The 'TOWIE' look is tarty

[SirSugar]

trowelled on makeup, huge fake hair, pneumatic bosoms and ridiculous wedges.

What is so attractive about it, I just don't get it or am I missing something

I don't like the heavily made-up look. Or the hair extensions but I love the shoes!

I do not understand TOWIE or similar shows. I genuinely do not understand if they are meant to be 'look at these idiots and have a good laugh at their lifestyles' or 'let's follow this group of fascinating people around and grow to love them'.

I have seen one or two episodes and it's edited to reflect the first premise, but then the characters seem to be admired and cherished, too. Are we suppose to look up to them? Down on them? Or identify with them despite their differences? I wont do the first, wont do the second, and can't do the third.

I don't think the women are tarty. I think that word implies more than just appearance. I feel a bit sorry for them, having to be barbie dolls all the time. But maybe they like it.

[baffled shrug]

"I think it's 'normal' for teenage girls up and down the entire country to go school trowelled in foundation to be honest"

Well thats even more depressing.

BTW, I think the look is imported - an overmade up American cover girl look, which isn't good by the way, unless you are an American cover girl.

Or maybe its just a "porny" look. Nice

"Are women not allowed to dress as they please now?"

Who is saying that?

"I've no idea what the hell the TOWIE look is, I rarely watch television, but I do know that dismissing a style of dress as "tarty" is putting women right where some people might feel they belong."

It's no different to saying that someone looks "chavvy" or "pikey" or anything else IMO, and those apply equally to men.

Dunno. If I hear the word "tart" I think generally of friends (back in school) referring to a girl who has had more than the average amount of sexual encounters for someone of her age. There would be some other stereotypes too, like tiny skirts and dresses, boobs falling out regularly.

The girl in our school who everyone called a "tart" became known as such after it was claimed she had anal sex with a boy who wasn't even her boyfriend but they didn't have any condoms or lube so he just used a plastic bag.

I hate the word because it implies that a woman should be judged by her sexuality, sexual experiences or a style of dress or attitude which may give suggestions of promiscuity, none of which are our business.

I'm not a fan of their style but I don't think it's terrible. It's not like some of the outfits Jodie Marsh wore, like the belts or tape dresses... They seem to take fashion very seriously and have a particular style. It'd be boring if everyone dressed the same.

somedayma I actually do think that women who dress like that hurt other women and affect their lives, especially the lives of impressionable and insecure young girls who see these people constantly paraded by the media and inevitably draw the conclusion that this is what the world wants from women. And lo and behold, the rest of the world follows suit and starts demanding this more and more from women because they're increasingly brainwashed to think that it's normal, attainable and desirable. Behaviour and dress that was rare and ridiculous when I was a child/teen is now the norm. 'Frumpy' women are increasingly sidelined and sneered at, not just by the body-fascist glossies that have always made their money from peddling such beliefs, but by the mainstream media and by the man in the street.

Yes, I do judge women who, through the way they dress (and behave generally), perpetuate these attitudes. Sorry if that pisses you off, but women being sold out by other women enabling toxic attitudes pisses me off. Society always has a new way of keeping women insecure and preoccupied. The last thing we need is other women giving the process a helping hand.

I have been thinking about this for too long today. I think the look is rather Footballers' Wives. New money not County set or old money.

I also can't work out whether you are supposed to laugh at the characters or copy them.

Good post sereneswan. Could Angela Merkel ever be PM in the UK with her dowdy looks yet brilliant mind? The tabloids would rip her to shreds. It is looks and not substance that is valued by the media.

The Towie look is AGEING. Apprently most of these girls are late teens to early twenties. They all look like 40 somethings.

I hate them for the false lash nonsense, proper Vegas style eyelashes are everywhere now. A young teller had them on in the bank the other day. I suppose in some ways it's similar to women in 16th and 17th centures, painting their faces with lead, vermillion on the cheeks, beauty spots galore.

But why do they want to look like female inperosnators?

I wouldn't imagine they find Boden-clad, middle-aged mums attractive either but we all think we look nice.

*empirestateofmind " I had this exact conversation last week. Amazingly our papers seem to be sufficiently baffled by her general appearance to leave her alone on this front. Although DM a few weeks ago was having a field day about Hilary Clinton's scrunchie (shock horror!) and lack of makeup (well, what they deem a lack of makeup, ie fairly subtle) and dare I even mention the pages upon pages of French First Lady comparison and analysis after the elections...

Yes I saw that too sereneswan, it is so depressing. Brilliant women and their achievements are completely ignored and all you see in the DM are pretty young girls who don't seem to have done much at all.

Is Angela Merkel frumpy? She looks just like a normal woman of her age to me, perfectly fine. And I do think the TOWIE, glamour girl look is damaging. I'm glad sometimes I have boys and not girls who are constantly under huge pressure to look like these girls who they often look up to. And yes they do look much older then their years,harder, and like drag queens and they pay a fortune and take hours to look like this. I can't help but judge and think there is something a bit off with their thinking even if they do have degrees from Oxbridge or whateva.

Poor Angela. She undertook an extensive makeover when she became Chancellor. She used to get a lot more flak from the German media.

I dislike TOWIE teeth. Chloe Sims looks like she has full set of dentures in her trout pout mouth. I don't how much she paid her dentist to have teeth like that but what a waste of money! She does not have an attractive smile. Chloe Sims seems like a nice lass, she has admitted to being insecure and it is a real shame she has fallen victim to the plastic barbie look. I bet she looked far more attractive before the cosmetic teeth and silly cone boobs. She has a daughter, Madison, who will undoubtedly want to copy her mother's look as she gets older. What a shame having all that fakeness as a role model. It's just not healthy in my opinion.

I know a bird who would drop her pants for a a jaffa cake and a shot of Dr Pepper.

She didn't wear any of that. In fact she covered up a lot.

Tarty is a shit word.

I don't like the look but some women pull it off really well.

If I did it I'd look like an ommpah loompah

I think they look awful, completely awful. And they certainly made sure no-one would be seen dead in those band style dresses. They've "burberry-d" the shit out of them.