The Mail on Sunday

Look who’s back in a bustier

- By Holly Bancroft

HER stunning looks and exquisite dress sense have kept her at the top of the fashion world for more than 25 years.

So when Helena Christense­n wore a black lace bustier to a party earlier this year, she could not have anticipate­d the huge debate it would spark about what styles were appropriat­e for a 50-year-old woman.

Today, speaking exclusivel­y to You magazine, the supermodel breaks her silence on the row triggered by Mail on Sunday columnist Alexandra Shulman. And she makes a bold, defiant statement by posing in a near-identical lingerie top for her photoshoot.

In April, ex-Vogue editor Ms Shulman – a long-term champion of positive body image in older women – sparked a backlash for criticisin­g the bustier Christense­n wore to Gigi Hadid’s 24th birthday bash. She wrote: ‘When women’s bodies no longer serve any child-bearing purpose, we find flaunting them disturbing and slightly tragic.’ In reply, the model speaks out about women’s obsession with age – without being drawn directly into the spat. She says: ‘I don’t want to talk about age in any interview because that’s what always happens to women, and even with the slightest mention of it we put ourselves in a situation where it is actually about that.

‘So I’d prefer it if we just forgot about that question because I’m trying to make it [not talking about age] a conscious thing for every interview and every article about any woman in the same way that nobody gives a s*** about a man. It’s always women who ask about it. Men never do, because men don’t really care. So in a strange way we are not helping ourselves. Men don’t really give a s***.’

 ??  ?? DEFIANT: The image that sparked debate and, right, in You today
DEFIANT: The image that sparked debate and, right, in You today

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