Rihanna’s ‘Styled to Rock’ and 5 Other U.K. Fashion Reality Shows to Watch
Major pop star stages a fashion competition, recruits Henry Holland and a slew of musicians (including Katy Perry!) to take part ... and it's none of us Yanks get to see it because it's only airing in the U.K.?!? Yep, it's just a matter of days before the August 14 launch of Rihanna's Styled to Rock for Sky Living in the U.K., and we'll be darned if we can't find a way to watch it somehow (Uncle Sam wants you to YouTube, Brits!). In the meantime, we've rounded up a few other fashion reality show favorites that have yet to cross the pond. How you get your hands on them is between you, your Internet provider, and your long-lost British pen pal ...
Made in Chelsea: London's answer to The Hills, this series follows Chelsea's well-heeled rah-rah crowd as they shop, quaff champers, holiday in Dubai and Paris, shop, date everyone in their immediate circle, shop, host elaborate costume parties, and shop. Get the gist? The cast includes sweet Millie, a chocolate heiress turned Glamour intern with a taste for fur gilets and wide-brimmed hats, and Ollie, the long-maned, Union Jack print-obsessed wannabe male model who dumps Leno-jawed Gabriella to date boys ... then introduces his new girlfriend, Topshop heiress Chloe Green. #awkwarddahling
The Model Agency: Credit this 2011 Channel 4 reality show with stomping out any modeling ambitions we might have ever entertained. Filmed at London's Premier Model Management, which gave Naomi Campbell her start, the show provides a sharp look at the harsh criticism, exhaustion, and body scrutiny faced by young models like Julia Nobis. Meanwhile, a team of bookers led by Carole White—who is filmed giving testimony in the Charles Taylor war crimes trial over whether or not the Liberian dictator gave her former client Campbell a blood diamond—battle stress, sobfests, flaky models, and catfights to get the job done. So ... who do we have to beg for a second series?
Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model: Had too much of Tyra? Tune in to see what's happening across the pond, if only to see presenter Elle Macpherson and a judging panel comprised of Tyson Beckford, Whitney Port, and Julien Macdonald in action. Now in its eighth cycle, the U.K. version may lack the over-the-top antics of its American cousin, but the modeling talent is just as good. Or perhaps even better, judging by Cycle 5 runner-up Sophie Sumner's victory in ANTM's Cycle 18 U.S. vs. U.K. challenge.
Lily Allen: From Riches to Rags: Airing in 2011, this docu-series originally set out to give the singer's fans a behind-the-scenes look at her transition from pop star to fashion mogul as she opened the Lucy in Disguise boutique in London alongside half-sister Sarah Owen. But amidst the fashion shoots and vintage shopping, viewers were taken on an emotional rollercoaster as Allen announced her pregnancy, followed by the devastating birth of a stillborn baby. The series ends on a somber note, but we're happy to report that Allen (or Lily Rose Cooper, as she now prefers to be called) has since had a baby girl, gotten hitched, and is expecting both a second child and a new album. Lucy in Disguise, meanwhile, is still going strong, and the sisters have expanded into clothing design.
Snog Marry Avoid?: Save this guilty pleasure show for lazy weekend mornings. Having just wrapped its 5th series, the BBC Three show rounds up Britain's "slap addicts"—you've never seen this much fake tan and mascara in your life—and treats them to hard-core makeunders administered by a robotic "Personal Overhaul Device," aka POD. It's fairly ridiculous, and the accents are as thick as the makeup, but who doesn't love a touch of Schadenfreude when seeing beauty junkies wiping away layers of foundation and pulling out hair extensions?
