They specialize in spells for frog princes!
An article by Various Sources 
Posted September 28, 2007
Stripping down and remaking couples is the focus of duo’s new show, Trinny & Susannah Undress
It’s a relief to be doing a phone interview with style police Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine because, this way, they can’t diss your clothes.
They are not good cop/bad cop. They are bad cop/bad cop.
Woodall and Constantine, stars of the insanely popular What Not to Wear makeover series, are launching a new couples’ show Trinny & Susannah Undress, which makes its North American debut Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. on BBC Canada. It launched in the U.K. last year.
They’ve been collaborating for 13 years. Both have backgrounds in fashion and style – Constantine worked with designer John Galliano for years.
They originally teamed up in 1994 to write Ready to Wear, a weekly style guide for The Daily Telegraph. In 2001, they launched What Not to Wear. Their stylebooks, which include What You Wear Can Change Your Life and The Survival Guide, are international bestsellers.
They embarked on a couple’s show because, “There’s a far more emotional dynamic between couples,” explains Woodall on the line from London.
But aren’t men indifferent about dressing? Don’t they just throw something on and get on with it?
“We thought so too, originally, but found it’s just the opposite,” says Constantine. “Before, the men were down and dirty but they were so grateful to have some attention paid to them. They are not catered to in the media except in high-end magazines. They understood our rules: that if they wear X, your legs will look longer. If you wear Y, your man boobs will disappear.”
“A lot of men feel that they can’t be emotional because it is not appropriate,” adds Woodall. “One man’s wife was so badly overweight, she never left home. He protected her and when she started to lose weight (she lost 38 kilograms), he felt redundant and unattractive. He let his teeth go and hated his belly.”
They made him over and he had an epiphany.
“When men get it, they get it,” Woodall says. “Women are more complicated – they have so much going on.”
What about men who are rooted in one style?
“When a man reaches the legal drinking age, that’s the style they glom onto and they stick to it,” says Constantine. “I have three kids. My fourth is my husband.”
As style gurus, they must feel pressure to look perfect in public.
“Yes, we do; we’ve been on the best- and worst-dressed lists,” admits Woodall. “But a doctor can have colds, as well.”
“If we are caught out and about, we dress to our body shapes and we’re true to ourselves,” says Constantine. “If people disagree with our colour schemes, that’s a fashion choice.”
“I have a professional make-up artist and hairdresser on hand when I go out for a bottle of milk,” cracks Woodall.
What is the number one worst sartorial sin?
“I think tenting yourself,” says Woodall. “A lot of women hide their figures because they don’t feel comfortable in their bodies. We believe that, no matter what size they are, every woman has an element of shape. No matter what shape they are, there are elements of the body that are smaller. If they hide everything, every part looks big.”
Both agree that the use of stylists makes celebs on the red carpet look homogenized. That said, they point out that few celebs have real style, with the exception of Kate Moss.
“You have to want to work at it and want to look good to have style,” says Constantine. “It’s not effortless. Kate Moss worked that look. She didn’t wake up as a teenager in Addiscomb with it.”
Woodall says she doesn’t have any singular style icon. “I’m influenced by our rules for dressing: if it’s not good for your body shape, don’t compromise.”
Constantine admires Cate Blanchett’s style.
“I have no idea what she looks like on an everyday basis because she keeps her private life private. But she’s sensational on the red carpet.”
What wouldn’t they be caught dead in?
“Leggings and skinny jeans,” replies Constantine. “I think leggings are hideous. Trinny wears them all the time but they were ugly in the ’80s and they are ugly now.”
“I’m too old to show my knees – they sag,” Woodall says defensively. “I cut the leggings off just below the knee. Otherwise your leg looks like a hammy leg of lamb.
“I bought a pair of skinny jeans on Saturday. I have short legs. You need long legs and they are bad on saddle bags.”
“Skinny jeans only look good on five people,” adds Constantine. “They suit petite people. I’m too top heavy.”
One last question. How about the Boyo, my insignificant other, who went from dressing homeless to home boy in big baggy hoodies and jeans? It’s cool at 15 but tragic at 49. What advice would they give me?
“Dump him,” they say in unison.
