Giving yet more proof to the adage that truth
is stranger — and hence makes better TV — than fiction (O.K., I added
that middle bit) is the news that two new fashion/reality TV shows are
in the works. Diane von Furstenberg is in the midst of filming her own
series, “The DVF Project”
for E!, in which young women compete to be her “global ambassador,” and
according to The Hollywood Reporter, Lifetime has commissioned
“Threads,” a teen version of “Project Runway” from, yes, the “Project Runway” folks.
Lifetime also, by the by, has two other
fashion-related docu-series in the works, which sound like ironic
commentary on the industry à la “Spinal Tap” but seem to be entirely
serious: “Worst Stylist Ever” and “Ugly Models.” They are, I think,
self-explanatory.
Anyway, it’s pretty clear why TV likes
fashion — it is immediately accessible, full of drama, nice to look at —
but the appeal to fashion, especially establishment fashion, is more
complicated. Which is why of the above, I find the DVF show the most
potentially interesting: It signifies the first embrace of the
pop-culture phenomenon that is reality TV by an establishment name since
Michael Kors took on “Project Runway” in 2004. Ms. von Furstenberg is,
after all, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
She’s as establishment as it gets.
Traditionally, and probably not surprisingly
when it comes to film on the big or small screen, the major names feel
more comfortable with classic documentary filmmaking (see: Gucci, Dior,
Tiffany) and its associated seriousness of purpose than with reality TV,
and its pop culture, more mass-denominator, embrace. Mr. Kors was, in
this context, something of an outlier. (He left “Project Runway” last
year because of scheduling conflicts.)
So why would Ms. von Furstenberg venture into such territory?
She said, on announcing the show, that she
saw it as a chance “to grant young women the opportunity to become the
women they want to be,” but I wonder if there is not also another, canny
reason behind the project. After all, Mr. Kors is now something of an
extraordinarily successful outlier, post-his-IPO-of-December 2011 (total
revenue was up almost 52 percent to $3.3 billion for fiscal 2013).
Though you cannot quantify the effect
exactly, the chief executive John Idol told me last year that he felt
part of this success could be attributed to Mr. Kors’s very high Q
rating thanks to his “Project Runway” fame. As James Carville might say, “It’s the TV, stupid.”
So yes: high risk (you could be dragged down
by the “Ugly Models” taint) but also potentially high reward. Especially
for brands with growth plans.
Betcha other designers will tune in for this one.
