Simply Gok Wan Lingerie Blog

Unless you’ve been on another planet for the past week or do you can’t have failed to have come across the reality TV show phenomenon that is Susan Boyle.

This fabulously talented lady stunned the judges of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, as well as the general public of Britain itself, with her incredible singing voice.

However, most of the incredulity seems to be a consequence of the fact that, from looking at Susan, people did not expect her to sound the way she did. It’s not so much that people are amazed by her talent (talented as she), it’s that such a person could be so talented.

This just goes to show how much, as a society, we judge a book by its cover.

So should somebody like Gok Wan give Susan Boyle a makeover to make the cover match the book?

Some say yes, why shouldn’t she get a bit of pampering? Others say no, she’s perfect just as she is and why should she have to be made to conform to what we expect a singer to look like?

From my point of view, Gok Wan makeovers are more designed to benefit the recipient rather than those around them. He makes people over because they feel down about themselves and they need a confidence boost - not because he thinks that they really need to look better. He thinks that as long as people are happy then they are great just the way they are, as his show Miss Naked Beauty clearly demonstrated.

Susan Boyle is happy and bursting with personality and confidence, which really shines through. So if you ask me she doesn’t need a makeover from Gok Wan - or anybody else for that matter.

Whatever you’ve thought of Gok Wan’s last show Miss Naked Beauty, I definitely think that the right girl won - well done to 20 year old Shona Collins. Shona definitely ticked all the right boxes for me - intelligent, articulate, funny, curvy, gorgeous, and with her petite figure and flame red hair she is the perfect spokewoman for the women that are underrepresented (or not representated at all) by the beauty industry. Go girl!

And in case you start getting Gok withdrawal symptoms, Gok’s new series of How to Look Good Naked has already started!

Gok Wan never ceases to amaze me with all the projects he gets up to.

Adding to his long list of projects which includes the Gok Wan lingerie range for Simply Yours, Miss Naked Beauty currently on TV, a new series of How to Look Good Naked coming next year, his current book How to Dress and a documentary on obesity focussing on his own drastic weight loss he has now launched… a book on how to look fabulous when flying!

Gok Wan teamed up with Air New Zealand to produce the style guide ‘Looking Fly in the Sky’, which covers everything from packing advice, to in-flight chic, to hair and beauty tips.

Gok Wan:

“Arriving at your destination looking fresh and fabulous is important, whether flying for business or pleasure.”

“I’m not recommending the old style elasticated waistband trousers but you want to be as comfortable as possible.”

Here are some top travelling tips from Gok:

- Exposure to air conditioning for any length of time can dry out your skin. Pack a rich hand cream with Vitamins A,C and D which will replace moisture to the skin instantly. And use it on your feet and elbows too!

- Take a change of clothes for the plane. A light-weight tracksuit is ideal and ladies, a pashmina is great for snuggling down on long haul journeys!

- Layering is super easy: the key is to use block colours for simplicity and make sure your top layer is easy to remove allowing you to control your own personal temperature gauge while on board. Mixing knits is so this season!

- Guys: to avoid looking like Russell Brand on a bad hair day, don’t put product in your hair before the flight. Just before landing nip to the loo and style away. Don’t use too much - there’s nothing worse than a chip shop mop!

Gok Wan’s guide will be available from the Air New Zealand website.

Source

Don’t forget you can catch Gok Wan tonight on Children in Need!

Gok Wan’s new show has definitely been causing mixed reactions throughout the media. Whist I personally am getting somewhat addicted to Miss Naked Beauty some people are less than impressed and have been saying it is humiliating to the women taking part.

The way I see it, the women are being made to face up to their fears, which is never going to be easy. And Gok is doing it the best way he knows how - using the outrageous, straight to the point tactics he is known for. Which, let’s face it, get results! I for one am fed up with women hating their bodies and am glad Gok is trying to do something about it. Gok always asks them, right before hand if they are ok to do a specific challenge and they are free to say no. No-one said that How to Look Good Naked was humiliating and that used the same ‘cruel to be kind’ technique - because we saw how much happier with themselves the people on it were afterwards and how it changed their lives.

Now some of the contestants in Miss Naked Beauty clearly still have a lot of hang-ups. If they find some of the challenges hard it’s because of the negativity about themselves they’ve been ingrained with by society - the negativity Gok is trying to get rid of. And as an end result they not only stand to feel happier about themselves but also to help change the lives of other women by trying to liberate them from those negative feelings too. So the hang ups have got to go!

Saying that it’s humiliating to be seen without make-up or to show a part of your body is like admitting that there is something to be ashamed of in that un-made-up face or about that body part. And Gok is saying that there is nothing to be ashamed of - in fact, it’s something to be proud of.

