat up other people and then watch them come around.

WOODALL: Yes, but it's not an unemotional beating up. It's a very emotive one, and that's the difference.

CONSTANTINE: And when we do criticize someone, we will always come back with a solution. So it's not just a vacuous criticism. There is always a solution, and that's why everybody has something great about them.

ZAHN: Based on our crew's reaction to you, you two are looking just fine.

Good luck with the new show and the rollout here in America. Nice to meet both of you. We're going to be very nervous when we know the fashion police are in our neighborhood.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com