MAKEOVERS Contestants find TV shows are anything but glamorous

Popular reality TV shows feature competition between fashion designers.
By LESLEY KENNEDY
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Reality-TV and fashion junkies are like peas in a very stylish pod.
Makeover shows? Wardrobe overhauls? Designer showdowns? We've seen 'em all.
Among the best? Bravo's "Project Runway." The Heidi Klum-hosted show features aspiring fashion designers duking it out for $100,000 and a mentorship from the Banana Republic design team.
Among the worst? "The Swan," anyone? An "extreme" makeover show, the ugly duckling transformations made me cringe.
Falling somewhere in the middle is the Women's Entertainment network's "Style Me With Rachel Hunter." I want to hate the show, mostly because I think Hunter is a meanie (did you see her on "Are You Hot?" If you did, you know meanie is putting it mildly). But, still, I can't seem to turn away.
The show is a competition among stylists, a somewhat new job description that is quickly becoming a fashionista's profession of choice.
A celebrity stylist's job is to dress his or her star clients so that they are paparazzi-ready and to keep said stars off the worst-dressed lists. The winner of the show gets $10,000, a one-year contract with a talent agency and, a chance to dress Hunter for a red-carpet event.
I caught up with celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch, who serves as a judge on Hunter's show, during New York Fashion Week. Bloch's clients include Halle Berry, John Travolta and Nicole Kidman.
"Everybody wants to be in the fashion industry, so it's great to give people a chance and actually help them," he says.
Perfect job
So, why is styling taking such a turn in the limelight?
"I think it's the perfect job," Bloch says. "You mix celebrities with fashion and glamour. But people think it's a very glamorous job and the reality is, as the contestants on the show can tell you, it's not that glamorous. It's a lot of hard work and a lot of pressure. When people see the reality, they're like, 'oh, I actually have to work hard there.' "
So, will the hard work of the winner of "Style Me" keep Hunter off the "what was she thinking" pages? Not likely. So far, the stylists have been not only unimpressive, but scary.
You know that old adage, before leaving the house you should always take a look in the mirror, and take one accessory off? These stylists could take five accessories off and still leave their clients wearing one too many.
"Project Runway" might just give us a new star. Last season's winner, Jay McCarroll, has yet to make his fashion mark, but sure entertains in Bravo's hour-long documentary "Project Jay," airing now. I can't wait to see his first real collection.