Da Vinci Code Beauty

Daily Mail, Monday, May 15, 2006
LIFE style
Page 41
Homage: This shot
from a French fashion
campaign was inspired
by Leonardo Da Vinci's
iconic painting,
The Last Supper
As the film opens, we reveal how the ancient mathematical code at its
heart also holds the key to the modern ideal of the perfect face
THE DA VINCI
BEAUTY CODE
HOW does Leonardo’s painting
of The Last Supper relate to
the latest techniques in
face-lifts and dentistry?
Bizarre a link as it sounds,
with the film of The Da Vinci
Code opening later this
week, we discover how even
the beauty industry is in on
the act...
W
HEN Professor Robert
Langdon, the protagonist in Dan Brown’s
best-selling novel The
Da Vinci Code, finds a
corpse on the parquet
floor in the Louvre, it is the
encrypted
message
scrawled
By Claire Coleman
next to the dead man that holds
his interest.
It will provide the key to the curator’s
untimely death and also to cracking the
central mystery of the book.
But you might be surprised to discover
that your plastic surgeon has a vested interest in this particular number sequence, too.
The numbers scrawled on the floor are the
first eight numbers in a special mathematical line known as the Fibonacci sequence
which, when divided together, come out as
Phi — or 1.618 (not to be confused with the
Pi you learned about in your school
geometry lessons).
And while this number may not mean
much to the majority of us, it is very
significant indeed in nature and the
aesthetics of beauty.
The ratio of 1 to Phi is known by several
names, including the Golden Mean, the
Golden Ratio, the Golden Proportion or the
Divine Proportion, which is generally
acknowledged as one that is particularly
attractive to the human eye.
As fictional hero Robert Langdon
explains, Phi and the Divine Proportion
appear repeatedly in nature.
‘Did you know that if you divide the
number of male bees in any beehive in the
world, you always get the same number —
Phi?’ he tells his Harvard class.
He goes on to explain that the same
pattern can also be seen in seashells,
flowers and trees, and in ‘the artwork of
Michelangelo, Albrecht Durer and Da Vinci,
in the organisational structures of Mozart’s
sonatas, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, in
the architectural dimensions of the Greek
Parthenon, the pyramids of Egypt and even
the United Nations Building in New York.’
In common with a number of artists,
Leonardo Da Vinci was fascinated by this
relationship. One of his most famous works,
The Vitruvian Man (an image that the dying
curator in The Da Vinci Code attempts to
recreate by drawing a circle around his own
Picture: AP/BRIGITTE NEIDERMAIR
THE DA VINCI
BEAUTY CODE
body), showed how the human body
conforms to this special proportion.
For example, if you measure from the floor
to your navel and from the floor to your
head, in most people the longer distance is
1.618 times the shorter one. The same relationship is shown if you measure from the
fingertips to your elbow and from the
fingertips to your shoulder.
While this is a concept that dates back thousands of years, it was only in the 20th century
with the advent of cosmetic surgery that man
was able to capitalise on this knowledge and
use it to help improve our looks.
Recent studies by cosmetic surgeons into
what makes a face beautiful proved that
this proportion was as relevant to the face
as to the body.
Many believe that the ‘perfect’ face shape
is one where the measurement from top to
bottom is 1.618 times the measurement
from side to side, while others suggest that
the measurement from the top of the nose
to the centre of the lips should be 1.618
times the measurement from the top to the
TURN TO PAGE 49
Daily Mail, Monday, May 15, 2006
nth
LIFE style
If I were your
girlfriend . . .
FROM PAGE 41
D
The young
Brigitte Bardot
and Katharine
Hepburn both
have faces
that represent
Da Vinci’s ‘angle
of beauty’
R JUSTIN GLAISTER, of the
Umbrella Dental Spa in
London, explains: ‘We’ve
done a lot of research into
what makes the most appealing smile, and the results show that it’s all
about how the teeth fill the smile. The
Golden Proportion is really important in
this respect.
‘Basically, if you start with the two
middle incisors, or front teeth, these
should be the widest, and as you work
backwards from there, the width of the
teeth decreases.
‘To create the best smile possible, the
relationship between the visible widths of
two adjacent teeth should be as close to
1:1.618 as possible.’
And, of course, now that the technology
is available to create veneers that are
measured to the nearest fraction of a
millimetre, it’s possible to create the
perfect smile.
‘If you want an example of what a smile
that conforms to these sort of proportions
actually looks like, have a look at Courteney
Cox or Halle Berry. Both of them have
smiles that are very close to this ideal.’
But intriguingly, this perfect proportion
isn’t the only aspect of The Da Vinci Code
that can be related to cosmetic surgery.
Mr Rajiv Grover, a Harley Street plastic
surgeon, has devoted a large amount of
time to studying the angles, rather than
the dimensions, of faces that are
considered beautiful.
In 2005, in a bid to pin down the
geometry of the perfect face, he measured
the facial angles on photographs of 100
models and actresses.
‘Over 500 years ago, when Leonardo Da
Vinci was explaining to pupils what ages a
face from an artistic perspective, he
taught them that while lines and wrinkles
were important, the most vital thing is the
overall shape of the face,’ says Mr Grover.
‘I wanted to see what in
geometrical terms made an
attractive face-shape.’
of volume from the face, which
changes its shape, with the
angle of beauty becoming
smaller as the cheeks loose
volume.’
R GROVER’S
This discovery has had a
research looked
noticeable impact on the way
specifically at
cosmetic surgeons approach
the
angle
anti-ageing face treatments.
between
the
chin and the cheekbones.
