Dear TLC’s “What Not To Wear”:

I admit it; I watch your show quite often. It’s one of the few things I do that I can classify as exclusively indulging my feminine side – the side that wants to look pretty.

Previously my philosophy has been that the way I dress has no bearing on the way I work or interact with other people, yet I also believe that they way I feel inside makes an enormous difference in my chances of success in work and relationships. Since I started watching your show I am forced to admit that if I dress in a way that makes me feel pretty or smart or professional, I am more likely to be treated that way by others, and to act that way in return. I reluctantly admit that I am a convert.

Stacy and Clinton, the hosts of the show, certainly know how to dress people to best effect. Part of the “shtick” is to ridicule and belittle the guests and to relentlessly question them about why they wear what they wear. Granted, many of the guests are in dire need of help and have made poor choices about their wardrobe, but I’m willing to bet that many of the people who come on your show don’t have a great deal of money to spend on their clothes to begin with, and often purchase clothing that is cheaply made, ill fitting and badly designed. When anyone uses “I don’t have the money for anything better” as an excuse for their wardrobe the answer is invariably “well now you have $5,000, so you can’t use that as an excuse anymore”.

You then proceed to dress people in $200 jeans, $100 shirts and $300 pairs of shoes. Some of the items cost less, of course, but in general your advice is to not be afraid to spend money on a quality piece of clothing. True, as far as it goes, but your persistent ridicule and scorn begins to feel very much like snobbery when many of us only have a few dollars to spend on clothing.

Spending $5,000, even over the course of a year, is completely and utterly unrealistic for many of us. In general I usually have about $20 at a time to purchase a piece clothing, and some people even consider that extravagant. I have bills that need to be paid, and it would be flatly irresponsible for me to go out and spend $100 on ONE sweater when that money is put to better use paying off bills.

I know there are good pieces of clothing out there at bargain prices, but I apparently don’t know how to find them. At my very best and most extravagant I have about $100 per month to spend on clothing. My challenge to you is to dress someone for a mere $1200 (this is assuming an entire year’s worth of shopping crammed into one episode). Even that budget is wildly extravagant for many of us but perhaps we can learn techniques on how to make good choices when we do purchase clothing.

I want to be well-dressed and look my best. How fun it must be to be given a visa card for $5,000 in order to purchase a whole new wardrobe. I recognize that your show is NOT about mocking people who don’t have the money to buy nice clothes – indeed; it’s about mocking people who make radically poor decisions about how to dress. Unfortunately, until you can take a more realistic approach to building a wardrobe on a budget, I think I’ve learned all that I can from your show.

Sincerely,

Kristin