Fashion on the TeeVee

When I was a youngster I used to LOVE watching Fashion Television with Jeanne Beker, even though I thought she was a bit of a freak, and Fashion File with Tim Blanks, and CNN Style with Elsa Klensch when we eventually had cable.  Those shows were pretty much the only access I had to current fashion, with the exception of Vogue magazines which I bought with my allowance at the Heriot Bay Store from grade five onward.  I liked that they featured all the big international designers as well as lesser known ones, and had stories on models and like, shopping in Milan...  Occasionally one of my parents would watch with me, but it was pretty much the rule that I got control of the TV at seven on Saturdays to watch FT.

Then when I was in school there were years that I didn't have cable, and I was so immersed in everything fashion that I didn't need those programs.  Now when I catch one by chance, it makes me kind of nostalgic - that music on FT has been updated, Tim Blanks in gone, and I don't think CNN even has a style show any more.  But in this interwebby world, who really needs fashion on TV?  Most of the time when I happen to see one of those shows, it's a rerun (how totally pointless is that?) and even when

 it's "new" it's a few months old.  Or it a feature on Victoria's Secret, or Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, or worst of all: Christian Audiger's crapfest known as Ed Hardy.  Lordy, that is SO NOT fashion.  Please don't call him a designer!  But my point is, when you can get up-to-the-second twitter from the shows, or see pictures online immediately, and when the Sartorialist et al. are pointing out that the people on the street are just as hot, and every blogger has an opinion or ten, why bother with a TV show?  Fashion Television has a website (I'm sure they all do), but who really needs it, with everything else out there?  I did appreciate their coverage of Toronto Fashion Week, but I guess you need the Fashion Television Channel on your cable package to get any current coverage of it on TV.

Christian Audiger and models at the launch of his pet wear line.  Being interviewed for Fashion TV.