Dressing carefully for the event, 600 students listened Monday to The Learning Channel’s Clinton Kelly discuss his philosophies on body image and the behind-the-scenes workings of his show, “What Not to Wear.”
Many members of the sold-out audience at Ryan Family Auditorium prefaced their questions for Kelly with disclaimers about their own outfits. Kelly and his co-host, Stacy London, give makeovers to fashion victims nominated by their friends and family. Kelly came to Northwestern as part of A&O Productions’ Alumni Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Northwestern Alumni Association. Kelly received a master’s degree in journalism from NU in 1993.
The audience members, familiar with Kelly’s preference for structured jackets and shoes with pointy toes, laughed and nodded in recognition when he referred to specific episodes.
“Hi, Clinton. I don’t wear chunky shoes anymore because of you,” one audience member said before asking a question. Another said: “Hi, Clinton. You got my mom to stop wearing seasonal sweaters. Thank you so much!”
Audience members asked several questions about the workings of the show. Kelly said they do actually make their participants give up their entire wardrobe, which is donated to the Salvation Army. He said he and London spend a lot of off-camera time with the participants, helping them shop and adjust to their new look. The show uses an hour’s worth of tape for every minute of footage used on the show.
“That’s a long time to be in the 360-room with someone who smells, let me tell you,” he said, referring to the small mirrored room in which the show’s participants look at themselves from every direction.
Kelly worked as a women’s magazine editor for many years before he said he became bored and auditioned for “What Not to Wear.” He told the audience that they should take advantage of how long life is.
“Go ahead and be poor in your twenties, it really doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s fun to be poor in your twenties … It’s so chic!”
Kelly also shared his thoughts on why so many women dislike their bodies, a prevalent theme throughout his show.
“It’s all about you and it’s not about you at all,” he explained to the audience.
Self-confidence can come from feeling good about one’s appearance and helps people achieve great things, he said. But at the same time, people shouldn’t expect themselves to look like models, Kelly said, using a advertisement for soap as an example.
“That’s not about you at all,” he said. “That’s about the soap.”
After the speech, Kelly sat on the edge of the stage, surrounded by a group of women, signing posters and copies of his book “Dress Your Best.”
Medill freshman Jessica Huang said that as a fan of his show, nothing about Kelly’s speech necessarily surprised her, calling him her “hero.”
“I was surprised by the fact that he was so articulate,” Weinberg freshman Sasha Tuzel said. “He was legitimately funny.”
Reach Diana Samuels at [email protected].
