Friday 5 February 2010

FROM THE HILLS TO JERSEY SHORE



I am a freelance beauty journalist as you know and I work from home and that means I watch lots of TV. I'm one of those people who like to work with a bit of background noise, so an ideal day for me is booty shaking to Beyonce's top 40 videos while working on a deadline. I also love watching E! News and ‘The Hills’. 

Now lots of you have been emailing me telling me you loved my ‘I heart Britney and Modern Beauty’ post so thank you and it would be great to see what you think about this beauty observation! 

As I said I love ‘The Hills’, the reality show about young 20 somethings working at Teen Vogue magazine, in fashion Pr, events pr and partying in LA at the best night spots. The show focuses on female friendships such as bitching, hooking up with your friend’s ex-boyfriend as well as the support and the kindness women offer each other, which you never see on TV. No matter your age, female friends and relationships are extremely important to women in a way men often don't understand or get. Look at the long suffering Toni Terry and her wayward husband footballer John Terry. Out of all his women and conquests his supposed shagging of her friend and fellow WAG Vanessa Perroncel had to hurt the most. Oh to a fly on her wall at Toni's house when she gets back from Dubai, as her girlfriends gather round to support her and bitch over coffee. 

‘The Hills’ have made stars of young blonde barbie esque girls such as Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port and Heidi Pratt. However, ‘The Hills is sooooo yesterday as ratings are falling due to the credit crunch. In boom times, it was fun to see 21year old girls launching their own fashion lines, driving in BMWs and toting Chanel and Hermes birkin bags. However, our American cousins like us are tightening their belts and most of us are now shopping at Aldi rather than M & S everyday. As a result people in the US have turned to the new reality show ‘Jersey Shore’, about young Italian Americans in Jerrrsey baby, who live to party and fist pump in the air on the dance floor. The show’s stars are girls such as Snooki (she looks like Amy Winehouse if Tony Soprano was her dad) doing knickerless cart wheels on the dance floor, she also got punched in the face while at a club by a drunk random (classy). The guys or guidos such as 'The Situation' (that's his actually name) hunt women to take home, fake tan and use enough gel and hair spray in their rather 80s throw back hairstyles to create their own hole in the ozone (again that's the boys), it's rather fabulous watch it!

I think it's really interesting in boom times it was all about the LA west coast blonde beauties and in the economic downturn people have been put off by their excessive consumption for East coast dark haired Italian Americans, whose lifestyles seem more real and relatable, in that we all remember shaming ourselves back in the day. I remember trotting about in a silver mini skirt, it was the whole space man thing in the late 90s over broken glass bottles in open toe heels at 3am waiting for a nightbus in Leiceister square with my home girls-you know who you are. Oh those were the days...... 

What do you think? 

2 comments:

  1. OMG! I LOVE THAT SHOW!

    When it first started, I thought, 'Ew gross' but it is like a TRAIN WRECK! You can't stop watching it once it's on. And the cast is hilarious!! They're getting $10,000 each for the next season - location TBD. There's talk of them going either to the Hamptons or abroad. I'd like to see them go to Italy and actually meet real Italians. It'd be a complete clash of civilizations. The cast was on 'Chelsea Lately' (late night comedy show) a month ago - youtube it b/c those kids are stoooopid. But not entirely for $10k apiece, drinks courtesy of MTV.

    But I agree on the economic reflection in the shows - when people don't have jobs, they don't really want to see Heidi dropping 30k on reconstructing a new face. I was watching 'The Real Housewives of Orange County' last night and they were all talking about how the economy has hurt their lifestyles. So then I got to thinking, 'well, that just makes them normal people, in which case, GET OFF MY TV!' Not entertaining when they're just boring blonde women with fake parts and the same money woes as everyone else.

    There's a new show (just started last week) called 'Kell on Earth', which is focused on Kelly Cutrone, the boss lady who owns the PR company in 'The Hills'. She's just as much of a raging bitch on her own show as she is on The Hills...and I am hooked on another!

    Thanks Ateh!! Love your blog.
    -Nadia

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  2. Thanks Nadia for the great comments will have to see 'Kell on Earth' I think she is fabulous and you are right about the credit crunch and the Orange county ladies. I think the Housewives of Jersey is fab because they all live in chav houses, have gangster husbands, temper tantrums and big big hair much more entertaining!
    Thank you x

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