Comfortable in their own skin

Carson Kressley, the clothing expert from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” is now, ironically, the host of a series titled “How to Look Good Naked.” Premiering tonight on Lifetime, it’s a domestic version of a British hit -- as was the network’s previous foray into makeover, “How Clean Is Your House?” -- and comes with the advantage of a road-tested format. This is a show that works.

The original message of “Queer Eye,” to overstate it somewhat, is that every soul is beautiful but can benefit from a proper frame. Over the course of that series, however, the frame kept getting fancier, and the simple, transformative five-to-one relationship at the heart of the show grew encrusted with product placement. At the same time, the “story lines,” which at first involved ordinary folk in need of a brush-up, embraced stunts and sentiment. Then Bravo, which had since transferred its affections to its spikier “Top,” “Project” and “Out” shows, blew off the final season in a month last fall, with barely any notice.

“Naked” returns Kressley to a purer form of makeover -- the purest, one might say, since it goes right down to the skin. (Practically the first thing the guests are asked to do is to strip to their underwear.) Perhaps not accidentally, it has been slotted against TLC’s “What Not to Wear,” the gold standard of outer-makeover-as-inner-makeover shows. “Naked” reverses the order: First they get the subject comfortable in her body, then decorate her. Although there are the requisite shopping trips (better bras, smarter clothes) and hair and makeup jobs from celebrity-styling experts -- much telescoped, as it all gets done in half an hour -- the important work happens on the level of self-perception. And as most of us are prone to at least a touch of body dysmorphia, not to say the occasional bout of full-on self-loathing, it can be extraordinarily moving. One effect is to make the viewer over as well, a little.

Kressley, the most flamboyant of the former Fab Five, is a little more restrained here -- perhaps all I mean is that his opportunities for sexually suggestive remarks have been limited by the context. But he does well flying solo, and his wit gets workout enough. (“Zero isn’t a size,” he tells one woman, “it’s a warning sign.”) He also proves a gentle supportive hand in guiding his charges toward self-acceptance, to shaking the scales from their eyes. They see their bodies (heads edited out) projected onto the side of a building and hear themselves described by strangers as hot; faced with a lineup of other women, also in their underwear, they are asked to place themselves in order of hip size or waist measurement only learn how wrong they are. In no time at all, they’re posing for pictures in their birthday suit.

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robert.lloyd@latimes.com

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‘How to Look Good Naked’

Where: Lifetime

When: 9 tonight

Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)