think about - Claire Coleman

Page 50
Daily Mail, Monday, February 4, 2008
What men REALLY
think about ...
Picture: PHIL ARGENT
SARAH
JESSICA PARKER
ALEX BILMES, features
director of GQ, knows a
thing or two about
men’s views of the
opposite sex
HANDS-DOWN
funniest
photograph of the
past week was the
latest cannily
leaked shot of the
actress Sarah
Jessica Parker on
the set of the
forthcoming Sex
And The City film.
They’ve stood behind her through
thick and (extremely) thin, but this
time, even Sarah Jessica’s biggest
fans might have found it difficult to
applaud her get-up.
Like Cleopatra, but not in a good
way, her person beggared all
description. Still, I’ll give it a go.
In the photo (below) she’s wearing a
pink metallic Balenciaga minidress,
a diamante-studded Fendi clutch
bag, again in pink, and cream suede
shoe-boots.
But the piece de resistance, the item
that really tips this outfit over the
edge from expensive jumble sale
assemblage to full-on fashion bag
lady is what style-watchers are
calling ‘the giant scrunchie’ after
those hairbands popular at the end
of the 1980s.
What exactly is it, this thing
squatting on Sarah Jessica’s
shoulders? Is it a muffler on
steroids? A punctured rubber ring?
One fashion aficionado called it an
‘inflatable eco tyre’. All we can say
for sure is it appears to be blue and
tie-dyed. And it looks very, very silly.
The amusement to be had from this
photo and others is some
recompense — but not enough. For
the grim news is that the TV show
that refused to die (or eat carbs) for
six long years is back, and bigger
than ever. Sex And The City: The
Movie was filmed in New York last
autumn and is likely to be released
here early this summer.
Nations of men will recoil in horror
at this news, even as their
womenfolk prepare to squeal with
delight and wince with empathy at
their favourite characters’ every
bon mot, broken relationship and
bonkers clothing ensemble.
Sex And The City, the series, was
a confection as lightweight
and insubstantial as one of
the cupcakes that its
characters were so
often filmed
picking at. It was
candy-coloured
and sugary, but
also sickly if taken
in regular doses
and likely to lead
to a profound feeling
of emptiness.
Despite this, it became
hopelessly freighted with
cultural baggage.
At the time, Sex And The City
was thought to mark a
significant breakthrough in
representations of single,
successful, working women.
Based on an effervescent
novel by an American
journalist, Candace Bushnell, it
promoted shopping, drinking
cocktails, having frank
discussions about sex,
shopping, enjoying the
company of gay men,
drinking more cocktails,
talking about sex again,
and . . . er, shopping, as if all these
things had simply not been thought
of until the late 1990s.
Its tone was slightly hysterical and
camp, and like its similarly overcaffeinated, under-fed offspring,
Desperate Housewives, it suffered
from an acute case of voiceover-itis.
Its quartet of thirtysomething
spinsters — the slut, the princess,
the trendy and the one with red hair
who always seemed a bit miserable
— were spectacularly onedimensional. Did Samantha ever not
fancy a s*** with a toyboy? Was
Charlotte ever not on the hunt for a
hunky professional? Did the one with
red hair never not seem a bit
miserable? Would Carrie ever not
start her newspaper column — and
thereby the show — with an
irritating rhetorical question a bit
like this one?
It was, behind the smart-mouthed
façade, hopelessly reactionary: the
characters’ monomaniacal focus on
finding the right man for marriage
would have had even Jane Austen
wondering if they ought not get out
more.
Women loved it. Men didn’t get it. I
was one of them. In fact, I think Sex
And The City might have been the
most gender-divisive TV
programme to air since Match Of
The Day kicked off in 1964.
Most baffling of all to us chaps,
though, was the continued
promotion of its leading lady as a
style icon. As Sarah Jessica Parker
became increasingly famous for her
on-screen outfits, so the actress’s
identity and that of her character,
Carrie, seemed to merge. SJP often
dressed just as oddly as Carrie did.
I’ve got nothing whatsoever against
SJP. As an actress, she’s always been
funny and appealing.
So how come a millionaire movie
star with her own mass-market
fragrance regularly looks like she
got dressed in the dark? And why is
she constantly touted as the
epitome of edgy urban cool?
SJP’s fancy-dress sense, I think, is
emblematic of the divergence
between what fashionable
women think makes them
look appealing, and what
us men find attractive.
Concepts like being
‘directional’ are
anathema to us. You say
‘trendy’; we say: ‘Are you
feeling alright?’
Doubtless, SJP isn’t
dressing for men.
