Home Australia ALEXANDRA SHULMAN NOTEBOOK: I’m not quite ready for my ‘glad to be grey’ phase

ALEXANDRA SHULMAN NOTEBOOK: I’m not quite ready for my ‘glad to be grey’ phase

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Every three and a half weeks I make a pilgrimage to Melanie, my colourist at Hari's salon on Fulham Road. I certainly don't want gray roots (File image of a woman checking her hair)

Every three and a half weeks I make a pilgrimage to Melanie, my colourist at Hari hair salon on Fulham Road. Precisely calculating when the next appointment will be necessary is always a complex activity (I certainly don’t want gray roots for any public appearance), but it’s crazy to book myself earlier than necessary.

Three weeks is too soon, but as a general rule, four is too long.

The problem is, as any brunette who dyes her hair will know, one day you’re the full, deliciously brunette Elizabeth Taylor, and literally the next you face the mirror and voila, you’ve turned into the spotted warbler in shades of gray and brown. .

Every time I sit in Melanie’s chair and discuss whether we’re going to be a little lighter on the front or if I just need roots and not highlights, or if maybe everything has gotten too bold, I wonder if this blather is necessary. .

Why don’t I give in to my natural hair color and save time and certainly money? After all, look at Jane Fonda and Andie MacDowell, photographed at Paris Fashion Week flaunting their silver locks in service of L’Oreal, where they are both ambassadors. Silver Not Sorry read the screen behind them.

Every three and a half weeks I make a pilgrimage to Melanie, my colourist at Hari Hair Salon on Fulham Road. I certainly don’t want gray roots (File image of a woman checking her hair)

'It's crazy to book me earlier than necessary. Three weeks is too soon, but as a general rule, four is too early.

‘It’s crazy to book me earlier than necessary. “Three weeks is too soon, but as a general rule, four is too long,” says ALEXANDRA SHULMAN

And every time you open the fashion pages of a magazine, there you find her, the symbolic gray-haired model who used to prove that fashion is not just for young people. Even older women can rock a pair of pink pants, that’s what that hair color says.

But on occasion I’m on the verge of thinking I’ll just give up and see what nature intended, since I have no idea what my hair color would be without Melanie’s services, I bolt for the exit door.

It’s all very well accepting your natural self, but in my opinion my natural self is a brunette. I have no idea how I would feel if I became a silver person.

There are some gray-haired women who look absolutely wonderful. And there are others who have simply accepted this as a natural part of aging and moved on. But I doubt that’s me.

If I tried to see how the color of the badger invading my roots takes over my entire head, I would feel that I have taken a step into another stage of life, and I am not ready for that yet.

Relax, it’s just my ‘resting bitch face’

Have you ever seen a photo of her (Sue Gray, pictured) looking happy? I have not

Have you ever seen a photo of her (Sue Gray, pictured) looking happy? I have not

Continuing with the theme of appearance, I have some sympathy for Sue Gray, as she and I share a physiognomic characteristic: the “resting bitch face.”

Have you ever seen a photo of her looking happy? I haven’t done it. But that’s probably because she, like me, naturally seems depressed, cursed, and with her mouth permanently down.

I can think happy thoughts until someone tells me to cheer up, at which point they turn around to reflect my discontented appearance.

I spent some time experimenting with a fake smile, lifting the corners of my mouth to avoid it, but that gets boring.

Still, maybe sometimes a hint of a fake smile would do wonders for Sue Gray’s reputation.

Balancing the books is not Naomi’s style

Naomi Campbell in a cream ensemble and gold chain belt attending a book signing at Librarie 7L on September 27, 2024

Naomi Campbell in a cream ensemble and gold chain belt attending a book signing at Librarie 7L on September 27, 2024

What is extraordinary is not that Naomi Campbell was banned from being a charity trustee after misappropriation of funds from her Fashion For Relief initiative was discovered, but that she ever was one.

Running a charity means overseeing financial procedures, something Naomi isn’t known for.

Her skill set arrives several hours late and looks wonderful.

In the Naomisphere, extravagance is the norm, no matter who pays. No doubt she would consider a £12,000 flight to France, expensive hotel rooms and spa treatments, all from the charity coffer, appropriate in return for lending her stupendous body and extensive address book to publicize the cause.

Reading the final result and questioning the validity of this behavior would not come into play.

Still, the French clearly think he’s acceptable since, even if he’s not a genius with a balance, they just awarded him the prestigious Ordre des Artes et des Lettres.

Another example of how we are different from our friends across the Channel.

It is the set designer who steals this show.

David Oyelowo and Kaelum Nelson attended the press night after the Coriolanus party on September 24

David Oyelowo and Kaelum Nelson attended the press night after the Coriolanus party on September 24

David Oyelowo opens in the title role of Coriolanus at the National Theater wearing a velvet tuxedo and holding a glass of champagne.

It’s a clever shortcut to demonstrate the arrogance and aristocracy of this doomed Shakespearean general, but the real hero of the production is designer Es Devlin’s sets.

Gone are the days when the curtain would fall on a scene change, before rising for the next.

Instead, Devlin’s atmospheric sets seamlessly transform the setting from battlefield to rebel town forum to his mother Volumnia’s elegant home in a matter of seconds.

They keep the public immersed in a work that is particularly relevant at this time of tension between political populism and the elite.

Will we see Victoria at the Old Vic?

Brigitte Macron looks completely elegant while attending the Dior blue carpet at Paris Fashion Week

Brigitte Macron looks completely elegant while attending the Dior blue carpet at Paris Fashion Week

Brigitte Macron not only sat front row at the Dior and Balmain fashion shows, but she also has a cameo in Netflix’s Emily In Paris. By contrast, Victoria Starmer is unfairly criticized for showing her support for London Fashion Week by similarly appearing at a show in a borrowed outfit.

Would it be okay for her to visit EastEnders? Maybe you could have a pint in the Old Vic and talk about your winter fuel allowance, in the M&S trousers you have in your wardrobe?

Soap opera stars are making a comeback

After years of everyone replacing bars of soap with liquid soap (fueled by Covid), hard soaps are making a comeback.

Bronnley has just launched a new edition of its lemon, the first fruit-shaped soap, and the shelves are increasingly filled with nostalgic packaging from brands such as Roger & Gallet, Trumpers and Yardley.

Much more distinguished than a plastic bottle.

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