‘In the past, facial rejuvena‘What I found was that in the
tion has targeted tightening as
majority of cases where a
the key to getting a youngerwoman is considered attraclooking face,’ explains Mr
tive, this angle is 81 degrees:
Grover. ‘However, our research
Brigitte Bardot in her youth
showed that it’s actually the
and the young Katharine
loss of volume, not gravity
Hepburn have faces that
taking its toll, that first starts
perfectly represent this “angle
to make a face look older.
of beauty”.’
‘So the new approach to faceHaving discovered what he
lifting is about putting volume
believed was the optimum
back into the middle area of
angle for beauty, Mr Grover
the face in a bid to once again
then linked up with New York
restore that 81-degree angle of
plastic surgeon Sydney Colebeauty.
man to investigate what hap‘The new generations of
pens to this angle as we age.
fillers, such as Restylane Sub
Q, are particularly good at this
‘We studied MRI scans of the
because not only do they
face at different ages,’ he says.
restore volume, they have the
‘Interestingly, about seven
additional bonus of stimulating
years before there is evidence
collagen growth so that ageing
of gravity causing tissues to
lines are also diminished.’
descend, there is a gradual loss
M
Pictures: SPORTSPHOTO/REUTERS/RINGEIR/REX
bottom of the nose. Similarly, the distance
from the bottom of the nose to the chin
should be 1.618 times the distance from
the centre of the lips to the chin.
Although these proportions do give a
blueprint for beauty, according to Dr Ash
Dutta of the Aesthetic Beauty Centre in
Newcastle, it’s not as simple as getting
out a measuring tape and a protractor.
‘When I’m performing an eyelid-lift or a
nose job, it’s more that I have the
principles in the back of my mind rather
than that I apply them rigidly,’ he says.
However, the time when they are really
important is when addressing reconstruction surgery.
‘If somebody’s face has been very badly
damaged in a fire or an accident,
knowledge of these proportions is simply
invaluable,’ explains Dr Dutta. ‘All you
need is one anchor point, such as the
bridge of the nose or the lips, and from
there you can work out where the corner
of the eye needs to be.
‘The face is the only part of the body
that is always on show, so getting these
sort of proportions right is really important. If something is 1mm out on the face,
it shows a lot more than if it’s 1mm out on
the body.’
But it’s not just cosmetic surgery that is
using these proportions; dentistry is also
getting in on the act.
Page 49
GAVIN HENSON, waxing lyrical
about the two hours you spend
grooming in the bathroom
before rugby matches is not
something I would be
publicising if I were you.
It’s one thing for a man
to take care of himself,
but quite another to
groom yourself to the
point of obsession. And
when does your poor
girlfriend Charlotte
Church get to use the
bathroom — surely she
doesn’t have to rugby
tackle you for it?
Julia Carta of Carol Hayes
Management (020 7482
1555), who has styled such
luminaries as Jonathan
Rhys-Meyers (for Mission
Impossible III), Colin
Farrell and Orlando Bloom,
is not impressed.
‘He indulges in far too
much product and goes
over the top with fake
tan,’ she says.
Julia recommends The
Tanning Shop (01325 360
900), where levels of
tanning can be monitored
from 1-3: ‘Gavin should be a
two — considering there is no sun in
Cardiff he’s looking very brown.’
To stop your hair looking so waxy and
sticky, Gavin, Julia recommends trying
The Daddy, a classic wax from the Lock,
Stock and Barrel grooming range, which
is showcased at Liberty.
And as you like playing with your hair
strands, 85 Karats grooming clay is also
right up your street for finger styling
and strong architectural control.
In your case, however, this could be like
giving matches to a pyromaniac.
TARA NEWLEY
Ideals of beauty: Hepburn (inset, top)
and Bardot. Halle Berry (inset above
left) has the perfect smile
But how does all this relate
to The Da Vinci Code?
Leonardo’s painting of The
Last Supper is a highly significant work within Dan Brown’s
book, and much is made of the
angle between Jesus and the
figure to his right, who was
long thought to be the disciple
John, but in some circles is
believed to be Mary Magdalene.
In the book, the hero, Robert
Langdon, theorises that Da
Vinci believed Jesus was
married to Mary, but as the
artist could never have
expressed
something
so
controversial in such religious
times, he depicted it in his
paintings. Thus, the V-shaped
space between the two is a
symbol of the fertility of the
womb and representative of
the Holy Grail.
But Mr Grover has another
theory.
‘If you analyse the angle that
forms this V-shaped space,
you’ll find that it’s actually 81
degrees. Could this have been
Leonardo’s way of expressing
his appreciation of what we
now call the “angle of
beauty”?’
In the same way that film
critics and fans alike will
undoubtedly be debating the
merits of Tom Hanks and
Audrey Tautou, who play the
central protagonists, and their
interpretation of Dan Brown’s
work, it’s inevitable that many
will question whether Da Vinci
was really able to predict
through art what 21st-century
plastic surgeons would go on
to prove with science.
But as the end result is the
sort of face and smile that any
artist would clamour to paint
and any film star would be
proud to possess, we’re more
than happy that this particular code has been cracked.
■ Dr Justin Glaister,
020 7612 9810,
www.umbrellasmiles.com;
Dr Ash Dutta, 0191 5672900,
www.aestheticbeautycentre.
co.uk;
Mr Rajiv Grover, 020 7486 4301,
www.rajivgrover.co.uk