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Network: CW

Premiere: Wednesday, October 22, 9pm

Premise: Eleven aspiring fashion enthusiasts work as assistants to Anne Slowey, the fashion news director at Elle magazine, who fires one person per week until the last assistant left standing gets promoted for an editorial position at Elle.

As America's Next Top Model enters its 11th tedious season and Project Runway moves to Lifetime, the creators of ANTM and Project Runway bring us an exciting and new arena for bitchy and questionably talented people to compete in, called Stylista.

The eleven competing fashion wannabes on Stylista all have their eyes on the prize: a paid editorial position at Elle magazine, a paid lease on a Manhattan apartment and a clothing allowance at H&M, all for one year, valued at $100,000. They must all work as assistants to Anne Slowey, who holds their fate in her well manicured hands. She tells them when she is first introduced to the contestants: “If you are going to live in my world, you have to express your sense of taste and style in everything you do.”

Indeed, in the first challenge, the wannabes must arrange a satisfying and stylish breakfast tray for Ms. Slowey. Everyone lines up in front of her, holding their trays, and the terror in the hearts of the stylistas is made audible by their trembling hands shaking the contents of the trays. The visual tableau of Anne scowling down at them from atop her 12-inch heels is a thing to behold, although, if you ask me, she can’t hold a candle to Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada.

Among the contestants to look out for are the Marc St. James (from Ugly Betty) look-alike and the overweight mousy girl with owl glasses. Extrapolating from ANTM and Project Runway, I’m sure that we can expect liberal use of the word “fierce,” as well as contestants who are not there to make friends, but to make a good impression on Anne Slowey.

Billed as “The Devil Wears Prada reinvented as a reality series,” Stylista has the potential to be America’s Next Top Guilty Pleasure.


-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of CW)