Who needs a surgeon to look good?

. . . asks the Observer.

My own observation is that a combination of the best hairdressing you can't afford, adroitly applied make-up and a really good skincare regime, will take you very far. But mainly the hairdressing.

Not made in China

Meanwhile, as the Olympic torch makes its way to Beijing (is it there yet?) the sight of the Tibetan protesters may make some of us think twice about buying Chinese-made clothes. the US has a made in America label, we have no such thing. One journalist set out to kit herself out in British clothes, and discovered it can only be done at the high end:

But how to buy non-Chinese sourced products when labelling regulations have become so lax? The answer is, you can't - not if you're shopping the high street. I set myself the task of researching the radical, hard-to-find alternative: a top-to-toe shopping list of fashion products made in a little country with a democratic political system, a minimum wage and iron employment laws. I speak, of course, of the exotic UK. And as it turns out, pockets of high-end, great quality, brilliantly designed manufacture still exist here.

A shining example is Margaret Howell, whose Wigmore Street shop (a haven of civilised English aesthetics) sells British-made white shirts which are the closest to the ideal that I've discovered. For fine summer sweaters, there's John Smedley, whose Sea Island cotton knits are made in Matlock, Derbyshire. Meanwhile, 65 per cent of Mulberry's bags are handmade in its Somerset factory.

Young British designers are also finding ways to craft at least part of their collections in Britain. Johnston's of Elgin makes all of Christopher Kane's cashmeres, including this summer's smash-hit biker jacket. The original Mackintosh (also Scottish) produces Erdem's raincoats, and Marios Schwab achieves the architecture of his sculptural designs in London factories.

For shoes, there's Georgina Goodman's Made in Mayfair collection. To complete a 100 per cent British-made wardrobe, it's even possible to find underwear. Buttress & Snatch, a vintage-haberdashery-trimmed collection swings a tag that reads "Handmade in Hackney by Honest, Hardworking Girls".

Our sponsor says . . . nothing

The BBC has launched an on-line ethical fashion magazine, called Thread. It's a very interesting enterprise for our national, state-owned broadcaster, which is paid for through direct taxation. The BBC is prohibited from taking advertising, which will make this possibly the only fashion magazine free from commercial interest. It's produced by BBC Learning and aimed at 16-30 year-olds, I assume on the prniciple of get 'em while their still young and don't have ingrained shopping habits. One of my beefs about ethical clothes is that they still haven't evolved into grown-up work-wear and seem either anti-fashion (the lumpy oatmeal linen dress) or young, multi-coloured, hip and ethnic. Perhaps the generation that demands ethical dress now will go on doing so when they hit 40.

Some extracts:

High street names such as Monsoon, Marks and Spencer and Next are members of the Ethical Trading Initiative, www.ethicaltrade.org. Members agree to a code of practice that covers basic workers' rights. It looks at hours worked, wages, health and safety and child labour. Members work with the factories they use to achieve improvements each year.

But one of the challenges that fashion companies cite is monitoring working conditions across a complex supply chain – raw cotton from India may be woven in Bangladesh, while buttons and zips may come from China. It can be difficult to ensure working conditions are fair in factories thousands of miles away.

and

It used to be relatively easy to spot guilt-free garb whether it was fairly traded or organic. It was dull stuff – the designs and colours didn’t exactly leap out at you. While perfectly decent clothing, it wasn’t high fashion and you wouldn’t find it on the catwalks or in glossy magazines.

All this is changing. Eco fashion is getting bolder and brighter. Gone are the dull, oatmeal-coloured tunics from the 1990s - think luminous red shift dresses from designer Viridis Luxe and clashing bright fabric skirts, stitched together by recycling enthusiasts From Somewhere.

As this summer’s fashion moves to bold, tribal patterns and fluro colours, ethical fashion has much to offer. Use our Style File to kick start your new look – experiment with stripes, branch out into boho or add a hint of tribal.

And the new It bag is . . .

That is correct, born in February 1955, the Chanel 2.55 is the latest It bag, according to Lisa Armstrong, who knows. Though she doesn't call it an It bag, because It bags are just so 2007.

I have been obsessing about the Chanel 2.55 for months, and in this I cannot claim any originality. Every other fashion type is now carrying or lusting after one. It’s just that it’s small, can be slung across the body and no one’s calling it an It bag, because It bags are very 2007.

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm - what?

