Sunday 5 October 2008

Frock Me

On the eve before the BBC launches the fashion extravaganza, British Style Genius, Channel 4 in the shape of T4 get in there with their new kid on the block, Frock Me. Fronted by (yawn) Alexa Chung and wonder boy designer, Henry Holland, Frock Me prides itself on being more irreverent and aimed at a younger crowd - well according to Alexa anyway. To sum it up, T4's latest focuses on the relationship between fashion and music which is kind of cool as that is something that fascinates me a lot. It is also a theme that the media find fascinating hence the creation of the starry event, Fashion Rocks combined with the amount of music artists who have ventured into the fashion business.

I am not sure what I was expecting from this show but as it is on T4, which is Channel 4's younger and cooler sister, I had high hopes. However, I was left feeling very disappointed, yes the show has a lot in it such as tips on how to customise your own clothes, interviews with celebs and heading to a different city each week to find Britain's wannabee stylist. Each show has a different theme and this week's one was rock and roll jeans and how to wear them. However, it all seemed so samey and very much like a rejigged form of The Clothes Show in fact if it wasn't on Channel 4, I would have thought I was watching The Fashion Show with a new line up. There was nothing cutting edge about it at all; what show about fashion does not feature celebs sharing style tips and show a roving reporter hounding people on the street? A big fat zero for originality. Even the concept is old hat as we all know that the Frock Me brand was created four years ago as a vintage fashion event where all the top vintage dealers in the country sell their wares. Taking place in London and Brighton, it is now one of the hottest events in the calender. If you are lounging around on a Sunday morning with nothing to do then I would say tune in but other than that I wouldn't bother. They don't call T4 hangover TV for nothing.

8 cool comments:

MsQuiche said...

On the positive I guess it's kinda cool to have so many options in terms of TV fashion shows because since the Clothes Show, I can't recall any other of credibility. The Fashion Show is okay, cept for Crouchie's annoying girlfriend. But my fave definitely has to be Gok's Fashion Fix although the clue was definitely in the title - "fixed" indeed.

Ondo Lady said...

Yes Abbie what's her face is pretty annoying and that whiny voice does not help. I am looking forward to British Style Genius, it looks like that will be mega!!!

Frock Me said...

Thank you ondo lady - I couldn't have put it better myself. When we at (the original) Frock Me heard that they had nicked our brand name we were advised that we could stop them but that it would cost a fortune so we decided to allow them to go ahead as it wouldn't necessarily impact on our business. Since it went out on Sunday I've had so many messages from so many people - from within the fashion world as well as regular consumers - who basically agree with your comments. The general concensus being that the show was so dire that nobody could confuse it with our own events. Phew!!

Disneyrollergirl.net said...

Oh dear, this doesn't sound promising! I dunno, is the production company at fault? I read the interview with Henry Holland and Alexa in last month's Elle and they are both bright, witty and passionate about fashion but then for mainstream telly, you need to have all that generic content (the common factor I guess!) which is maybe what ends up making it shit? I will have to watch it, can I watch it on the iplayer does anyone know?

Frock Me said...

For some reason no, you can't watch Channel 4 on iplayer. You can only view on a Windows based browser. maybe firefox too.? You'd think they would get a bit more up to date with their technology!

Frock Me said...

Ignore that last post! You can watch it on iplayer - it's Safari on Macs that you can't watch it on, sorry.

Anonymous said...

how about the very interesting people who write and respond here get together and create their own interesting fashion programme?

put it on youtube first and then contact a few production companies...

Disneyrollergirl.net said...

Thanks Matthew, will give it a go. Migratingfishswim, I have been trying to do a teen fashion/beauty TV show for years but the channels only seem to want the lame no-brainer stuff. Maybe there is something in your idea though...