She’s dressing for
herself first, and
then for other
fashionable
women who
can decode her
sartorial
semaphore.
But you’ll forgive us for
laughing at this latest outfit,
and wondering whether
you’ll ever come to your
senses and see Carrie for
what she is — a flighty, sad
sack in an age-inappropriate
outfit that would shame a
Tokyo schoolgirl.
Another quote from Antony
and Cleopatra: ‘Age cannot
wither her, nor custom
stale/Her infinite variety.’
Sarah Jessica Parker is 42.
Facing
LMOST every
week it seems
that dermatologists have a new
non-invasive
beauty treatment to offer us that
promises ‘a virtual facelift’.
A
From new applications of Botox,
to high-tech fillers and laser-based
anti-ageing treatments, if you
believe the hype, the scalpel’s days
are numbered.
After all, who needs to go under
the knife when a syringe full of this
or a quick blast of that can do the
job in your lunch hour?
However, figures released today
by the British Association of
Aesthetic
Plastic
Surgeons
(BAAPS) show the number of
facelift operations carried out in
2007 has shot up by 36 per cent
compared to the previous year.
In fact last year, for the first time
since BAAPS began keeping
figures in 2003, the facelift became
the third most popular procedure,
behind breast augmentation and
eyelid surgery.
‘We live in a youth-orientated
society,’
explains
Douglas
McGeorge, president of BAAPS.
‘And there’s a generation of people
who have seen too much sun and
maybe smoked and drunk as well
— all of which age the skin — who
don’t feel as old as they look.
‘They know they’re more likely to
live longer and feel fitter than the
previous generation and that’s why
facial rejuvenation is so popular.’
This doesn’t explain why, with
the huge number of non-surgical
procedures available, more and
more women are choosing to go
under the knife rather than opting
for a less drastic alternative.
B
UT Harley Street
cosmetic surgeon and
secretary of BAAPS,
Rajiv Grover, believes
that these procedures
are actually partly responsible for
the facelift boom.
‘Before, there was nothing
between a face cream and a
facelift,’ he explains. ‘Now people
can dip their toes in the water
with a number of non-invasive
procedures, so the decision to have
a facelift doesn’t seem so drastic.
‘There are no official statistics
regarding the number of nonsurgical treatments carried out in
this country, but I have no doubt
that if these were measured, you’d
see that they, too, have increased
hugely over the past few years.
‘And as these type of treatments
become more commonplace, I
think it’s not surprising that we will
see an increasing number of people
opting for surgery.’
Dr Mike Comins, who carries out
a lot of these ‘in between’
treatments from his practice in
London’s Knightsbridge, agrees
that there is definitely a link
between the facelift statistics and
the non-invasive procedures that
he carries out on a regular basis.
‘These days, there is a lot that
you can do without resorting to
the scalpel,’ says Dr Comins.
‘Alongside treatments such as
Botox, there are some reliable and
effective fillers on the market.
‘Then there are the laser
treatments, like Thermage which
tightens and plumps skin, which
have been around for a few years
and have gradually been refined to
give really fantastic results.
‘However, there comes a point
when some patients want results
Newfigures
out today
show that
facelifts are
suprisingly
more
popular than
ever before.
CLAIRE
COLEMAN
asks why and
looks at the
latest trends
that a non-surgical treatment just
can’t give them, maybe because
they actually need skin to be
removed
rather
than
just
tightened. At that point, surgery
would seem the logical next step.
‘As most of my patients range
from their late-30s to mid-50s, it’s
quite common for me to see
patients for ten years or more.
This means that we build up a
relationship and they know they
can trust me to refer them to a
reputable surgeon who will give
them the sort of results they have
come to expect from me.
‘That sort of confidence has to
be a factor when you look at the
increase in the number of people
opting for surgery.’
So if you are one of the thousands
contemplating a facelift, what’s
new in the world of nip and tuck?
For a start, there’s been a move
towards creating a subtler, more
natural look. The taut skin, cat’seye look that seemed prevalent in
Los Angeles in the early 1990s and
didn’t make you look more youthful, just more alien, is now as
unfashionable as Posh’s bob. And
there’s a good reason for that.
Latest research into factors that
affect ageing shows one of the most
significant issues is not wrinkles,
but loss of volume in the face.
So simply tightening the skin and
giving that ‘wind tunnel’ look
associated with Joan Rivers and
her ilk doesn’t actually make a
person look younger.
Surgeons have realised that the
key to giving a facelift that looks
natural is to accompany any lifting
treatment with a volumising
treatment. That will help restore
a younger face shape and, increasingly, this approach is the norm.