In the comments Anonymous writes:

In response to annonymous's problem of grey olive skin in winter, I have used for many years Clarins Beauty Flash Balm (Eclat de Beaute) every morning over moisturiser. It is a lovely peachy colour in the tube and a very light application gives a dewy glow as if you've just come in from a blowy walk along the seashore. It suits my Anglo Italian complexion perfectly and avoids any need for foundation or powder, thus allowing the scrubbed French look you mention. I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

I find these comments baffling. I have tried Beauty Flash Balm and have never noticed a blind bit of difference, whether under or foundation, or without it. As for it obviating the need for foundation, ha! I am convinced that this must work for some types of skin, but not others, because I have repeatedly had this conversation with the many members of the League of the Beauty Flash Balm Mystified.

Power dressing invented

I was not a fan, to put it mildly, but here is a somewhat interesting piece on Mrs T's clothes, claiming that she pioneered power dressing. It's interesting to speculate on what she would have worn had she been PM in a later or earlier decade

Marianne Abrahams, then design director of Aquascutum, which made most of her clothes, said at the time: "She knows precisely what she wants and she's particular about the fit of the shoulders."

Those "power shoulders" typified her style as much as the omnipresent pearls and round-toed Ferragamo court shoes with stout 3cm heels. The tailored jacket and skirt was often in navy or sapphire - her favourite, "my party's colour". But she liked to vary the diet with forays into fuchsia or cerise.

Her suits were in good, serviceable British cloth, checked tweed or a gleaming brocade; indeed, any fabric was welcome as long as it did not wrinkle, because of the amount she travelled. She once said she found suits more practical than ball-gowns.

Can you be a feminist and like Sex and the City?

. . . asks the Guardian.

I'm a feminist and I already have a date with one of my brainiest female friends to go and see the movie when it opens. Nonetheless, some interesting points:

"It does make for quite uncomfortable viewing," says Professor Imelda Whelehan of De Montfort University, author of The Feminist Bestseller: From Sex and the Single Girl to Sex and the City. "How do we respect her? And Mr Big is such an interesting element. Even his name is masculine. He is like this phallus at the centre of it all."

SATC brought us the Fendi baguette, which I still defiantly use (one in red, one in purple suede) the perfect party bag which sits on the shoulder and under the arm,

but it also brought us these, which though they look fabulous require us to marry Prince Moneybags, because you can't wear them to walk down the street to use public transport.

Compact foundation

The compact foundation to which Mary refers, is Chanel Teint Innocence. She wears it, and now I wear it. I have pale skin and the colour I use is 20 Clair. You can buy refills.

Mary replies

Here are Mary's responses to your questions. Check back in a month and we'll do another.

1. How the hell do I apply eye make up now that I need [strong] reading glasses? I've tried all sorts of things, from glasses with one lens that flips from side to side, to a magnifying mirror, but they are all bloody impossible. You either have to keep one eye shut (try it), or the glasses get in the way, or only a tiny portion of you is in focus, and distorted at that. I’m reduced to just wearing lipstick. Which is OK, but just sometimes I'd like to go all out!

Mary: The only way you can see anything is to get a really good magnifying mirror that is well-lit. It should be of the highest quality , and if you can afford it, get one with different light settings. [Note: I bought a light up magnifying mirror made by Revlon with three different light settings, it made a huge difference. LG]

2. I've reached an age when my paling complexion looks grayish, but I am allergic to almost all fluid foundations. That has left me using mineral foundation and it's not good enough. I used to use AgnesB tinted moisturizer, which I could tolerate and then it just disappeared so that I couldn't even order it from the US. My skin is very well cared for inside and out, it just is not colored enough and I look tired. What are some ideas for counteracting it?

Mary: Try compact foundations which are a very different formula to liquid. They sit on your skin more than liquid. Chanel does a very good one. If you want to look young and healthy you'll need bronzer and brusher, or even self-tanner. Mineral powders are not good enough but they're a very quick, out-the-door process.

3. There are conflicting reports about make-up suitable for an 'ageing' skin. What exactly should a woman of 56 put on her face and what should she leave off to stop her looking like a fright?

Mary: No-on should think of having ageing skin until after 60. It's application rather than what is applied, it's not about what, it's about how. If you feel you're looking a fright you probably are but what does fright mean to you? What point are you in your make-up regime? There is a time at any age when you can do too much, too much blush will make anyone look like Baby Jane. Don't use completely matte eyeshadows because they kill a lot of the natural glow of the lid and keep most of the colour on top, always think up, rather than down, smoky lids will make you look tired. Don't put your blush too far down.

4.Does there a come a point in a woman's life when she should stop wearing black mascara? I'm in my early forties with fair skin and highlighted hair, is it time to switch to dark brown mascara?

Mary: No. There are no age rules. If you don't like black mascara, don't use it. Or try brown and see if it looks better.

