15 Things You Didn't Know About Styling On The Bachelor/Bachelorette
The Bachelor/Bachelorette is a show that many people all around the world tune in every Monday night to watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette date about 28 women/men in hopes of finding their soulmate-- and a proposal at the end of the season.
While we all know that the show is about finding love and connecting with someone, plus the crazy drama that unfolds throughout the seasons and the amazing places they get to travel to. But there is more to the show after all-- the behind the scenes so-to-speak. If you are a Bachelor/Bachelorette fan then you may be interested in knowing a few secrets regarding Rose Ceremony gowns, what truly looks good on camera, and the hidden meaning behind the "finale" dresses. And if you aren't completely satisfied with the dream dates and juicy moments that many fans obsess over-- the fashion will most certainly do the trick. Here is an inside scoop on what goes on before the camera starts rolling. Here are 15 Things You Never Knew About Contestants Style on The Bachelor/Bachelorette, take a look:
15 The Bachelor/Bachelorette gets a stylist, but the other contestants don't
On The Bachelor, there is a stylist, Cary Fetman who has worked on the show as their personal stylist since the second season in 2002. Fetman works in close corners with whoever is the "star" of the show-- The Bachelor or Bachelorette. He works with them one-on-one, helping them with their everyday style and not to mention the dresses or suits. While The Bachelor/ Bachelorette gets the "special treatment", it turns out that the other contestants have to pull together their looks without any professional help. Lucky, for the star of the show as they always look good no matter what-- and how could you not look good when you have your very own personal stylist with you 24/7? But it is a bit of a bummer for the other contestants-- just watching the show you would never have guessed considering all the women and men look pretty darn good on the show.
14 Bachelorette fittings take up to two days
Do you ever just watch The Bachelor or Bachelorette and think 'how cute are their clothes'? Me too! Turns out before the Bachelor or Bachelorette even appear on the show, Cary (the stylist) sits down with them and asks him or her questions about what they like to wear. For example, before JoJo Fletcher (the bachelorette of Season 12) even appeared on the show, she sat down with Cary and they discussed what she likes to wear and then he went shopping! In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Cary said, "the first fitting, which takes us two days, is literally 18 or 19 racks of clothes. What we do in the beginning is pretty much the whole show," he told the Hollywood Reporter. No wonder JoJo always had all the best style-- in fact, if you think about it many of the Bachelors and Bachelorettes have impeccable style-- and now we know it is because of Cary!
13 Contestants receive a packing list
Apparently, contestants don't just throw a bunch of clothes in a suitcase and hope for the best. Instead, there is actually a procedure they must follow. Women on The Bachelor are told to bring enough dresses for 10 Rose Ceremonies, according to Fashionista. Not only do they need A LOT of dresses but there are more rules to what you can and cannot bring-- the contestants are not allowed to bring certain things due to the fact that they look bad on camera. They are not allowed to bring "stripes, small checkered patterns, big patterns, and solid white," Sean Lowe, a contestant on season eight of The Bachelorette and the star of season 17 of The Bachelor, recounted in his book. Must be intense getting ready to be on the show? Packing in general can be stressful-- but now add in the fact that you are going to be gone for a certain amount of days, traveling to different places (where you may not know of or what the weather is like) and you are also trying to compete for a bachelor or bachelorette's attention and you want to look good!
12 One Bachelorette received a $350,000 wardrobe budget
Remember how I mentioned that the Bachelorette (the star) always gets a stylist-- well, turns out one, in particular, one of the Bachelorette contestant, received a $350,000 wardrobe budget-- can you imagine?! That must be pretty nice. Anyone curious who this Bachelorette was? Well, you are in luck, it happens to be Emily Maynard who was the Bachelorette on Season eight of The Bachelorette and she was a contestant on Season 15 of The Bachelor. Maynard was allotted a budget of $350,000 by ABC to spend on just clothes alone for the show when she was the Bachelorette. In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Cary stated "It was bigger than any previous season-- and we still went over," he told the Hollywood Reporter. Turns out that Maynard's pricey duds included a $40,000 Randi Rahm gown and $1,045 Christian Louboutin heels. Never knew how expensive it was just to be the Bachelorette.
11 Contestants go to extreme lengths just to look good on the show
It makes sense that the contestants want to look their best on the show-- considering, a lot of making someone interested has to do with physical attraction. For the women on the show, they constantly had to keep up with their appearances. Some women just bring whatever it is they have from home and feel they are good to go whereas other women go out and spend thousands of dollars on wardrobe. For example, Olivia Caridi, who was a contestant on The Bachelor season 20 (Ben's season). She reportedly spent about $40,000 on her wardrobe just for the show. But there was a blogger who says otherwise, as blogger Dana Weiss told Style.Mic, "I did the math, and unless (Caridi) is wearing 40 pairs of Christian Louboutins, I don't think it's feasible… she's wearing brands like Alice & Olivia, which are $300 to $400 dresses." But whether or not she actually spent $40,000, there is zero doubt that some contestants probably do spend a lot of money on the show.
