Does anyone else find the kids on Stylista whiney and kind of incompetent? Well, I do.
As an aspiring fashion journalist (who was interviewed for the Style network's very similar untitled show) I really looked forward to this reality show, but half expected it to be on Bravo (because really, the last thing we want is for this to turn into ANTM for journalists, we're classier than that... or not based on the show). So far I've hardly been impressed. The group they pulled together was obviously flawed; I realize that in order to make good TV and lots of drama the ELLE hopefuls need to be from diverse backgrounds, but a military analyst and a law school drop-out? At least some people have fashion, journalism, or even better fashion journalism experience, but that experience does not by any means make them good at what they want to do with their lives (exhibit A: Devin).
I'm over the Megan hates Ashlie, Ashlie hates Megan plot, I'm over the Megan hates Kate, Kate hates Megan plot, and I'm SUPER tired of only seeing those three until the person getting kicked off gets airtime. That's just bad editing. But there's bad editing in several places - not just the cutting room. The contestants don't know how to pull and editorial spread together, or listen to instructions for that matter, which I'm totally over. You make a mistake, learn from it and move on, don't keep making the same mistake. Honestly, I think the best editorial page design came the first week from the winning group's contributors page, it rocked.
Also, as a former fashion intern at a fashion mag, I can honestly judge the assistant tasks for what they are. The first week, ehh, you may make coffee runs, but not often - I only made them on photo shoots and ONCE in the office during a ten week internship, so buying and putting together a breakfast tray is only something you see in The Devil Wears Prada. The second one with putting an outfit together using the dictionary is basic retail work, dressing a henry hanger; been there, done that. Planning the birthday party is just a really elaborate way to see if you are good at event planning, which hoenstly I can't think of how that comes into play with fashion journalism except to see how good you are at working on a project, no matter the topic - nothing I ever faced, I don't think. And as for putting an outfit together for a weekend trip that goes day to night and is appropriate for a woman of Anne Slowey's age, that's another retail experience challenge and a money management challenge.
The editorial challenges are a better judge of how someone will survive in this industry. The first week was great, but I expected improvement. The second week was also excellent, having to find a new trend, I'm pretty sure I did that every single day of my internship, and then having to put a page together with that as the topic was a great way to make that transition to editorial; good assignment, poor layout on the contestants part. Having to find a mother-daughter pair with a current trend, also a good assignment, but too similar (in my opinion) to the one before it; however the shopping page twist was nice, but really shouldn't have thrown people the way it did... My favorite editorial challenge was the photo shoot for Tori Burch (love her!), but the groups flopped and totally showed that they haven't learned much yet. It's very obvious to me that this show is lacking something that other reality show competitions have: a mentor, the kids on this show desperately need someone to advise them during the editorial challenges, at least for the first couple episodes, because in my opinion they have yet to learn some very important things about lay out and editing. ***Plus, these kids aren't even using InDesign or any other software, they're doing markups on pieces of paper. I bet they won't be able to do that once they're a junior editor...
Ahh, Anne Slowey, I think she is fantastic and I would take her job in an instant. She is as demanding as she needs to be, no more no less. She's honestly not the most difficult person to work for; compared to Anna Wintour she's a walk in the park. I would give my baby toe to be her assistant, but these kids seem to have little respect, I mean really who taught you to fight in front of the woman who could hire you, never bite the hand that feeds you. But anyway, fashion news director = my dream job.
As for the remaining six contestants (well, after tonight it might be 5 or fewer, but I haven't watched tonight yet...) Megan needs to stop being so catty and focus on doing better, because she could get the job but I don't think she will because she has very, very little knowledge of what makes good editorial. Johanna is fantastic, but she needs to be less quiet (however, the preview for tonight makes me nervous for her, I hope she didn't go home), she has great ideas, but I'm still unsure of how good she is on paper with editing. Danielle is smart and a very strong contender, she doesn't have the look of the job, but she definitely has the capacity; I'm a fan. Kate, oh, Kate has no experience, but has great gut instincts, which is great in this industry, but I don't know that she's got it with the computers. Ashlie is another great contender and I think that if the Megan drama were gone, she'd be flourishing, she's in my top two right now. And finally DyShaun, I don't know much about him except that he hates Kate and makes brain farts when it comes to editing, but I think he has a good eye for both fashion and editorial, I just haven't seen enough of him.
I think that the people they chose for this show thought it was a fun and easy reality show that would end up with one person working for ELLE. It doesn't seem to me like any of them expected or wanted the work given to them and I definitely feel like they sometimes (even often) disrespect Anne, someone who they should be worshipping.
Ok so I applaud anyone who got all the way through this. It's late, I don't have anything due in my classes tomorrow, and really needed to vent about Stylista.
