{"id":840,"date":"2025-02-28T16:10:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T17:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosperitywithory.com\/?p=840"},"modified":"2025-05-13T02:08:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T02:08:24","slug":"so-chic-very-chic-fear-and-loathing-in-charleston-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosperitywithory.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/28\/so-chic-very-chic-fear-and-loathing-in-charleston-2\/","title":{"rendered":"So Chic, Very Chic: Fear and Loathing in Charleston"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is So Chic, Very Chic, <\/em>PAPER\u2019s examination of Bravo\u2019s sprawling cohort of fashion obsessives. From haute couture to TJ Maxx, they\u2019ve literally worn it all. Sometimes they stunt, sometimes they turn the look, and sometimes they burn holes in retinas my ophthalmologist says might never heal.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Every week, I am reminded that Charleston, South Carolina is a city that has not one, but two whole reality shows dedicated to about three blocks of street in what passes as their downtown. There are lovely people in most places, like I\u2019m sure there are in Charleston. But have they found any to put on TV just yet? Not really!<\/p>\n

Lovely might be in short supply, but thankfully, mess and aesthetic injectables are abundant in the South\u2019s hottest new bachelorette destination. Southern Charm<\/em>, Bravo\u2019s gruesome plantation fantasy, practically reads like a Juvederm ad for men. Women too, but haven\u2019t we taken enough whackings for our Botox budgets? <\/p>\n

As for the fashion, it\u2019s nice to see AliExpress propping up the boutiques of small town America! The show is usually edged out of these fashion roundups each week, partly for the aforementioned fashion, and partly because there\u2019s just too many of these damn shows. Thankfully, a lapse in the schedule has afforded it some breathing room this week, featuring enough outfits over 11 episodes to fill the column space The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/em><\/em> does in one scene.<\/p>\n

Shall we?<\/p>\n

Southern Charm<\/h3>\n

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Madison LeCroy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Princess Diana of the South is just about the only person worth watching this show for, and she accounts for most of the reason I still watch it outside of work. She\u2019s funny, intelligent and beautiful enough to wreck J.Lo\u2019s marriage to pro-athletes. That said, I like her the least in confessionals, where she\u2019s been removed from the Betty Crocker fantasy she\u2019s built for herself. This dress is tough, like most dresses on this show, but the voluminous side part and icy-white highlights more than make up for whatever is going on with the neckline. It\u2019s like looking into a mirror that shows what we wore in 2015, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n

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Speaking of Betty Crocker, here she is in her element: melancholy, married and more beautiful than any woman on earth … for the 15 minutes she\u2019s on TV every week, of course. Her husband is battling cancer this season, which has been devastating to witness, and her beauty has somehow blossomed in the role of grief-stricken homemaker. Whether she\u2019s consoling him on the golf course or on their palatial patio, there\u2019s something eternally radiant about the beachy waves, slick ponytails, collared golf dresses and wispy white napkin frocks. If there is a standard imposed on Southern mothers and wives to rich and powerful men, I think she\u2019s the mold. It\u2019s also shocking how effective it is on me each week, a feminist writer and briny critic. I should be above such effusive praise for the strictures of Southern womanhood, but alas! Those beachy waves got to me. <\/p>\n

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The fantasy breaks down somewhat when she shows up in scenes wearing outfits sent to both her and Paige, who\u2019s been a regular this season. We forget that they\u2019re both in the pocket of Big Amazon until the pink terry cloth co-ord rears its ugly head. While not terribly offensive at first glance, the looks arrive a full year in-universe post-Barbie<\/em>. A jailable offense in my books, and that\u2019s before we get to the matching belt or bra top.<\/p>\n

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Paige DeSorbo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since Paige is just a guest in Craig\u2019s Treehouse of Horrors, she hasn\u2019t received a confessional look this season. She has, however, shown up in a Baggu hat at a bee farm. I practically jumped out of my seat and said, \u201cThat\u2019s the Baggu hat!\u201d Everyone wave at it before it sells out again. <\/p>\n

