GirlBoss: a trendy show or a fashion cliché?

By Jen.

At this point, we don’t have to explain our Netflix obsession. It’s so big that we take it for granted, as if every show they present us is going to be the ultimate success. And well, unfortunately that’s not the rule for #GirlBoss, the show inspired in the book of the same name, the autobiography off Nasty Gal’s founder.

I’m not going to lie. I knew some vague details about Sophia Amoruso and I didn’t read the book. It never caught my eye and I’ve never considered her a guru whatsoever. And after watching the show and doing a bit more research on her, there’s much to think and to say about it…

Let’s start from the fact that the trailer looked pretty interesting, fierce if you want. We were introduced to this young girl with a cool style and some kind of a business mindset and fearless enough to make everything happen. But after just a few minutes we realize that this is nothing more than the story of a spoiled girl who wants easy money and doesn’t care for what it takes to get it. Through all the show we watch her steal, eat from a dumpster (this is real according to Amoruso herself), lie to get what she wants and even fighting with her best friend after she tells her that her job is basically shit and any intern can do it so she’s not going to hire her.

Sophia Amoruso (left) is the executive producer of the show, and it's played by
Britt Robertson (right)

Well, but this is all fiction, you might say. Or almost. The show states very clearly at the beginning of every episode that this is “a loose retelling of true events”. But even if this is just a 10% real fact we have to ask: is it necessary to perpetuate the stereotype that we create about business just been possible for people without principles that don’t care about stepping in other people’s toes? And, if Amoruso, as an executive producer, agreed to show this portrait of herself, is this the truth about her?

Speaking specifically about the show, we’re not witnessing any memorable performance or an outstanding narrative. Some of the episodes are completely irrelevant, such as the one when when the vintage sellers collude to attack Nasty Gal and the language I spoken exactly as if we were reading of the internet, literally, saying this like LOL, out loud. It’s not amusing nor funny. Something good? Annie, Sophia’s best friend, and a role most people say was created for the purpose of the show, and the clothes, which are not the most fancy or creative, but have a certain coolness that make us think for a minute that Amoruso can be a fashionista.

 

The character of  Annie (right) charms everyone.

Every successful story has a villain. Mark Zuckerberg is a college drop-out who faced millionaire suits claiming that he stole the idea behind Facebook from someone else. The other day I watched the movie ‘The Founder’ just to realize that Ray Kroc, the guy who put McDonalds on the map, took the idea from the McDonalds brothers and kick them out when he realized they didn’t want to expand. He bougth the idea and the name, which was the right thing to do, but he tricked them into a verbal agreement for royalties that he never honored. Yes, business is shit.

But it’s even shittier to know how women like Amoruso wave the flag for feminism too look like the superheroes that achieved everything and then show their true colors, as raw capitalists that just want to be celebrities.

This particular scene, after Sophia and her boyfriend have sex on a
pile of bills, is so lame and cliche it made me wanna cry.

Just four months before the premier of #GirlBoss on Netflix, Nasty Gal filed for bankruptcy, in November of 2016. This was a year after its founder stepped aside as CEO of the company, saying that she was more a creative mind than a managing one. But for her employees the message was very different: the captain jumping off the sinking ship. And even worse, there were no few law suits claiming for unfair working policies, including several female employees who said they were fired after getting pregnant and asking for maternity leave. Success story? Fempowerment? Feminism? Give me a break!

Ok, this has gone way too far and my intern activist had enough playtime for today. I just want to wrap everything up saying I have no intentions on trashing anything from Netflix, a brand that has been great to me. But something needs to say it. Because it’s not cool that our teens think that a small idea, zero learning and preparation and absolutely no ethics can take any far. I refuse to believe that this #GirlBoss can be a role model, but a very sad cliché.