5. I am 47 and always troubled by how foundation (I use Stila or Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer)always highlights my dry flaky spots and recovering blemishes. Scrubs still leave those "edges" behind.

Mary: It sounds like you haven't found the right skin-care regime for your skin. It might mean a visit to a skin doctor.

6. Due to a very mild case of Rosacea in the past, the pores on my nose are quite large and I have slight ruddiness of the nose and chin area which I feel the need to cover with foundation. I have tried Dermablend, etc. but end up with a nose that looks like an orange peel with the foundation settling into the large pores. La Roche Posay liquid foundation applied with a wet sponge goes on fine and I cover with powder to set but the coverage is a bit thin. I have tried so many foundations in the past, there must be a trick to it that I am missing?

Mary: Compact foundation is much easier when you have big pores and using powder creates the illusion of closed pores. Also try a pore minimiser. Estee Lauder does a good one.

7. My question is this: Are bronzers really worth it? Even with pale, large-pored skin?

Mary: The size of your pures has nothing to do with bronzers. Yes, wear it if you like to look slightly more tanned and healthy. If you like looking pale, don't. You can rub it in like a self-tanner. It's simply to give you a little more freshness. It shouldn't show. It should show even less than your blush. Blush, bronzers and foundation should never show, they're there to create an illusion.

8. Is there an under-eye concealer you'd recommend that doesn't look cake-y once dry? I'm getting that crepey skin around my eyes and don't want to emphasize it.

Mary: Very tricky. What I use on everyone’s skin, including my own, is either Dior Skin Flash or Issima Precious Light by Guerlain. These are the alternatives to Touche Eclat, they lift the area under the eye. The way to apply is to put much too much on your eye, then you need to let it sit for 30 seconds and pat it in, not rub it in because that will be rubbing it off. Never put foundation under the eyes.

9. What is the best way to deal with downy white hair on the face? You know, the noticeable kind.

Mary: I think it can look rather sweet, like a peach, and we should get over it. But if you really don’t like it, see a dermatologist.

10. Can you recommend a hypo-allergenic sunscreen for the face? I use Clinique, but would like to find something to alternate with it. (Even the Clinique starts irritating and I have to leave off sunscreen for a few days. I do wear a big hat!)

Le Roche Posay or Sisley.

11. What's the best way to keep my lipstick from bleeding?

Mary: Don't use lipgloss. Use a lipstick with a thicker consistency. Old fashioned lip-liners do help, use a lip-liner then fill in the dewiness with lipstick, keeping the outside line quite dry. Some brands are better than others, such as Chanel or Dior. Spending money on lipstick becomes more and more important as we get older. You really can't get away with cheap lipstick.

12. What foundation would you recommend for dark south Asian skin?

Mary: Nars, who made colours for Naomi Campbell, and Bobbi Brown. Both have modern textures.

13. Are all the chemicals we put on our skin everyday doing us more harm than good - aren't we eating a pound of lipstick a year or something? Joking aside, are the so called natural or organic cosmetics such as Dr Haushka and Lavera any better?

Mary: I doubt it. Organic make-up isn't half as good as the main lines.

14. Hello from Australia. I am now in my late 40s and having grown up in the subtropics hatless with endless sun I now have sun damage. On my neck it is evident as broken capillaries, large patches on each side. I currently leave it be. Is there a foundation or product I can use to help disguise the area without looking obvious.

Mary: Blend the foundation down your neck

15. A question for Mary: what does she think of mineral foundations and what kind of coverage do they give?

Mary: They are quick and easy to use once you've learned how to use them. The colours are true, but you will never have the same coverage liquid or compact foundations.

16. I keep seeing recommendations to exfoliate daily, but I'm not sure what sort of products to use. What do you recommend for a fifty+ fair skinned, freckly redhead with super sensitive skin?

Mary: Over 50, only twice a week. You need to remove the layer of old skin for a natural glow. Use a gentle scrub and don't rub.

17. I always had small eyes, and now that I have reached a certain age, my eyelids have totally disappeared. Should I just abandon eye shadow?

Mary: It depends if your eyes are very dark, you might have some intensity in your eye colour but if but if your eyes are pale blue you need something to give your eyes some colour.

18. One more - does Mary agree with Charla Krupp that we women over 40 should stick with sheer, pink lip stick or gloss?

Mary: 40 isn't old, for godsake. I hate sheer lipsticks, absolutely not. I can't think of anything more ageing. There is a time, between 45 and 55 when your body is going through a lot of emotional and physical changes and you can't wear red lipstick because it reminds you of what's happening to your body, but at 64 you stop caring and you can go back to red lipstick. As for pink, I like more sultry colours. Pink lipstick is very unsexy.