10 The producers always ensure that no two girls are wearing the same dress on the first night of the season
Have you ever gone to Prom or a club and walked in only to find out that some girl is wearing the same dress or outfit as you? It can be a little humiliating to be matching with someone other than your best friend. Luckily for The Bachelor contestants, the producers have their backs. When the contestants first meet the bachelor for the very first time, they obviously want to stand out-- so it makes total sense that everyone should have their own look. Jaclyn Swartz, from season 16 of The Bachelor, the spin-off Bachelor Pad, and Bachelor in Paradise, stated "you're by yourself in a hotel room and you come with a dress and probably a backup dress," she told Fashionista. "The stylist Cary Fetman and a producer will come around to your room and they'll approve the dress for the first night. That's usually to make sure no two girls are wearing the same dress." Good for the producers and Cary for looking out for the women-- could you imagine getting out of the limo, meeting who you think is the man of your dreams, standing there at rose ceremony only to find another girl has the same dress on-- not fun! But lucky for these women, the producers and Cary make sure that never happens.
9 Producers suggest outfit changes if the contestants are wearing something that doesn't work on camera
As you may recall the no stripes, no white rules? Those guidelines happen to be in place to ensure that every outfit from each contestant pops on camera. Remember how I mentioned before that from Sean Lowe's book, he said contestants were not allowed to wear stripes or crazy patterns? "[The producers] would never be like, 'Oh, that's ugly. Take it off,'" Jaclyn told Fashionista. "They would say, 'it's just not translating well on camera. You should change, but that's to benefit you.'" It makes sense that certain colors and contrast don't really show up well on camera-- a rule of being in front of a camera is making sure that what you are wearing pops-- otherwise, for example, white could possibly wash you out. And stripes don't look very good on camera either. Good thing the producers are there to make sure everyone and everything looks good. No one wants to watch themselves on tv-- and wonder why that pattern their wearing looks so horrible or the white washed them out.
8 The contestants are given hints about what to wear
Remember that packing list? Well, as stressful as packing is it is nice when someone tells you what you can and cannot wear. For the contestants, they must be prepared ahead of time as you never know where or what you might be doing. Many of the dates range from peaceful picnics in the park to perhaps a couples' yoga lesson to a pool party, maybe hanging on a yacht-- how does anyone prepare themselves for all those dates, especially if the contestants half the time don't even know what kind of date they will be going on in advance? Turns out "before dates, a producer will tell you more or less what you need to wear," Sharleen Joynt, a contestant from season 18 of The Bachelor wrote on her blog. "Nothing that will give away the activity, but vague things like, 'something comfortable you can walk in.'" That would really be a bummer if the producers didn't give the contestants a heads up and they ended up wearing a dress or heels and they were going hiking or some outdoor activity.
7 Contestants often share clothes
It is common when women live together they tend to share each other's clothes-- the Bachelor mansion is pretty much one big sorority house for the women who are competing for the Bachelor. And as some of you may know, sorority sisters share clothes, makeup, etc. they tend to create this bond. And if you are the type to pay extra close attention throughout the course of any single season, then you just may have noticed that some of the same clothes continuously pop up on different contestants. And remember that sorority reference? Well, it is exactly the same way that you may borrow your college roommate's going-out dress or favorite top, Bachelor girls share clothes. And one particular dress, on Ben Higgin's season of The Bachelor-- this dress was tossed around by some of the girls, according to Caila Quinn, "If you saw Amanda Stanton, Leah Block, and Lauren Bushnell all wore the same dress three different weeks in a row, Quinn, who was a contestant on season 20 of The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradies, revealed to Fashionista. The girls apparently took turns wearing a black and gold sequined bodycon dress by Dress the Population that happens to originally belong to Amanda. "If it's a good fitting dress, why not share?" We must agree with that statement!
6 If you make it to the final two, producers will pick your dress for you and pay for it
Do you ever just watch the final episode of The Bachelor and wonder where those gorgeous dresses came from? Because I do! Not very many people have that fancy of a dress just lying around in their closet-- unless it were their prom dress. Which if that was the case, I don't think the women would want to be seen on national television wearing their old prom dress. That being said, the women who end up being the final two pretty much get the special treatment-- or at least that is what it seems. According to Ali Fedotowsky from season 14 of The Bachelor and season six of The Bachelorette, "I don't know for sure if the final two girls get their makeup done (I didn't make it that far on The Bachelor), but I do know that they are given dresses for the last rose ceremony," Fedotowsky told E!. "So I assume they get hair and makeup as well." Either way, you spin it, the final two women sure get the opportunity to look twenty times more glamorous than any other moment on the show. The finale dresses are stunning, but let's be honest here, there is definitely more to them than meets the eye. According to Bustle, they pointed out that the season 16 winner Courtney Robertson was wearing all black just weeks after one of the fellow contestant Kaci B. had called her a black widow. Regardless, those dresses are beautiful and the women are definitely lucky just to be able to wear them!
