Fashionista Family, Las Vegas Sun, March 21, 1996

Vegas mom, son find happy medium on TV Lisa Sciortino Thursday, March 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m. Parents and teens are bound to butt heads every once in a while over fashion. Take the case of Jean and David Padula of Las Vegas. Mom can't stand her son's offbeat style -- the skirts, makeup, combat boots and dog leashes he's worn for about a year. On the other hand, son thinks Mom's conservative sweater and pants ensembles are boring. "There's a lot of clothes that would look good on her if she'd just try it and experimented," he argues. But the Padulas found a way to hammer out their sartorial conflicts: going on national TV and swapping styles. The pair has traded places twice on the "Jenny Jones" talk show (locally on KVVU Channel 5) since last fall, first on a show titled "Make My Mom Look Like a Punk." It was David's idea to call the show, which had advertised for guests who wanted to make over their mothers into moshing machines. Actually, the 15-year-old says he just wanted Jean to "know how it feels, because she's always (asking), 'Why do you dress like that?'" Jean says she used to be embarrassed to be seen in public with her son, especially at the mall. "He goes into the store, he picks up a dress (and) he yells out, 'Mom, I want this.'" So why did the 48-year-old housewife agree to don David-type duds on TV? "For one thing, I thought it'd be fun," she says. "He asked me and I said, 'Well, I'll do it for him.'" Off the pair went to Chicago, where "Jenny Jones" is filmed in front of a live audience. But before they even made it to the studio, a camera crew was sent to follow them through what Jean calls "a punk shop," which sells outlandish clothing and accessories, to film a rock video-type shopping segment. Then it was make-over time for Mom and nine others on the panel. Fashion consultants had Jean ditch her conservative vest and skirt for a pair of cutoff jeans, fish-net stockings and a head full of orange spiked hair. "She looked like Lisa Simpson," David recalls. "They had taken all my hair and teased it and it was all sticking straight out," Jean says. "They took me back (stage) and put all this weird makeup on. It was like (playing) dress-up." Same went for David. They punked him up even more, spiking his hair into six giant daggers standing at attention. "When I walked out (on stage) and saw David I was very surprised, because this was supposed to be mothers made over." Not long after they had returned home, a show staffer called to invite the pair back for another appearance. This time, it was David's turn to lose his look, on a show called "Radical Make-overs," which aired Feb. 12. He agreed to a new, more conservative style. "Since my mom did it for me, I guessed I'd do it for her," he says. Jean wasn't so sure. "When I did (the show) the first time, I said never again." What sold her? "For David to actually agree to have his hair cut, I couldn't pass this up." The makeup came off, and his modish clothes were replaced by a clean-cut shirt and pants getup. And the hair? Slicked back and shortened. "I looked like mustard," David says. "They put me in these yellow shoes and a tan shirt. It was pretty gross." Even more embarrassing, his buddies caught the show. "All of his friends called and told him he looked like a geek," she says. These days, both are back to their original styles. Now that she's walked a mile in his combat boots, though, Jean says she has a better understanding of her son's interesting choice in clothing. "My opinion is that he likes it, that he wants the attention," she says. "I had to really look back to when we were teenagers (with) different colored hair. I never understood that either, but this is the same thing." And David? He's ready to hit the talk-show circuit. "I want to go on 'Jerry Springer' next. I like his show the best."