'You can't heal everything with fashion.'
By: Sally Orwin 
'You can't heal everything with fashion.'
So said Ali Redcliffe in the first episode of Material Girl, the BBC's new prime time drama in which she features as a central character. The series has been slated by the London Evening Standard, its Fashion Editor, Laura Craik, declaring: 'Material Girl is one of those jaw-droppingly ... dreadful pieces of television that barely deserves to be buried on ITV4 at midnight.', the BBC's new prime time drama in which she features as a central character. The series has been slated by the , its Fashion Editor, Laura Craik, declaring: ' is one of those jaw-droppingly ... dreadful pieces of television that barely deserves to be buried on ITV4 at midnight.'
I take issue with Ms Craik.
Setting aside the issue of whether it is good television, Material Girl is actually good fun. Budding fashion designer Ali dashes from the rue Saint-Honoré to Bond Street, to London's edgy East End, in Cesare Paciotti killer heels to a background score of chillout electronica. It's a bit of time-out escapism along the lines of Sex and the City and Ugly Betty, and quite possibly the dream of many young (and not so young) women.
It is also shot through with contemporary cultural assumptions about identity, and its influence, therefore, is far from benign. The BBC website describes the series as a drama about 'dreams, love, clothes and how we all use them to run away from who we are and towards who we should be'.
As Christians we face the tension of recognising that whilst fashion is an expression of human creativity, it also threatens as an idol: 'They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator', writes Paul in Romans 1:25. Imagine just a few of the consequences of knocking fashion off its potentially idolatrous pedestal, including elimination of sweat shops, reduction in unacceptable levels of waste and exploitation, and a more ethically focused approach to design. Last year's killer heels usually have plenty of mileage in them even as the new season's designs hit the shops after the January sales.
Up to a point, this was recognised in episode one of Material Girl, in which the plotline pivots round the creation of beautiful gowns for the BAFTA award ceremony. Our feisty heroine, Ali, chooses to design a gown for author Lyn Jones, whose book has been turned into a film, causing her to lament, 'They took my life and made it into one glossy sentimental lie'.
Our challenge in watching Material Girl lies in whether we can enjoy a romantic story about the joy of designing and creating beautiful things, without being seduced into believing that the lifestyle that surrounds it offers real hope and lasting joy in and of itself.
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