Lipstick Jungle

So at last Lipstick Jungle, the lovely, Candace Bushnell's new baby gets its airtime. This new show, which is touted as the new Sex and the City is about three chums who happen to be the biggest players in New York. There is Wendy Healy played by Brooke Shields, a top movie exec who is the bread winner of the family, Nico Reily played by Kim Raver a glam magazine editor who embarks on an affair with a younger guy and Victory Ford played by Lindsay Price, a fashion designer who is trying to pick up the pieces after damming reviews of her latest collection. Now I am sure you all know the details about Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia, the rival show but in case you need reminding then may I suggest you click here to read my previous blog.

I will be honest and admit that Lipstick Jungle has the advantage as I have read the book and taken a liking to all the characters. My first impression of Cashmere Mafia was not good but seven shows in I have found myself warming to the show and the characters. Ok the dialogue is a bit lame and the jokes few and far between in but Cashmere Mafia does a good job of portraying the way powerful women behave in the boardroom. Lipstick Jungle, on the other hand fares better in the way the friendship of the three women is developed. Unlike the Cashmere quartet, you can really believe that the Lipstick trio are best mates who have known each other for a long time. The way they bicker, reprimand each other, joke together and console each other; very often all over a three course meal, makes you want to buy this friendship. Also the jokes are a lot better and the one-liners are simply sensational. My only quibble is the casting; from what I read in the book Wendy is very tomboyish in contrast to her feminine husband, which is a far cry from the very glamorous Brooke Shields. I also would have had Nico down as a ravishing brunette as opposed to the waspy Kim Raver and Lindsay Price's wardrobe is so so wrong considering the character she plays. Come on, she is supposed to be a fashion designer not a reject from a pantomime. It will be interesting to see which show comes out tops. NBC are really going for it though, they have even produced a real version of Bonfire magazine, the publication that Nico Reily edits. Cool huh? It seems to be a growing trend, FX Networks did the same with Dirt; the TV series staring Courtney Cox in which she plays an Editor of a tabloid magazine .

Cashmere Mafia

Cries of a rip off of Sex and the City were heard when the much anticipated pilot of Cashmere Mafia come to the small screen on Wednesday. The latest series by S&TC creator, Darren Star was due to air last year but a certain writer's strike put a halt to that. The plot is a no brainer, four high flying women who meet while doing their MBA's form a deep and loyal friendship.
Mia Mason played by Lucy Liu is a go getter who will do anything to win and when she is pitted against her fiance in her publishing firm, she puts out all the stops to win. Zoe Burden played by Frances O'Connor, lives an unorthodox life where she goes out to earn the bacon in her investment banking role while her sexy hubby stays at home and looks after their kids. Unfortunately, life is not so blissful with Juliet Harper who is played by Miranda Otto. She may be the big honcho of a massive hotel chain with a fantastic home but this is marred by her cheating husband and rebellious daughter. Then there is Caitlin Dowd, played by Bonnie Somerville, a marketing exec who is muddling through life and discovering her sexuality on the way.

My first impressions of Cashmere Mafia was how similar it is to Lipstick Jungle (TV series based on a book by Candace Bushnell - read my previous blog about it here) in terms of the look of the programme. However as we move on into the show the similarities stop. While all the characters in Lipstick Jungle were well developed and very distinctive, the Cashmere set come across as very contrived. Mia is forgettable, Juliet is disappointing as the down trodden wife but Caitlin takes the biscuit. She goes from being in a relationship, single and a lesbian in all of 30 minutes. A record if you ask me and downright ridiculous. This character reeks of tokenism and it is so obvious that she has just been thrown in as the 'lesbian.' The only shining light is Zoe and her husband whose charm and humour rescues this show from being a total dismal affair. I love the scene at her daughter's ballet show, she was so cute. However, I hated the bit where Juliet prances into her awards ceremony in her red dress with her posse behind her. Is this a TV series or an R&B video?

Another grip I have is that these women spend so much time discussing their woes over breakfast, lunch and dinner that it is a wonder that they get any work done at all. Oh and what is with the Blackberries going off every second? That is so unreal, if any corporate professional behaved like that she would be out on her cute ass.

Lipstick Jungle vrs Cashmere Mafia

I finally got to watch a sneak preview of Lipstick Jungle last night. Don’t ask me how but I managed to find the whole pilot episode on a website and it is just as good as I envisioned it to be. Lipstick Jungle is based on the fourth book by Sex and the City author, Candace Bushnell. The glossy drama features the lives of three 40 something women who more or less run Manhattan. The stars of the show are Brooke Shields as Wendy Healy, a hot movie exec who is succeeding everywhere apart from her marriage, Lindsay Price as Victory Ford who is an independent and sassy fashion designer who gets embroiled with a powerful millionaire and Kim Raver as Nico Neilly, the lethal editor of a top glossy magazine who embarks on a dangerous extra-marital affair with a younger man. I read the book a couple of years ago and I was surprised by how good it was and I fell in love with all three female protagonists. The TV series captured the warmth that the women hold towards each other and each character oozes of charm.

