What happened to TV programs on fashion?

In a not-so-distant period of history, on TV, some would rather insistently advise us what was suitable or not for our stylistic needs. Fashion experts - the background could range from being a stylist with solid experience behind them to managers with not always so fashion-focused backgrounds-demolished a candidate's image to highlight strengths while caricatured pointing out obvious weaknesses. 2008 was the year that the program Ma come ti vesti?, hosted by Enzo Miccio and Carla Gozzi, landed on Real Time. 

The two style experts sifted through the wardrobe of women between the ages of 25 and 54, Real Time's target audience, for more than a decade - the program last aired in 2018. There isn't a Millennial, or nearly one, who doesn't recall with irony the toasts made by the two partners in crime once their mission had come to an end: shredding the unfortunate woman's wardrobe to bring out a renewed image. The point is that the idea of transformation, whatever it may be, has within it the concept of crossing boundaries to shape something authentically different. Clearly, in a TV format aimed at highlighting what is profoundly wrong with loving floral dresses, leopard print, or bold hues, a perhaps unexpected short-circuit is created: kitsch. That is, to create a scenario that is immediately pathetic, repetitive, and perceived as inauthentic. And, if the transformations aired in But How Do You Dress merely replicated a narrative marked by the exaltation of minimalism and codes ascribable to etiquette and a more or less defined idea of good taste, subsequent programs also played on the same narrative. With Say, Do, Kiss - a British reality show that aired from 2008 to 2013 on BBC Three aired in Italy 2013 - Carla Gozzi's voice, though made robotic, did not change the cards much: restoring and making socially acceptable the eccentric looks of young girls with clear aesthetic references (punk, rock, grunge, anime) was the task of POD, the advice machine. 

Not that things were so different with Mommy You're Too Much in 2016: Carla, who in 2010 even founded a styling academy with extensive educational offerings, was correcting the whimsy of mothers no longer in their twenties for some time. Until twenty-somethings began to rebel against the flirtatious tones with which clothing, in general, was talked about, and conversations around fashion shifted from traditional media to social media. For Ma come ti vesti? and the rest of the programs, it will not have been easy to hold their own and try to respond in tone to the demands of the new generations who have decided to gladly do without advice, kaftans, and inch-caliber rules. Yet, Carla Gozzi continues to dispense advice on Instagram and TikTok on how not to wear miniskirts and swaddle the body in more or less constricting uniforms, triggering adverse reactions from Gen Z. If the former TV host abuses the term good taste, perhaps she is (intentionally) leaving out the whole cohort of people who have decided to embrace countercurrent or simply anti-glamorous aesthetics. «The problem is that we have lost formality: we no longer distinguish between occasions of use and we don't understand when to allow ourselves to walk around in sneakers and jeans and when to tune in to a more authoritative image when meeting with the work team» she had told Vanity Fair Italia. So much so that today Discovery+ has produced a talent show - Tailor Made- Who's got the stuff? will consist of six episodes airing on Discovery+ from June and on Real Time in fall 2022-focused on tailoring and hosted by Tommaso Zorzi. What will be the tone of voice this time around about fashion and personal clothing choices?