'Ab Fab' takes fashion follies to Big Apple

By Samantha Critchell
Associated Press

Edina (Jennifer Saunders), left, and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) head to New York for fashion inspiration in an episode of the British comedy "Absolutely Fabulous." Associated Press

That's what the British Broadcasting Corp. was counting on when it brought the TV series, which is seen in the United States on Comedy Central, to Manhattan last fall during the height of the runway season.

The cross-Atlantic trip makes sense for several reasons:

• Patsy, played by Joanna Lumley, is a true fashionista, and in "Absolutely Fabulous in New York," the audience learns the former magazine editor has been hired by a chic London boutique as its creative director. She comes to New York, wearing her best Ivana-Trump-lookalike outfit, with the intention of finding inspiration.
• Edina, played by Jennifer Saunders, needs a new city to show off her trendy-yet-ill-fitting wardrobe that includes a J.Lo-style warmup suit and too many pairs of thong underwear.
• These middle-aged women — who wear so much makeup that it takes 30 minutes to take off — blend in with the rest of the Fashion Week crowd, including editors, retailers and quasi-celebrities, like high-priced foundation.

And Edina and Patsy's champagne-swilling, constantly-coifing antics are only slightly exaggerated from real life.

"When we first tackled the fashion industry in early shows, we thought the fashion industry would hate us, but, suddenly, people were saying 'thank you.' They said 'thank you for noticing us,' " says executive producer Jon Plowman.

At times during the weeklong New York shoot, it was almost impossible to delineate fiction from reality.

Parts of the episode, which premieres Feb. 8 in the United States, were filmed during the Jared Gold fashion show, and Harper's Bazaar magazine threw a hot-ticket party that boasted a live musical performance by Deborah Harry, who also turns up in an "Ab Fab" cameo role.

"I'm a fan of the show," says Glenda Bailey, Bazaar editor in chief. "And I think Patsy has a very eclectic taste and unique sense of style."

Lumley, Patsy's alter ego and a former model, also didn't disappoint Bailey: Lumley showed up to the party wearing a white lace blouse and leather blazer.

Saunders, though, says that in real life she doesn't pay too much attention to fashion. She attends friend — and fellow Londoner — Betty Jackson's runway shows but more for moral support than to do any preseason shopping, Saunders says.

She admits, though, taking a fancy to some of Edina's wacky shoes, including the cow-print clogs she wore in New York.

Saunders works with costume designer Rebecca Hale to come up with Edina's grown-up-hippie-slash-designer-slave look.

Hale says she strives for a balance between fashion victim and fashion icon for each of the show's characters. "They can be victims because they have to have the latest looks, but they're icons because they are so over the top. They treat life as theater."

Can viewers who shop at the mall and consider "a new season" to mean a change in weather relate to all the fashion jokes on "Ab Fab"?

"Fashion is a very visible joke," says Saunders, who also writes the show. "It's easy to put together the wrong outfit and get a laugh, but it's also an inside joke, too, so everyone is happy."