From the time Stacy London burst onto the
public scene with her 2002 debut in TLC's
What Not to Wear, she has spoken openly about
her experiences in the fashion world. Her
no-nonsense, edgy humor made her an instant
star on the show, and the good news is she
wasn't faking it. There's a very real person
with a lot of depth behind all that style
imagination. Let's take a look at some of
the lesser-known facts about Stacy London.
Her signature silver streak
One of London's signature looks is the silver
streak of hair that frames her face. What
people might not know about the natural highlight
is that she's had it since she was a kid.
When she was six years old, London was diagnosed
with psoriasis, an autoimmune disease that
can cause a rough, scaly rash anywhere on
a person's skin. Then, when she was 11, she
dealt with repeated bouts of strep throat
that wound up sending her psoriasis into overdrive.
She woke up one day completely covered in
red scales, and spent the next two years dealing
with cracked, scaly skin and full-body rashes
that even covered her scalp.
"Growing up I felt ashamed. I felt embarrassed.
I felt afraid."
To treat the rash on her scalp, she had to
cover it with tar every night, which her mother
would then scrub off with boric acid each
morning. She eventually got so tired of this
that she shaved off her long dark hair and
opted for a crew cut — and although it made
the tar and boric acid treatments easier,
London wrote in her 2012 book, The Truth About
Style, that the haircut "didn't just make
me feel less girly — it made me feel less
human."
She eventually found a topical steroid that
cleared up the psoriasis, and when her hair
grew back, the silver streak emerged, and
she's run with it ever since, calling it a
"badge of honor."
Body image issues
When contestants on What Not to Wear were
facing their own struggles with weight and
not feeling comfortable in their own skin,
London could relate. After the misery of her
experience with psoriasis — during which
time she was relentlessly bullied by the kids
at her school — London developed body dysmorphia,
which she's struggled with ever since. During
her youth, for a long time she didn't want
to look at herself in the mirror,
London admits that when she does look
at her reflection, what she sees is not necessarily
reality.
The reality show alum has battled anorexia,
which left her hospitalized in her 20s. Her
weight eventually stabilized, but she struggled
again when she quit smoking in 2008, gaining
15 pounds in three months. This strained the
show's resources: since the budget didn't
allow for a new wardrobe, she had to fit into
the clothes she had. She explained her feelings
to the Washington Post, saying, "It affected
me. I was very moody, embarrassed and disappointed
in myself."
Smarts to spare
London's whip-smart quickness on camera are
thanks in part to her impressive academic
credentials: In addition to her incisive fashion
advice, London graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
Vassar College in upstate New York with a
degree in philosophy and German literature.
She credits her father with the decision to
study something apart from fashion, even though
that was her desired field, saying, "My father
gave me great advice, he told me, 'You should
go to college and study what you love. You
should study something that teaches you lifelong
skills, like how to write, read, and think
critically. You can take that and do anything
with it.'"
Indeed, shortly after college she lan ded
a job at Vogue and became climbing the ladder
from there. She went on to become a senior
fashion editor at Mademoiselle magazine but
four years into her dream job, a new editor-in-chief
came in and gave London the boot. While London
was understandably disappointed with being
let go, she has said that she was glad to
have experienced the blow because it taught
her how to really pull herself back up.
"If you can see yourself in a new way, then
you can believe yourself in a new way"
TV as a happy accident
Although London is a natural fit for a TV
role, it's not something she ever set out
to do. After leaving Mademoiselle, London
was working as a freelance stylist when her
agent called and said that there was a small
screen stylist opportunity, and she might
be a good fit. She did four screen tests over
the course of eight months, but with the high
level of competition at play for the job,
she was sure she wouldn't be the one to land
the role.
She was on vacation in Spain with her family
when her agent called and told her that she
was one of 27 finalists who were asked to
come in for a fifth screen test — and she
almost didn't go. She remembered, "I said
'What do you mean? If they want me, I've done
all these screen tests, why do I have to do
another one? I'm not leaving Spain.' I hung
up the phone and my stepmother said 'We're
putting you on a plane tomorrow, and you're
going to do the screen test and it's going
to change your life.'"
As it turns out, those were wise — and very
true — words from her stepmom.
Commentary cut-downs
Although What Not to Wear proved to be her
biggest career break, it came with its own
struggles. London detailed the downsides of
having a public profile in an article for
Refinery29, writing, "When I started What
Not to Wear, people hated me. They said I
was a bitch, that I had no right to tear people
down, and who in the hell did I think I was
in the first place."
She eventually explained that any criticism
she offered guests of the show was simply
part of the routine — "to help break down
their blind spots and build them back up with
a sense of self-esteem they deserved."
Of course, there were some times she was a
bit nicer about it than others.
"We're gonna trash all this crap."
Style change
While she was on What Not to Wear, London
wore lots of dresses and pencil skirts — and
while she looked indisputably fabulous, those
clothes aren't really her jam anymore. After
the show ended, she was ready to say goodbye
to the floral pencil skirt and stilettos aesthetic
once and for all, telling The Huffington Post,
"It's not like I don't love a stiletto, but
hey, I had hamstring surgery, I'm 45, you
know, some things have to change."
Now that she's able to make more of her own
style choices, she's been much more drawn
to suits, leather, and pants than to the girly
outfits featured on the show. She thinks people
might be surprised by some of the things she's
sporting around town without the cameras in
tow. Hey, as the show so often promoted, it's
never too late for a style change!
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