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Venita Aspen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Venita is an influencer and fashion lover: two words that rarely precede good tidings. For the most part, her styles this season have been totally inoffensive, bordering on fun with an opposing border on cringe. There\u2019s a lot to like about this first dress, between the peekaboo lace and odd floral detailing. My personal favorite touch is the high collar, except I wish they\u2019d managed to construct it in a way where all the flowers don\u2019t bunch up and ruin the visual effect. Still, it\u2019s the exact right dress for an updo and too much blush, and she\u2019s nailed it. <\/p>\n

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This second look is rougher, between the lack of ironing and the too-big sleeves. I believe it\u2019s the same designer as another dress seen on The Real Housewives of Potomac<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Molly O\u2019Connell, Paige DeSorbo and Venita Aspen<\/strong><\/p>\n

These three looks best personify what the show gives each week: normie, tasteful dresses and denim and linen shirts and updos and chunky highlights and self-tanner. <\/p>\n

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Leva Bonaparte<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fans of Southern Hospitality<\/em> (the better show) will recognize Leva as the headmistress of Republic, Charleston\u2019s singular club. No, seriously. It\u2019s the only club in Charleston, and everyone on this show has either worked there or gotten blackout and hooked up with someone who works there. <\/p>\n

As the Lisa Vanderpump stand-in, Leva usually resorts to more formal clothing. Here, however, she\u2019s dressed like those early seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/em>, when Lisa Vanderpump\u2019s persona was less \u201cfrumpy old British landlord\u201d and more \u201cbusty sexed-up British landlord.\u201d It\u2019s fun! Even if corset dresses will be the thing we look back on like peplum tops and white bandage dresses of yesteryear.<\/p>\n

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Salley Carson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Salley is a newcomer this season. She\u2019s some sort of doctor and also a reality television personality. I\u2019m sure by this time next year, she\u2019ll have launched a health and wellness platform for pilates fanatics with a subscription based podcast to match. Why else would a doctor that looks like this choose to hang out with the booze fiends on this show?<\/p>\n

Despite being central to some drama this season, however, she hasn\u2019t gotten much confessional time to stretch her fashion legs. I\u2019m mostly ok with that, because this red dress and spray tan disappear from memory when I close my eyes at night and only re-appear when I sit down to write about them.<\/p>\n

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Taylor Ann Green<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear, sweet Taylor. Tortured, dating Craig, then breaking up with Craig, now dating some other guy. And all the while, she\u2019s spent half her time this season scowling in a corner, and the other half crying in a corner. She\u2019s been through a lot, not to mention her brother\u2019s death and her ex-boyfriend\u2019s new girlfriend and her new boyfriend\u2019s ex-girlfriend still hanging around. It\u2019s more than any woman should take! To play fair, even though I do want to talk about these looks, I\u2019ll keep things simple: The first is totally atrocious and that dress should be torched, while the second is totally fun and she should lean into Nashville bartender as her look next season. <\/p>\n

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Patricia Altschu<\/strong><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t remember which of these looks I\u2019d already torn apart this year, so why not re-litigate my deep hatred for both? Patricia is the Wicked Witch of Charleston, a role she takes to gladly, and dresses the part. If she\u2019s not in some garish kimono fished out from the bargain bin at a Palm Springs \u201cvintage\u201d store, she\u2019s in some other garish blazer with ostrich feathers glued to the cuffs. Her hair is as dry as the well of sympathy for women she has inside herself \u2014 her personality too, or her martinis. But those felt like low bars to clear with my usual metaphors.<\/p>\n

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Whitney Sudler-Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for Patricia\u2019s son, Whitney, he\u2019s popped up this season just a handful of times. Once, in a suit, slurring his words and falling on the ground. The second time in a tracksuit, slurring his words and drinking at noon with his sunglasses on inside. If I walked into any establishment and saw him sat there dressed like this, I\u2019d turn and leave, thinking it was a place for either alcoholics, the mob or businessman to hire people to sit on cakes and food while they watched. <\/p>\n

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Photos courtesy of Bravo\/NBCUniversal<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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