Disabled women take over makeover show

Three disabled women who want to feel better about their bodies and how they look and dress are set to feature in a Channel 4 makeover show.

The three-part “special”, How to Look Good Naked…With a Difference, also takes aim at the failure of high street retailers to use disabled people in fashion and advertising.

The three shows feature a wheelchair-user, a mum-of-three with a prosthetic leg and a blind magistrate, who all have problems with their own “body confidence”.

Presenter Gok Wan also brings 11 disabled volunteers together for a naked group photograph.

He said: “I was very nervous before going in and making these shows because I hadn’t worked with women with disabilities before.

“I didn’t know the language; I didn’t know the approach; so what I did is I said, ‘right, as far as I’m concerned, you’re like any other woman on How to Look Good Naked. I’m here to help you, I’m here to sort out your fashion, I’m here to make you feel better about yourself,’ and then they taught me about their disabilities and I tried to marry those two together.”

He described the group photo shoot – themed as a feast in a castle – as “very debauched, dark, lovely and beautiful”.

The first episode features Tracy Warren, from Leicestershire, who says she hates parts of her body and thinks she can never look sexy in her wheelchair.

As well as the trio of subjects, the three-part special also features journalist Nikki Fox and actress and writer Natasha Wood, both of whom want to see more disabled people represented on the high street, disabled Hollyoaks actress Kelly-Marie Stewart and Paralympic athlete John McFall.

The first episode is on Tuesday, 19 January, at 8pm on Channel 4.

12 January 2010