Tribestyle: Practical or just plain fun?

Could you really maintain perfect eyeliner in a world like this? Lost Voodoo gives her opnion...

Hair:

Let's all face it- what are the chances of being able to dye your hair in a world with no shops, running water or hairdressers? We saw Zandra in Series 1 dying Ryan's hair with a very practical looking pot of blue gunk but in Series 2 Ryan is seen with some runny blue dye, an apple and a shower hat- very realistic may I say. However, everyone else's dye appears over-night. Trudy's purple always looks a bit haphazard and Salene and Jack are the only one's who appear to get roots (Apart from Amber's that never grew any more or less). How on earth do Tai-San and KC etc, manage it? Ebony's braids and Lex's dreds appear to be the best symbols of realistic hair- you don't need to dye, style or even brush them.

However, probably the most remembered Tribestyle hair will be Amber's- all hail the Zuluknot! For anyone who hasn't tried them they are actually easy, quick, will stay in for a long time and look brilliant. The style has also been semi-reused on Alice; with a line of smaller knots. Also with Pasty's braided knots in series 1. Strangely enough, though Amber always managed to sleep with them in and wake up still looking perfect. The magic of television…

My personal favourites also include May's semi-punk look (fantastically impractical silver streaks and violet ends) and Tai-San in series 2 with the blue-spiky-thing-on-back-of-head.

But just DON'T get me started on the crimping…. it looks great but I don't think Jack would lend Ellie some batteries for that every single day no matter how good it looks.

Clothes:

Cloud 9's continuity saving idea of having the characters change outfit only a few times in a series is actually more sensible than it looks. OK you may get a bit dirty but can you imagine having to do washing (with water so precious) and having to carry all your clothes? Layering helps because a) it looks good, and b) you don't have to carry everything.

Clothes in Tribeworld have always been successfully used to illustrate a persons character; Amber's practical black-and-boots look, Dal constantly looking like a farmer, Sasha the hippy and Zandra's feathers and lace. I have also noticed that for the majority of series 2 Danni and Ebony have very similar outfits but with Ebony's being darker- in my view a wonderful way to show that Danni and Ebony both have determination to get want they want in the 'new world' but different ideals. However, rarely is an outfit in Tribeworld, at least amongst the girls, especially practical.

Bray, Lex, Ryan etc often wear sensible-ish outfits but considering that Alice is supposed to be a farm girl I'm sure that lizard corset would look lovely in the pig dung, probably living in a mall that does it! Chloe and Pasty however have an excuse for looking like they really enjoy themselves in deciding what to wear. Firstly they're amongst the youngest (what with the young being so rebellious my friends), secondly they only ever go outside the mall on rare occasions and finally have you ever actually seen them ever do any work that didn't evolve them getting annoyed and stomping off within 2 seconds?

Make-up

Ah, make-up, available in unlimited supply for free. Where would we be in a world such as the Mall Rats find themselves without those squiggles on our faces? And- oh gosh- you can even sleep in it and it won't smudge! Sarcasm aside- continuity also has to be a key issue. However, how do you make your make-up the same every day a la Jack, Ebony or May? Answer: stencils. Unfortunately I doubt we'd have these in the 'real' world, therefore, the whole plain-lines-on-cheek-bones look would be easier, ie Danni and Ryan in series 2. Amber's original seriously OTT blusher in various colours is also quick, easy and looks both menacing and fun.

Make-up for the uninhibited men is also a success in Tribeworld. Remember those lovely Alice Cooper style lines Lex and Ryan first turned up with? Cower in fear at those flames on Zoot's face! Just how sweet was that green line and triangle design Jack did in order to impress Ellie? Did we not all gasp in shock when Bray FINALLY painted something on his face? But really how many men do we know who would go out, find and put on make-up every day, even if it did make them look good?

The tattoos that appeared in series 2 were a bit strange. Some such as Salene's pinky/purple one that looked brilliant whereas Danni's was just downright odd. Tattooing with natural dyes or henna would be a fantastic solution in our search for practicality; you only have to do them once, they look good (mostly) and last for ages (henna lasts about 4 weeks if done properly).

Misc. Tribestyle

Feathers: While Amber occasionally wore the odd feather in her hair during series 1 it was only during series 2 that feathers REALLY began to take off. Feathers- if you could get hold of them- would be a lovely way to personify Tribestyle and they add colour and are easy to just shove in your hair, plus you can dye them to whatever colour you want. On some people they looked really fantastic, such as Ellie and even Lex, but for some it was debatable (ie the millions that Danni used to have).

Pipe Cleaners: These were only featured for a short time on Danni and Lex but they were the most resourceful and funky looking idea I'd seen in ages! You can bend them around strands of hair or have those weirdly brilliant corkscrew additions to your head like Danni did for a short while. Tip: try using them with Zulu knots.

Wire: Only favoured by Ebony but it's brilliant all the same. Similar to pipe cleaners in that you can do whatever you want with them -even hold your hair up in various extravagant ways- and it looks good. But where on earth do you find the stuff?! Plus how do you cut it and not spike (excuse the pun!) yourself in the head- ouch!

Accessories: For series 1 accessories were used occassionally, but Zandra was the one who really went to town with them- as it would be expected. Also without Amber's ring we couldn't have had those touching scenes with Bray on Eagle Mountain. However, I think accessories are becoming a bit 'normal' (well normal for Tribeworld) now but I'm sure that'll change. And maybe one day we'll have some more news about that Amulet- the storyline just disappeared! Accessories would also be of benefit to trade if you think wearing 900 bracelets isn't totally practical.

Glitter: Surprisingly Danni was the first person to use this (in her hair on the back of her head), but the first noticeable sign of it was in Trudy's scary blue eye make-up in series 2. Ebony also used red glitter to make that black stripe on her face even more menacing (oooooh! I'm really scared now!). Patsy, Chloe and Ellie also showed signs of sparklyness. Glitter is the best way to liven up an outfit but the likelihood of finding any in Tribeworld would be pretty slim- however, the stuff never actually completely leaves your face therefore, making it technically practical…really…er…honestly…