Material Girl

Yesterday I watched the last episode of BBC's new series Material Girl based on the novel Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edward-Jones. Now I am a huge fan of BBC book adaptations, especially the classics, which are simply divine: great actors, beautiful costumes and realistic sets. In a nutshell: top notch! Naturally the source material is also great, they are classics for a reason and the BBC always brought them in a fresh and highly entertaining fashion.

So I never thought I'd say this but Material Girl was the biggest load of bollocks I have ever seen. I never thought the BBC would be capable of such complete and utter nonsense. The acting was abominable, the plot was predictable and borderline bad and the setting good lord! It was colorful, happy, girly and a complete and utter insult to women who actually have a brain and do more with their life than playing with pompons.

The non-existing story revolves around Ali Redcliffe who is an up-and-coming fashion designer working for Devina Bailey fashion icon / bitch (Devil wears Prada anyone?) She gets fired and with some help from a rich and handsome American starts her own label. Some obvious backstabbing, bitching and boyfriends later, all's well that ends well. Simply sickening!



Ok, I occaisionally read chick lit for diversity's sake, I like to shop put purely on a functional basis and was simply addicted to Sex and the City so I'm not a hater of all things girly and I was quite excited that there was a) a new BBC adaptation, b) something contemporary and c) something funny and girly. How wrong I was! I basically tortured myself for six weeks in a row, hoping it would get better but it simply got worse. I just couldn't believe the BBC, creator of quality TV, was capable of creating such shit. Where are Austen and Dickens when you need them?

I'm still in denial really and am thus blaming the obviously bland and superficial book. I'm not saying fashionista's are stupid but life's more than pretty dresses and pictures people! But that still leaves the acting which is simply painful and over the top. Maybe this was done on purpose to add some more kitsch to the already nauseating mix but all in all, Material Girl is a simple travesty created for brain-dead bimbos and unintentional masochists like myself.