Douglas McGeorge says: ‘We’re
able to restore a natural look to the
face which means that after a
facelift, patients look good, not
odd. Gone are the days when you
could look at someone and know
they had had a facelift.’
As well as getting a more credible
result, women going under the
knife these days benefit from new
techniques and procedures that
mean shorter scars and minimal
downtime.
Quite simply, surgery today is not
nearly as traumatic as it once was.
Back in the day a facelift meant a
cut being made from ear to ear
Facelift in a jar
Daily Mail, Monday, February 4, 2008
Page 51
LIFE style
the future
HOTHEADS
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general anaesthetic might seem
like taking a step back rather
than forwards, but Dr Christian
Ferlaud, of London’s Skin
Health Spa, who has recently
brought this technique to the
UK from France, insists that a
facelift under local anaesthetic
will soon become the norm
because of its advantages.
‘It’s quicker and less traumatic
than surgery done under general
anaesthetic, and it results in
minimal swelling, bruising and
downtime,’ explains Dr Ferlaud.
‘And it’s cheaper for the patient
as they require no hospitalisation or anaesthetist services.’
His technique, which is being
dubbed The Velvet Facelift
because it is so gentle, uses lasers
and endoscopic techniques.
Rather than making large
incisions using a scalpel, he
makes several tiny incisions
using a laser — which minimises
any bleeding — around the edge
of the eye, just by the ears and
above the temple in the hairline.
around the entire hairline, and
then weeks of hiding away while
the scars healed, now that’s not
the case. ‘Traditionally the
facelift has been associated with
lots of bruising and a long recovery period,’ says Mr Grover.
‘But new techniques, such as
injecting fluid into the facial
tissues at the beginning of the
operation, help to minimise
swelling, and
mean patients
can
recover
more quickly.’
One of the most common
procedures is something called
a MACS lift (Minimal Access
Cranial Suspension). Rather
than slicing around the entire
face, a number of shorter cuts are
made in the temple and in front
of the ears, meaning smaller
scars and swifter recovery.
Keyhole techniques have also
revolutionised the facelift. For
IF YOU’RE not ready for surgery just yet,
here are some of the latest miracle
products that claim to offer a facelift in a jar
example, patients can now opt
for an endoscopic browlift.
Three small incisions are made
behind the hairline and, using
specially developed instruments
and a tiny camera, the surgeon
is able to rejuvenate the
forehead, eyebrows and eyes
with no visible scarring at all.
But at the very frontier of
facelift surgery is the true
‘Lunchtime Lift’ — a surgical
facelift done under local
anaesthetic in just a few hours.
Having surgery without a
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Dr Brandt Crease Release with GABA
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Stylist: GEMMA ROGERS
Picture: IMAGE SOURCE
H
E THEN uses
endoscopic techniques to reposition the muscles.
While most of us
might baulk at the prospect of
being awake for a facelift, Dr
Ferlaud insists that his patients
don’t feel any pain and get a
better result.
But having a patient who is
awake and can take an active
part in the operation has other
advantages, too.
‘The patient is in a seated position which means that you can
see what they will really look
like,’ says Dr Ferlaud. ‘If you’re
operating on someone who is flat
on their back, gravity affects
their face in a slightly different
way than when they are upright.
‘Moreover, as they are awake, I
can ask them to open and close
their eyes, to move their cheeks
and even ask them to have a
check in a mirror so I can make
adjustments that will ensure they
get the result they want.’
Dr Ferlaud says his patients
remain under observation for a
few hours following surgery, but
are then free to go home.
It all sounds too good to be
true, but detractors of his techniques have their reservations.
‘While some operations can be
carried out under local anaesthetic, any serious facelift
surgery should probably be
carried out under a general
anaesthetic,’ says Mr McGeorge.
‘It means the surgeon has
greater control over things like
blood pressure and the pulse. I
can’t believe you could achieve
the same results through
surgery carried out under local
anaesthetic as those you’d get if
you’d operated using a general
anaesthetic.’
Despite his concerns, with ever
increasing numbers of us
seduced by the appeal of the
facelift, it seems inevitable that
this sort of no pain, all gain
approach to the surgery will
appeal to the thousands of
women who every year decide
that ‘putting their face on’ means
more than just a dab of foundation and a slick of lipstick.
■ BAAPS, 020 7405 2234,
www.baaps.org.uk.
Mr Rajiv Grover, 020 7486 4301,
www.rajivgrover.co.uk.
Dr Mike Comins, 020 7584 1642,
www.hansplace.com.
Dr Christian Ferlaud,
020 7655 6920.
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Oatmeal cashmere beanie, £70,
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