Nothing to wear

There seems to be a problem with British women finding anything they can wear when they enter the highest echelons of management. One executive had to start designing the clothes herself:

“I hate that asexual look – that middle of the road at Morgan Stanley style. I like a double-platform shoe,” she says, looking down at her Louboutins. “You can run to meetings in them, they’re comfy . . .” At 29, Paterson Smith, a state-school-educated girl who can pitch in three different languages, runs sales and marketing in the UK for hedge-fund products at Rothschild. The more successful she has become, the more flamboyantly she dresses. “I enjoy my clothes now, instead of wearing them as armour,” she says. But it was only when she got together with Starkey that she found the right grey pinstripe to wear with baby blue. “I’d been looking for eight years.”

A Lintner or Starkey design never leaves room for the sort of wardrobe malfunction Paterson Smith suffered on her first day in a new job. She stalked into the office wearing a cream Alexander McQueen suit, with a zip up the back, which undid itself to reveal an embarrassing expanse of executive thigh and caused a riot of internal e-mail banter for days afterwards.

Even though there is room for McQueen – and Pucci, Issa, Dolce & Gabbana and Temperley – in Paterson Smith’s work wardrobe, she says that most seasons, when she browses Style.com, her heart sinks. “Smocks? All I thought then was, ‘What the hell am I going to wear?’ That season it was Michael Kors, Celine and Kate,” she says, looking fondly at her saviour

.

Couple arguing (with hands)

sound is essential for this one

Amos Oz says one should not ask a writer if a work is autobiographical about him, but whether it is autobiographical about you. Here I see my inner Sid Caesar. Not so inner.

A Marshall Plan for America

Well, we have waited sixty years to make some recompense for American's contribution to defeating fascism in Europe in WWII and now, at last, we have our chance. America, Britain is coming to the rescue:

"The British are the new Japanese, and New York is the new Italy - the place to come to stock up on designer clothes," says Raegan Morgan, sales specialist at Diane von Furstenberg. "We opened our downtown store in May and, particularly since September, we've been inundated with European visitors. The British especially really load up the dressing rooms."

It is a bit like a United Nations effort to give funds to a developing country, but with more of an emphasis on Ralph Lauren and Levi's. And in truth, this analogy can be read with something akin to literalism: as Americans, beaten into consumer timidity by daily warnings about their dying economy, increasingly forgo $300 (£150) dresses and a 17th pair of jeans, US retailers are increasingly relying on British tourists' money.

"If we had to depend on custom from New Yorkers, it would be difficult," says Morgan. The store manager at a well-known American high street store that asked not to be named admitted, "We all thank God for the 'two-bag Brits'," referring to the British practice of bringing two suitcases on their New York trips - one packed with clothes to wear, and a spare to bring back all the extras they will buy. Chris Heywood, spokesman for NYC & Company, the official marketing and tourism organisation for New York, is more blunt about how crucial the British pound has become: "British tourism is absolutely essential to the city's economy."

The tyranny of beauty

Lunching with Mary Greenwell yesterday I heard that there is no longer any reality in magazines. There are no photographs, apart from paparazzi ones, that are not airbrushed and photoshopped. No-one hasn't had botox, fillers, at the very least. This means that the (apparent) gap between what we look like and that the celebs look like gets wider every day. Born beautiful, they appear not to age.

Here's Lisa Armstrong in the Times yesterday talking about our lookist society:

One only has to see the Daily Mail's “Woman in parka shocker!” caption that accompanied a picture of Tessa Jowell on Monday to see how applying exacting sartorial standards across the board has become a habit. It's one thing to hold Madonna or Kate Moss up to scrutiny, or even to have fun with Carla Bruni, who is playing up to her new role sensationally - as befits a former supermodel. Inevitably, Sarah Brown got swept up in the forensic dissection of the French First Lady's outfits - and (hands up) The Times, along with other papers, ran unfavourable comments on the former's appearance. The entire female flank of the French Cabinet has recently had their wardrobes pored over as if they were auditioning to fill in for Cate Blanchett on the red carpet while she takes a spot of maternity leave.

In fairness, some of them looked as though they were auditioning. What's puzzling is the derisory tone of some of the commentary and the degree to which jibes about a woman's taste in footwear become a form of covert sniping about her character (the derision, by the way, doesn't generally come from fashion writers). Increasingly, looks are used to define women who never set out to compete by those rules.

