Midlife miniskirts: would you wear one over 50?

The Times

Short skirts are back – but some think there is an age limit. These three writers don’t

[…]

Yes, I’ll get my legs out . . . after £8,000 of treatments

Rosie Green, 47
Joyous news. Miniskirts and minidresses are back. I’m seeing them everywhere. Strutting down the catwalks, attending the glitziest parties, sunning themselves in the hottest holiday resorts.

More proof? Sienna Miller, 40, wore a silver thigh-scraper to a Bafta aftershow party a few weeks ago, Nicole Kidman, 54, in Miu Miu’s skelt (skirt/belt) on the cover of Vanity Fair and Heidi Klum, 48, in a body-hugging Dolce & Gabbana minidress on a recent magazine shoot. The return of the mini is good news for me. I love their cheekiness and the way they show off my best assets: my legs!

But as a midlifer I am aware that I will be the recipient of some side-eye from those who think there should be an age limit on wearing them. I have wondered if “they” were right. But no: I’m not going to be told I should be excluded from an entire fashion category because I am 47.

That said, just as I wouldn’t wear a strapless gown with a spotty back, neither would I put my pins out unless they were in peak condition. At my age this takes a lot more than it did a few decades ago — and being a beauty editor I have access to all the latest treatments. I have at least £250-worth of products in my bathroom dedicated to my legs. Moisturisers, exfoliators, body brushes, firming creams, an £80 bottle of fake tan by Sisley. For the skin on my legs is drier (thanks, hormones), more blemished (scars from running injuries) and veiny (that’ll be the two pregnancies) than it was. Plus the muscle tone has to be worked at, saggy knees need to be addressed and skin condition improved.

Fake tan is the essential product in the arsenal of any midlife miniskirt lover. It just makes everything look better. Ideally I’d have someone else apply it. Amanda Harrington is the rock star of the tanning world. It costs £100 for one of her team to come to your house for 45 minutes. Last time Harrington came to do my legs she had just come from treating the supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. She uses different shades of fake tan to give the illusion of muscle definition on my thighs and calves — as well as a colour that looked like I had just caught a bit of sun in the Hamptons.

I’ve also sorted out my thread veins with £700 of sclerotherapy, a fleetingly painful procedure that involves injecting the veins with a solution that causes them to collapse. Afterwards you have to wear surgical stockings for a week. Then there was the treatment for my varicose vein — an ugly blue line crawling down one calf that appeared during my second pregnancy in 2007. I had this one zapped with a treatment called VenaSeal, which costs from £3,000 at The Private Clinic. This was followed by endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), £2,700, when another appeared.

The knees are the bane of the midlife miniskirt-wearer’s life and the skin above mine is just beginning to slide downwards, creating a little pouch that overhangs my knee. I counter this with Profhilo injections, which cost from £850 for the two-part treatment. This is an injectable moisturiser that delivers a hit of hydration and kick-starts collagen production, and has just become available for use on the body.

[…]

I’ve signed myself up for this and for EmSculpt at The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, which is a device that causes your muscle to contract and work, at £750 a go.

Last, if I’m going to a big event I’ll book in for a lymphatic drainage massage […] It gets rid of water retention, instantly depuffing limbs, making them look leaner. Then I’ll load on the body make-up for an extra confidence hit. I like MAC Studio Face and Body, £32. After I’ve done all this — nearly £8,000 worth of leg tweaking — I hope it looks like I’ve made no effort at all.
Instagram @lifesrosie

[…]

View full article

To find out more about the varicose vein treatments we offer or to book an consultation please contact us or request a brochure.