In Praise of Gretta

Darlings, you might remember that we were a teensy bit critical of the first season of Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. Among the many complaints we had - too serious and preachy, too much product placement and too many high-end gifts that sold the point that style costs a lot of money - foremost among them had to do with his co-host at the time, Veronica Webb. For a former model, she demonstrated horrific personal style (a cardinal sin in a makeover show) and worse, she had absolutely no chemistry with Tim. As much as we love him, the man desperately needs someone to play off, otherwise he comes off too professorial.

Well, one of the things they got right this season was the addition of style entrepreneur Gretta Monahan. She fits the bill on everything the show needed: a woman with great personal style, the warmth that allows her to connect with each episode's client, and an efficient problem-solving capability. In fact, one of our favorite things she brings to the show is when she takes the client's existing clothes and whips them into something new and stylish and better fitted. That's a unique take on a makeover show: the idea that you don't always have to throw out everything in your closet and start over to achieve style. Most important of all, she brings a personality and sense of fun that positions her both as a counterpoint to Tim's educational style and a means of getting Tim to loosen up a bit. They have great chemistry together onscreen without immediately making you think of Stacey and Clinton. Don't get us wrong, we love Stacey and Clinton, but a makeover show needs to differentiate itself and with the Gunn/Monahan team you have a partnership that reminds us more of John Steed and Emma Peel than anyone else. They could rename it The Style Avengers.

The show still has some elements that annoy us slightly. The obvious staging, for one. We don't expect a cinema verite style but there are times when we feel they're on their tenth take of a scene and none of the principals are exactly winning awards for their acting. Thankfully, they got rid of the "rifling through the underwear drawer on national television" bit, which always came across a little cruel. They still have every client visit some sort of foundation garment specialist, but that's a good lesson that a lot of woman could learn from, so we don't mind it.

We're even coming around on the OptiTech. We still think it's representative of a slight problem with the theme of the show - that style is somehow a science and all one needs to do is look at it as objectively as possible and employ rules and scientific principles to become stylish - but we can't deny that the way it's been utilized this season has a benefit to it. When someone stands in front of a mirror, they see what they want to see or what they're prone to see, but they rarely ever see themselves objectively. The OptiTech removes that and allows Tim to point out where each client is going wrong in dressing themselves. As silly and stagey as it may seem, it does get the job done and again, at least it's not aping the three-way mirror of What Not To Wear.

But our highest praise is still reserved for Gretta. She could probably carry a show like this on her own, but she plays the sidekick well. She's able to empathize with each woman on the show in a way that Tim never could and yet she's always shows him the highest respect even when she might not always agree with him. She knows who the star of the show is and she knows her job is to fill in the gaps. Bravo to Bravo. This was the right choice. Now don't screw it up by giving her her own show.


[Photos: Bravotv.com]