5 At least one contestant paid for lessons from a professional makeup artist
Imagine getting a call that you are about to be a contestant on The Bachelor? and now you not only have to scramble to pack just the right things but also think about your everyday look and make sure you bring the right makeup-- all these thoughts must be going through each contestant's minds as they prepare themselves for a journey (a journey to find love). And have you ever wondered how all of the women look so good during the season and you wonder if someone is doing their makeup-- well, as we established before that the contestants don't really get any special treatment and they do their own makeup for that matter. Which is why some may be slight experts when it comes to makeup whereas others panicked over making sure they looked good at all times-- especially when being on camera. Take Olivia Caridi for example-- turns out she dreaded the idea of having to deal with not only lack of sleep on the show but making sure she looked good, "I've never been that great at doing makeup, so I had a professional makeup artist come to my house to teach me how to do everything and make me a list of everything I need to buy," Caridi from season 20 of The Bachelor told Allure. "She taught me how to contour. I didn't even know what that was. She works with people on reality TV, so she knew that there wouldn't be a lot of sleeping, so she advised on buying a white or a nude eyeliner to put on my eyes to make them look bigger, which I didn't even know was a thing. Then, a couple days before filming, I went to Sephora and bought foundation, eye shadow palette, brow fillers, like every single thing you could ever imagine. That was fun and expensive, but it was worth it." Crazy to think that some contestants go to such lengths! But maybe Caridi is right-- and perhaps it was worth it.
4 The contestants have a lot of time to pamper themselves
One thing some of you may not know is that the contestants on the Bachelor/Bachelorette have A LOT of down time-- and sometimes they have to get creative. Truth is, that many of the women are stuck just hanging out in the mansion or hotel room and not every single contestant gets the opportunity to go on a date every week, which in that case means that there is a ton of downtime that you do not really get the chance to see on camera. According to Olivia Caridi, "we were always doing beauty routines," Caridi reiterated to Allure. "There were so many days where we did a lot of mud masks and self-tanning sessions. We were painting our nails all the time because we were constantly changing outfits, and we wanted to match the nails to the outfit. There was a lot of beauty and pampering for others that never really gets aired." Interesting-- huh? Too bad they didn't show some of those moments-- or perhaps in the bloopers they showed the women pampering themselves.
3 Getting ready for dates isn't as easy as you might think
If you religiously watch The Bachelor you would recognize how good all the women look especially when they are about to go out on a date-- but what we don't get to see is that getting ready for these dates isn't as easy as we think. And if you think about it-- in reality, when you are about to go out with a guy you are interested in/dating, you generally try on three other outfits before you find the one you really like. So imagine what it is like for all the women in the mansion. Especially when not every date is a one-on-one, they try to look their best in hopes to capture the bachelor's attention. Ashley Iaconetti shared with Allure, "The lighting in the mansion was really bad for makeup, so I did mine on the balcony every day," Iaconetti, a contestant from season 19 of The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise. "There were maybe four mirrors in the house of 23 girls because mirrors make it hard for the camera guys." Could you imagine trying to get ready and not only have poor lighting but not enough mirrors to get ready? Props to all the women that somehow managed to look good regardless of the poor lighting.
2 Going Into Debt for the perfect Bachelor dress
As mentioned before, Olivia Caridi was speculated to have spent $40k on clothes for the Bachelor. While Caridi has not come out and said whether or not that is true-- Dana Weiss, best known as Possessionista claims that isn't even feasible. According to style.mic, Possessionista has gained notoriety for humorously recapping Bachelor episodes along with accurate rundowns of all the fashion on the show. Weiss has actually built relationships with ABC, the stylists, and some of the contestants who often share their most candid outfits and secrets of their style. According to Mic, Weiss has been told that many of the contestants on The Bachelor do tend to spend quite a good amount of money on dresses, which sometimes result in debt. As mentioned before, the producers only provide dresses for the final two women, while the other women have to provide their own dresses for the other rose ceremonies.
1 So Much Lace
While the fashion can often be one of the best parts of the show-- as so many of the women have great style. But have you ever noticed how much lace is on the show? So many of the women throughout many of the seasons are caught wearing lace on almost every episode of The Bachelor. Whether it is a lace dress, lace skirt, lace top-- it does not really matter what is lace, just the fact that there is lots of it! Truth is, fashion has definitely evolved over the years and many of the contestants on the show are pretty savvy when it comes to their style-- much more than we give them credit for. A lot of times, as mentioned before, the women tend to share clothes. Which is just another reason why you might catch a glimpse of the same dress or top from time to time. Still, I cannot help but notice all the lace-- which isn't a bad thing as lace seems to be a much-needed fashion staple for many women. Plus, it just looks more eloquent and beautiful and timeless.