Oh, Mr Darcy, you’ve just got too scrawny to be scrumptious!
There can’t be a woman off my generation in the country who doesn’t remember that magical moment in n 1995 when Colin Firth, as s Mr Darcy, emerged from the lake e and the wet shirt act was elevated d to an art form.
The scene, in the BBC’s version of Janee Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, was recentlyy voted the most beloved moment in TV dramaa of all time. Quite right, too.
For Firth was a vision of broad shouldered- ness, with a well developed chest and perfect pecs to match. In short, a hunk. A perfect specimen of male loveliness.
Firth went on to bring us further delight, ass a character called Mark Darcy, this time in thee screen adaptation of helen Fielding’s comic c creation Bridget Jones. Set against thee arrogant, untrustworthy womaniser, Daniel l Cleaver (convincingly played by hugh Grant),, who was his rival for Bridget’s affections, Colinn Firth was the one for whom all womankind d was rooting.
he was beautifully built, classically tall, dark k and handsome, kind, gentle and a lawyer withh a good career to boot. his superior charm andd physical allure were simply unbeatable. Not t so, I am saddened to report, this week whenn Firth unveiled an alarmingly skinny look att London Fashion Week.
Insiders say that Firth, who has always been n well-dressed and impeccably groomed, has of f late become obsessed with his weight andd style. he apparently became interested inn fashion — unheard of for a proper englishmann — when he worked with American fashion n designer and film director, Tom Ford, for thee 2009 movie A Single Man, in which Firthh played a grieving university professor whosee gay partner had died. Ford is always beautifully dressed. As you’d expect. And Firth evidently loved his celluloid transformation. he said: ‘his suits are beautiful. That’s when I first discovered how transformative a suit can feel.’
Of course, it’s a given that actors will allow their weight to fluctuate according to the role they’ve been hired to play. his wife has tweeted that ‘re Colin’s weight speculations, he has been asked to train for Matthew Vaughn movie,’ referring to Firth’s sequel in the fanchise The Secret Service.
COLIN’S weight loss began apparently, and entirely justifiably, when he was to appear in the film The railway Man. It would, after all, be ridiculous to play a prisoner of war who worked on the ‘railway of Death’ between Thailand and Burma, or for that matter, a spy with an amazing talent for martial arts, if the actor bore more than a passing resemblance to Billy Bunter.
But, Colin, it’s one thing to dress like a style icon for a film — quite another to want to emulate the emaciated elegant look when you return to domestic reality. Anyway, what woman wants her hus- band to outdo them in the style stakes?
I could, of course, be wrong in relation to Mrs Firth, or Livia Giuggioli as she’s known in her native Italy. She’s a fan of ecofashion, boasts her own couture collection and counts Stella McCartney among her friends. She has said she finds ‘the english reserve constipated’ and admitted her parents couldn’t see what she saw in Colin Firth. Come again? Who knows then, but she may, just may, have had some influence over Colin’s employment of a rather eccentric style guru. Daniele Boido, whom Firth is said to visit, recommends regular enemas, no animal protein, sugar or bread, just raw fruit, veg and aloe vera juice. No wonder Colin’s a shadow of his former self.
I can understand why a man heading for late middle age — he’s 55 — might begin to think seriously about how unattractive a burgeoning paunch and treble chin might be. I’ve been there myself and know how cruel people can be to the overendowed in the weight department and how horrible an impact it can have on your health and mobility. I don’t blame him for wanting to drop a few pounds.
But Colin, you were never a fatty in danger of the downsides of obesity, although you may have been a little soft around the edges. You were gorgeous. Turning into a beanpole whose narrow trousers look too large for you, is not a good look. And any severe weightloss does tend to leave a once wrinkle-free skin looking like a carelessly folded cardigan. Just think of Lord Lawson. Firth is, though, far from alone among men who find themselves in the public eye. A-lister Matthew McConaughey has all but disappeared since he starred as an Aids sufferer in the film Dallas Buyers Club.
he lost three stone for the part and says his eyesight worryingly diminished. Two years on, he still hasn’t regained his attractive bulk.
Meanwhile Dan Stevens who first appeared as handsome, well-upholstered Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, has slimmed down since he went to hollywood, and was described in one magazine as ‘going from chubby cheeked aristo to lean, mean American psycho’.
SIMILARLY, Aidan Turner who so delighted us ladies as the bare- chested, scything Poldark, looks as if he has slimmed down a little too much for the next series. It would be a great pity if young men were forced to become as obsessed with weightloss as young women have.
Men, take note. My current pin- ups are Daniel Craig emerging from the sea as James Bond and Ben Batt ending his naked swim as Ted Burgess in last week’s episode of The Go-Between. Well covered (with flesh, but little else) handsome and masculine.
So please, for the sake of womankind, Colin, ditch the bespectacled stick insect look, put on a few pounds and be our Mr Darcy again.