'I always loathed being 'dressed' or 'styled'...' Carol McGiffin shares main complaint from Loose Women days
Former Loose Women panellist Carol McGiffin "loathed" adhering to "ludicrous wardrobe policies" and "mandated dress codes" on the ITV1 daytime show.
Carol McGiffin hated being styled on Loose Women.
The 65-year-old broadcaster - who was a panellist on the ITV1 talk-show on-and-off for nearly 20 years - felt "exhausted" with following the "ludicrous wardrobe policies" and the "mandated dress codes".
Writing in her latest Best magazine column, Carol said: "I did Loose Women for almost 20 years and the mandated dress codes used to exhaust me.
"We went from wearing our own clothes to being bought stuff to adhere to ludicrous wardrobe policies like, 'No arms on show,' presumably because our ageing biceps were morphing into bingo wings which the (male) boss at the time had decided were offensive.
"Another female (!) boss once ordered all the women to wear high heels as well.
"I always loathed being 'dressed' or 'styled' as they preferred to call it."
Carol also blasted ITV for getting rid of outfits that had "mostly" only been worn once by the presenters.
She said: "You always had to be co-ordinated up to the eyeballs in nice slacks, wrap dresses or boiler suits.
"It used to make me shudder, nearly as much as the insane amount of waste on unimaginable amounts of clothes that had mostly only been worn once."
Carol thinks if bosses let the presenters wear and say what they wanted, ITV "might" not be "losing 200+ jobs" - a reference to the broadcaster's budget cuts that will also see Loose Women air for 30 weeks instead of 52 weeks of the year from 2026.
Carol said: "If those in charge had spent less time obsessing over wardrobe policy and allowed presenters to be themselves, allowing them to say what they think rather than what they wanted them to think, they might not be losing 200+ jobs."
As well as Loose Women, the morning magazine show Lorraine will now operate on a 30-week "seasonal basis", while a raft of shows will be broadcast from a new location in central London.
Kevin Lygo, the managing director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, recently said the broadcaster was going through a "transition".
He said: "I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off-screen in our Daytime production teams.
"We will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year and support them through this transition.
"Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award-winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade."
