Good Week/Bad Week: October 9

IT'S BEEN A GOOD WEEK FOR:

AGEING GRACEFULLY
Let’s be honest. While Victoria Beckham is way, way hot – she pulled David Beckham, let us never forget – she’s not the most natural beauty. A group of people the size of the entire population of Belgium are employed to keep her looking that good through a combination of fake tan, high fashion, a punishing diet and exercise schedule and, perhaps, the odd stint under the knife. But this week, we saw a chink in Posh’s perfect armour – a flash of grey around her hairline. And we loved it. It’s brave, it’s classy, it’s channelling Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Well, it will be in a few months. At the moment, to be honest, it’s a bit more Gary Lineker, but give it time, Vic, and you’ll be the toast of the fashion week front row.

 

RECYCLING
It’s a matter of ecological necessity to reuse and reinvent. And that’s exactly what we tell ourselves every time we go out to the corner shop in our eight-year-old tracksuit bottoms with the holey crotch. And now it’s official: recycling clothes is cool. Because who says so? Erm… Geri Halliwell. This week, our second favourite former Spice Girl stepped out at a Breast Cancer Care charity event in a bluey purple/purply blue gown that she first showed off at a post-Oscars party in 2002. Now, we’re not saying that she’s got a good tailor or anything, but back then she was much skinnier in a ‘Is Geri really OK? Really?’ kind of way. And now, curvier, with post-baby boobs, she’s still fitting into that old dress. Hmm. It makes us think that Geri has a point to prove. And it’s got nothing to do with the environment.

 

NEW ROMANCE
We love it when a new couple gets together – and Katy Perry and Russell Brand are in that magical first flush at the moment. You can’t turn a page of the tabloids without coming across the pair of them holding hands, beaming at each other, sneaking out of each other’s homes in the early morning and taking romantic strolls down autumnal Parisian boulevards. Other, more cynical, media are suggesting that this is nothing but a faux-mance, a publicity stunt. Call us sentimental, but we think there’s more to it. Russell is a man who has led a complicated personal life. He’s done some unconventional things. He has his demons. Maybe he’s met his match in Katy, who not only kissed a girl and liked it, as any idiot knows, but is also experienced in dealing with cases of love-bipolar. No pressure, you two, but make us proud…

 

IT'S BEEN A BAD WEEK FOR:

PARTIES
The current spate of postal strikes are having a catastrophic effect on British businesses. They also meant that we didn’t get our invite to Simon Cowell’s 50th birthday party this week. But, between you and us, we’re over it. There are many spectacles we’d like to see in our life – the sun rising over the Taj Mahal, the surface of the moon, the first female president of the USA – but a 60ft portrait of Simon Cowell beamed onto the front of a stately home in Hertfordshire is probably not one of them. No offence, Simon. So what else did we miss? Kate Moss getting ‘refreshed’, Jordan trying to make sexy with the host, Alan Sugar looking grumpy… Come on, Celebland, you can do better than that.

 

FEELING THE BURN
There are few things more annoying than having to do exercise. One of them, however, is having some well-meaning sidekick shouting motivational statements in your face to encourage you while you’re doing it. Pity poor Katie Holmes, then, out jogging this week in Boston with Tom Cruise, who was forced to suffer some over-enthusiastic encouragement from her husband. Katie’s no slouch when it comes to running. In fact, she completed the New York Marathon two years ago, but Tom obviously felt he could offer her some words of advice. If we were Tom, we might wonder why Katie was listening to her iPod while we were trying to tell her stuff, but perhaps we’re being over-sensitive.

 

THE HOUSE OF LOHAN
Fashion is a cruel, cruel business. This was the harsh lesson learnt by Lindsay Lohan this week in Paris, where she debuted the Emanuel Ungaro collection that she had been collaborating on. We’re used to people telling us our clothes are cheesy and dated, but for Linds we’re guessing it might have come as more of a shock to read the media’s stinging verdict. It seems that the team only had a few short weeks to work on the collection, but the fashion community doesn’t seem to be doing sympathy this season. Statement shoulders, yes. Sympathy, no. And reports of Lindsay looking distressed when she came out to take her bow at the end of the show only made us want to give her a big hug and take her out for some chips. Give the girl a break, eh?

 

Good Week/Bad Week: Oct 2
Good Week/Bad Week: Sep 25

Good Week/Bad Week: Sep 18

 

The views in this column are those of the author alone and not of MSN/Microsoft