But there I go, ranting on again! Let’s hear it from the man himself Gok Wan, as he defends Miss Naked Beauty:

Whilst Gok Wan continues in his quest for natural beauty in Miss Naked Beauty, ruling out girls with boob jobs etc, it’s seems the world is getting more and more surgery obsessed.

The other day whilst channel surfing I caught a snippet of Richard and Judy’s new show where a woman was reporting on all the latest beauty crazes from Hollywood. Amongst them were a new kind of spray tan where not only do you get the usual all over tan but also ’spray on’ muscle definition, plus a relatively new craze for… wait for it… cosmetic toe surgery!

Now while I totally understand someone needing to undergo surgery to remedy painful problems with your feet I think that having a piece of bone surgically removed from your toe in the name of aesthetics is a bit much! Apparently it’s all been brought on by those open toe shoes and sandals with your feet on show - the next step up from a pedicure (a very big step to my mind!) And it’s particularly popular for ladies whose second toe is longer than their big toe. But I say it’s things like that that make you human - normal in fact. And I think that’s what Gok Wan is trying to say with Miss Naked Beauty too.

And as for the spray on muscle tone… if you’re after a great shape you’d be much better off investing in some Gok Wan lingerie, it will last a whole lot longer! And it definitely won’t wash off in the shower - though I wouldn’t recommend trying it

Last night after getting in from the gym then eating a large bowl of spaghetti, it was finally time for the Gok Wan show everyone is talking about. I watched Miss Naked Beauty with some trepidation at first, as admittedly I had had my doubts about it and didn’t want Gok Wan to let me down. But I am most relieved to say - he didn’t.

One of the main reasons I was pleasantly surprised at Miss Naked Beauty was because the girls who auditioned were only told they were trying out for an ‘alternative’ beauty contest - not one that involved feeling beautiful in their natural state.

It was wonderful to see so many confident women of all shapes and sizes standing up on the stage proclaiming why they were happy with themselves, regardless of the myriad ways in which they differed from ‘mainstream’ ideals of beauty. They had grown to accept and love themselves as they were - which is the only way you can ever really be beautiful. Of course, as you might expect from women who entered themselves into a beauty contest, there were also plenty of women who wouldn’t look out of place in any conventional beauty show, who didn’t really have a whole lot ot come to terms with.

After this fabulous show of confidence and inspiring words I was quite amazed at how some of them broke down when they had to remove every scrap of make-up. It seemed that for some their confidence was washed away with the foundation, mascara and lippy. Two women shown could hardly bear to look at themselves in that state - truly a sorry state of affairs for women who have just been marching down Blackpool pier in their bikinis, spouting about self-confidence.

Miss Naked Beauty contestant Lucinda, after the make-up comes off

Lucinda with and without the make-up

The show’s not perfect. I would have liked to see a few more plus size girls in the final 12 (I don’t think any of them are bigger than a 14). Doing a quick skim of the forums this morning a few people seem irked that the finalists are too conventionally beautiful. I however think they just look… well… normal. The kind of women you see walking down the street every day, which I think is what the show is aiming for. They want contestants women can identity with. They could have tried to challenge people conceptions of ‘beauty’ further, definitely, but it’s a big step in the right direction. And, after all the show is still called Miss Naked Beauty and they have always said that looks will play a (small) part - though perhaps a slightly bigger part for Loaded founder and judge James Brown!

A few blogs and forums have said that it might have helped if co-host Myleene didn’t look quite so meticulously made-up when consoling the blubbing newly make-up free contestants. Admittedly I did shout ‘well take your make-up off then!’ at the TV screen at this point (waking my other half from his snooze on the sofa) but perhaps after she spent however many weeks au naturel in the jungle this is a bit harsh.

I also don’t think all those ‘blink and you don’t quite miss them’ graphic naked boob shots were strictly necessary, (I hope I haven’t just encouraged a bucket load more spam with that line) but I’ll put that down to Channel 4’s ‘creative’ editing. Mind you Gok does love his bangers!

Next week’s episode looks to be a corker. The taster of what’s to come showed the amazonian gothic goddess Dawn yelling down a megaphone to other women in the middle of a busy high street so I’m pretty intrigued to find out what that’s all about. Defintley not the image of a demure beauty queen!

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised when it came to Miss Naked Beauty. If you had asked me whether I thought women really need any kind of ‘beauty ambassador’ I’d be inclined to say no. But if it’s a tough, intelligent, confident woman bursting with personality who’s out to inspire women to accept themselves and be happy the way they are, in today’s climate - then yeah actually, I think that’s a pretty good thing.

Images from here.

Well we’ve waited a long time but Gok Wan’s beauty contest is on this very evening! Miss Naked Beauty is on at 8pm on Channel 4. You can get all the low down here.