Coincidentally or not – there is another show hopping about called Cashmere Mafia that has been produced by Darren Star (good buddies with Candace Bushnell for 20 years both pictured above) who is infamous for bringing S&TC to life on the small screen. The series stars Lucy Liu and is based on four successful NYC ladies who happen to be best mates. Of course it has been dubbed the thinking woman’s S&TC. Now let me give you the lowdown here. According to The New York Times, Bushnell had written parts of the book in Star’s house in East Hampton. Star put in a bid to secure the rights for Lipstick Jungle only to lose out to NBC. Jubilant about the impending thought of having another hit series on her hands, Bushnell threw a mini celebratory drinks party while receiving congratulatory phone calls from family and close friends. Everyone apart from Star. She was perplexed and confused, why hadn’t her close buddy and TV spar, Darren called her? So she put in a call to him. It turns out that Star had news of his own; he also had a show that had been picked up. It was called Cashmere Mafia and very similar to Lipstick Jungle. Needless to say Bushnell was shocked – she knew that Star had tried to buy the rights to Lipstick Jungle but she had no idea that he was working on a show of his own. Oh yeah, the two of them are no longer so tight.

Coincidence or total plagiarism? Read the whole article in The New York Times and tell me what you think?

Feast your eyes on clips from Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia and see how they measure up.

Lipstick Jungle



Stars: Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan), Kim Raver (24), Lindsay Price (Beverly Hills 90210)
Location: New York
Writer: Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City)
Producer: Lisa Melamed (Party of Five)

Cashmere Mafia



Stars: Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal), Frances O’Connor (The Importance of Being Earnest), Miranda Otto (The War of the Worlds), Bonnie Somerville (The OC)
Location: New York
Writer: Kevin Wade (Maid in Manhattan, Working Girl)
Producer: Darren Star (Sex and the City, Beverley Hills 90120, Melrose Place)

Farewell to The Fashionista Diaries

Sob, sob, The Fashionista Diaries is over. Finished, caput, done. The show came to a fantastic climax last Friday with all the teams preparing for New York Fashion Week. There were two shows, Just Sweet, a label that is owned by Jennifer Lopez who Flirt Cosmetics were doing the make up for and the main one, Charlotte Ronson which everyone was working towards. Bridget and Laurie who are just getting tighter by the minute were in charge of the goodie bags and collecting all the props to make the place look pretty. Our Rachel had the meaty job to interview people backstage for CosmoGirl.com while Andrew was given the task of quizzing Cosmo readers about their outfits and their personal style. Sounds like a pretty interesting job to me but Andrew was not happy with that and thought that his skills could have been put to better use. Meanwhile Janjay and Tina were backstage assisting the make up artists with all their needs. Both fashions show went exceedingly well, apart from a nail biting moment when Janjay forgot to bring the face chart for uber make up make up artist Charlotte Tillbury. However, the Gods must have been smiling down on that girl because a co-worker managed to run back to the office to get hold of the face chart in the nick of time. Of course Jennifer Lopez made an appearance at the end of her show which was full of A-line dresses and skirts in floral colours. Charlotte Ronson's collection was more slim line with lots of over the knee dresses and plenty of orange, grey and whites. Seeing the show was a culmination of all the assistants work and anyone who has worked on a big project can identify how all the fashionistas felt during the show. Everyone was very happy at end and full of smiles and I am even talking about Mandie! At the end of the fashion show she even came over and hugged Bridget and Laurie and thanked them for all their efforts. Awww, she is growing on me. The quintets spent the evening grooving at the after night party where Charlotte Ronson's sister, Samantha Ronson was DJing.

Ok, judgement day, this is where the fashionistas will be finding out who will be staying and who will be going. At the CosmoGirl headquarters it was a thanks but no thanks to Andrew. It seemed that Editor, Susan Schultz had a problem with his work and mentioned his missing deadlines. He got a pat on the back and was shown the door. It was totally different story for Rachel though, she impressed Susan so much that she was offered a position as a senior writer. Needless to say she was delirious. At Flirt Cosmetics , Tina was heaped with praise upon praise by Kathleen who then turned round and questioned her commitment to Flirt. I think Tina was just as shocked as I was, from what I have seen of the young Miss over the last 10 weeks, she seems to throw herself into everything she does. Janjay's evaluation ended with tears of joy as she landed her much coveted position at Flirt Cosmetics. She almost had me crying as well.

At Seventh House PR, Laurie was praised by Mandie and Mark for all her hard work but she commented that she felt the pressure to be another Bridget. Mandie replied that she never wanted her to be another Bridget and the world can only can take one Bridget. I agree totally. Now to the madam herself, she thanked Mandie for giving her the opportunity BUT turned down a position as a PR Manager because she has always wanted a career in magazines!! Mandie was gob smacked, I don't think anyone saw that one coming. Mandie promised to help her achieve her goals. Well there we are, the end of a scintillating 10 weeks of fun, tension, fall outs, glamour and fashion. So what next for the fashionistas? I can see Andrew finally finishing his designer line, Laurie getting snapped up by a PR company, Tina definitely getting a gig in cosmetics or PR and Bridget working on the fashion section of a magazine. It looks like my hour of pleasure is no longer but thank god that I still have Gossip Girl and bring on Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle.