We are rapidly approaching the end of Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s rather boring season as The Bachelor, but what keeps me watching is all the attire.
It doesn’t matter how badly these people want to find love, or so they claim. Though relationships that come out of this show fail repeatedly, the Instagram accounts continue to thrive.
Each outfit for a one-on-one date, group date or rose ceremony is planned to a tee. In fact, I’d guess contestants spend more time picking out their outfits than speaking to Arie.
The stellar style and persona presented on The Bachelor has a great deal to do with the desire for success measured in numbers of likes and followers that these women steadily gain long after the show airs.
However, big metrics don’t come easy. These women clearly make huge financial investments in their wardrobe in order to establish themselves as style icons on the show.
The opening night is the perhaps the most important for aspiring influencers, when they exit a limo to meet a wannabe prince charming. This evening always makes me slightly uncomfortable as I’ve seen dresses from my own prom on the contestants coming out of the car.
Contestants would likely claim they splurged on a dress because it could stir up mad marital vibes in the 33 seconds they get with Arie. But I think contestants really buy their bedazzled jumpsuit or sequined dress to have watchers searching Instagram for the outfit details.
Besides the outlandish attire worn for rose ceremonies, carefully crafted outfits are essential to give viewers a taste of a contestant’s Instagram aesthetic.
For example, this season we have Tia. She’s a sweet gal who reiterates that she’s there for the right reasons. She likes to remind us quite frequently of her charming Arkansas roots, though she doesn’t need to because her attire screams southern chic.
On her first one-on-one date, she wore shredded high-waisted denim shorts, a red bodysuit and white converse. She then transitioned into a cream and tan eyelet dress with a tasteful high-neckline for dinner.
Her attire makes her personable and likable to Arie and apparently audiences, too. She currently has 228,000 followers on Instagram and that number is growing.
On the other end of the spectrum, there was Bekah M. who received a great deal of backlash for only being 22 years old. Even though she is young, her hipster ways and old-soul style made her a crowd favorite.
Bekah rocked a killer pixie cut and wore a huge faux fur coat that I think belongs to Macklemore. She looked like the spitting image of a 1920s Parisian in a vintage red-and-white polka dot dress.
Every time we saw Bekah wearing something new, we were reminded of her free-spirited persona. It doesn't even matter if you loved her or hated her, Bekah's Instagram account is growing with 223,000 followers.
Some may roll their eyes at the precisely picked attire, but here’s the truth. These women are trying to launch social media platforms when they get the boot from the show. Honestly, why else would they give in to being publicly dumped on national television if there was no reward?
It’s no longer a secret that people go on a reality television shows solely for self-branding and making a buck. I don’t have a problem with it so long as the show continues to be outrageously entertaining.
To the die-hard fans who will insist the show is really about love, I remind you that a man dumps a woman and then gets engaged to another person an hour later every season.
Let’s stop pretending that the Bachelor is something it’s not. Let's cut the “I’m here for love” act, and save the contestants some trouble by just adding their Instagram handles to their ABC bios.