I don’t know about you but I reckon those girls on the Misss Naked Beauty page look pretty scary with all that make up and hairspray on - it’ll be nice to see them with it all scrubbed off!

Gok Wan Miss Naked Beauty contestants

In tonight’s opening episode, over 7,000 hopeful beauties are put through their paces by Gok Wan in a series of tough challenges. 25 will be selected to go on, which will then be whittled down to the final 12.

It sounds like the girls don’t even know what they stand to win at this stage - which seems amazing as the winner will get a whole new job as the beauty ambassador for Channel 4, and get to work with Gok Wan. They must just have decided to do it for the pure love of Gok Wan. And let’s face it - who would blame them?

Check back tomorrow for my full review of Gok Wan’s Miss Naked Beauty - episode 1!

Gok Wan’s new show Miss Naked Beauty is set to air next week on Tuesday the 21st October on Channel 4. Gok seems to be causing a bit of a kafuffle with the controversial new six part series - and I’m not just talking about all the eager Gok Wan fans desperate to see him back on our screens.

With Channel 4 claiming Miss Naked Beauty is reintroducing feminism to a new audience ‘by stealth’ whilst Gok saying the show is about ‘reclaiming the 1950s beauty pageant’ there is bound to be a little confusion. I mean, just how feminist can a beauty pageant - any kind of beauty pageant - really be?

So let’s take look at the arguments for and against what Miss Naked Beauty is doing.

The Defence

• Gok is doing this to set women free from ‘beauty fascism’ and oppressive beauty regimes‘

‘When I was doing How To Look Good Naked, I was shocked by the lengths to which women went to attain a preconceived idea of beauty. They created armour for themselves by slapping on loads of make-up, they damaged themselves terribly with plastic surgery, fake tans, fake nails and hair extensions. Their efforts to achieve this impossible ideal was endless and it was madness.’

• Miss Naked Beauty is trying to put across that there is not just one way of being beautiful. Sue Murphy, head of features at Channel 4 said they wanted to:

 ’subvert the traditional beauty contest format with the message that there’s not one image of beauty perfection. I wanted to get across the message that if women strive to achieve that impossible image, they will be unhappy.’

And Gok Wan’s thoughts?

‘I’m flabbergasted by the increasingly restricted, stereotyped and narrow image of what beauty has become for women.’    ‘ I just want women to realise that they don’t have to conform to these stereotypes to feel sexy and gorgeous’

• It’s about brains too. Gok says Miss Naked beauty will be:

 ’judged not just on what she looks like, but also on her brains, her spirit, her attitude and her intelligence’

The Prosecution

• It’s still a beauty pageant and women will still be judged on their looks as well as other factors
• From a truly feminist standpoint, it shouldn’t really be important for women to have to feel sexy and gorgeous all the time full stop as htey shouldn’t need to - whether it’s feeling sexy and gorgeous in their natural state or otherwise
• It could be said that ‘natural beauty’ is just as difficult to achieve as ‘artifical beauty’ ie to have glowing skin and shiny hair takes a lot of moisturing, exfoliating etc Is it just swapping a ‘beauty’ regime for a ‘grooming’ regime?
• One of the judges in James Brown founder editor of lads mag ‘Loaded’. Hmm.

Anything else to consider?

What about co-host Myleene Klass - anything to add about your experiences?

‘The more I started working, the more my weight and the way I looked became an issue,’ she said. ‘I’d be told I had got a job, but only if I could lose a stone in two months. I wore make-up so thick every single day for four years that it was like a mask. I imagined that no one could possibly like me if I wasn’t wearing that mask, because I didn’t like myself without it,’ she said. ‘I was unable to leave the house without it.’

Let’s hear from one of the Miss Naked Beauty contestants, 21 year old student Shona Collins:

‘According to the fashion industry, I’m very far from what a beautiful woman should look like. I’m 5ft 4in, a size 12 to 14 - depending on the day and the shop - and have prominent teeth because of a brace I wore as a child which pushed them forward.

‘This argument that real beauty lies within is not a new argument but it is a very pertinent one. At university, I’m surrounded by beautiful, intelligent women who are miserable about the way they look. There is still a huge emphasis on how women look and the pressure on us is ridiculous.’

Any final thought from you Mr Gok Wan? (Well, this is a blog all about him and his lingerie range!)

‘I’d like to prove to every single woman watching the programme that they have the capability to enjoy being themselves. By stripping away all the façade, and getting rid of the make-up and all the bows and bangles, what’s left is women standing united and together and confident.’

Thanks Gok!

And the verdict?

Well I haven’t watched Miss Naked Beauty yet… so I’ll tell you this time next Wednesday

What do you think?

Sources here and here