“The fact that women are seemingly colluding doesn't make it harmless,” argues Sheila Jeffreys, the feminist author of Beauty And Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West. “Sitting around bitching about how bad other women look won't ultimately make you feel better. Today's emphasis on looks - and the scorn heaped on anyone who doesn't conform - is incredibly unhealthy because it normalises painful and sometimes dangerous cosmetic procedures, promotes uncomfortable and immobilising clothes, fosters an epidemic of eating disorders and creates a tyranny of youth, under which no one is allowed to age.

“The principles of beauty have always been part of the mating ritual, but they're now routinely practised in the workplace. We're seeing that, even in politics, women are required to look a certain way: high heels, tighter-fitting clothes, lipstick. It's a free world, but in reality there's very little choice involved. There's virtually no challenge to the wall of thin, youthful images. The definition of what's attractive is becoming narrower.”

And while Western women are under pressure to show more and more of their bodies, Muslim women are increasingly veiling themselves. “It's a different manifestation of the same condition. I don't see either as empowering,” says Jeffreys.

Therein lies what seems to be the mother of paradoxes. More than 30 years after bra-burning and lipstick-abstaining, most Western women earn their own money, many work in worlds previously closed to them and a few occupy the top slots. Male babies outnumber females by 104 to 100 - so in theory women have never been more powerful. So why perpetuate, and even inflate, criteria that seem more relevant to women living in a harem?

Mary replies Tuesday

I had lunch today with Mary Greenwell and she has incredibly generously agreed to respond to as many of your questions as she has actual answers for.

We will be working on the responses on Monday and I will post them on Tuesday.

The ethical handbag

I don't claim to go out of my way to buy ethically, though I won't buy very cheap and I won't buy faked, but the Guardian today has a gallery of ethical handbags. This one is made in Cambodia out of scraps that would be thrown away onto landfill sites. It costs only £45 from
By La Vie Devant Soie and you can buy it online at adili.com

Reuters interview

I was interviewed six weeks ago in Singapore, and finally here it is

Q: Do you think women understand the psychology of clothes better than men?

A: "It's very rare to come across women who say I don't care what I wear and what I look like. And I think even when they say that they don't mean it. Or what they mean is they've given up, they just don't think they can find anything that suits them.

I've watched with great interest the psychology of these makeover shows, (such as) Trinny and Susannah, and how very much those women want to be transformed. They want to look in the mirror and think they look the best that they can look. They understand how very well clothes can transform you... I think women get and understand what I'm trying to say about clothes, on a deeper level."

Hilary Alexander explains Jaeger

It was at the V&A's 150th birthday party that I saw Hilary Alexander looking incredibly chic in a MaxMara jacket and Jaeger dress that finally sent me down to Regent Streret to take a look.

Here she is, on video, talking through the store's makeover

Robert Clergerie

not the ones I bought

I finally broke down yesterday and went to the Robert Clergerie shop on Wimpole Street, at the top of St Christopher's Place. Top Baby Lia's mother, Ruth, was quite right, they're fantastic, the best shoes for wide feet. And very expensive, but what can you do?

To go into a shop and say, what lovely shoes, can I try these, and they say yes, and yes we have them in your size, and yes, look they fit, and yes, they are comfortable, and yes, I can walk in them and as Molly Bloom would say, yes yes yes yes, and so it's over to the cash register and out with the Amex and yes.

Put out the black flags

The Times tells us it's the end of the dress. Instead we have to wear short, highwaisted skirts, with tops tucked in and skyscraper heels.

Yeah, right.

Ask Mary: An occasional series begins

Mary Greenwell , make-up artist to Uma Thurman, Cate Blanchet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightly, Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen and who began her career in Paris in the 80s working with Christy Turlington, Stephanie Seymour, Tatiana Patitz, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford (enough already! do you want to make us feel totally insecure?) has graciously agreed to take occasional make-up and beauty queries from Thoughtful Dresser readers..

To kick off, I asked her if it was necessary to wear primer under foundation, what it did and which one she would recommend.

Here's her answer

I would rather someone spent the money on something MORE BENEFICIAL.
Yes, the primer will prep the skin but is unnecessary if the skin is cleansed, exfoliated, and moisturized properly. Daily maintenance of a good skin regime is the best primer. A bit like going to the gym, as then you do not need to wear support and lifting knickers and tights (maybe).

If you decide to opt for the primer route, go for Laura Mercier or Chanel.

If you'd like to post your questions to Mary, bang 'em out in the comments below and I'll pick the best (or most popular) ones and pass them on for her consideration.

Remember, this is like asking Einstein for help with your maths homework.

Re comments below - the make-up look we'd prefer to avoid