How Sharon Stone can help YOU to look great in a bikini
As 58-year-old actress posts this stunning picture online...
MOST women approaching 60 would balk at the very idea of wearing a bikini, let alone posing for a photograph in one.
Yet admittedly most women don’t have the lean limbs, pert bosom and line-free face that actress Sharon Stone showed off in a recent holiday snap.
Stepping out of the swimming pool at her Los Angeles home with wet hair and a huge smile, the 58-year-old could have passed for a woman half her age.
So just how does the Basic Instinct star manage to look quite so good?
THE PERFECT POSE
SHE may seem relaxed and as if she’s been caught unawares while wading out of the pool, but this pose is a carefully constructed image of perfection.
‘She’s using every trick in the book,’ says posing expert Lisa Welham, who teaches models how to work the camera. ‘Her body is not straight on to the camera. As soon as you stand straight, you look exactly as wide as you are.
‘Instead, Sharon has angled herself 45 degrees away from the camera, which automatically makes hips and waists look slimmer.
‘She’s also twisted her shoulders towards the camera which gives her more of an hourglass look — making your shoulders look wider has a tapering effect on the waist.’
The way the actress is holding her arms is also crucial to the overall effect.
‘She’s cleverly keeping her arms away from her body,’ says Lisa. ‘The minute you put them down, any body fat spreads and makes you look bigger than you are. Keeping them away also elongates the arms, making them look slimmer.
‘Sharon has also lifted her chin up an inch — if she was looking straight on, her neck would look shorter while lifting your chin makes your neck look longer and thinner.
‘This works in conjunction with the camera angle — the picture is taken from above. Always take a photo from a slight height if you want to look slimmer. At normal height, you look wider.
‘And keep your spine straight and your shoulders down as Sharon has done. If you slouch, your tummy and waist will look bigger and any excess fat will show. Straightening your spine gives your waist a tighter look.
‘The only thing I would have done differently in this photo is bend the leg closest to the camera instead of the back leg. This would have elongated her thigh, given her a perkier bottom and been an even better shot.’
MINIMAL HAIR AND MAKE UP
If HER pose was studied, then her hair and make-up (or rather lack of it) certainly wasn’t.
‘It’s hard to tell, but it doesn’t look as if she’s got any make-up on,’ says beauty expert Alice Theobald. ‘She looks incredible. It helps that she’s got very wellshaped eyebrows — a good eyebrow shape can give you a mini face-lift and hers do.
‘She’s also smiling, which lifts the face — it plumps out cheeks and turns the corners of the mouth upwards, which are both signs of youth.’
The actress has escaped the curse of many older women who find their eyebrows thin significantly as they age.
Perhaps it helps that she was born with naturally thick ones — photographs taken at the beginning of her career show the actress with huge caterpillar brows. Even so, there are very few 50-something women who could look good with wet hair slicked back off their faces.
‘Whether you look good like this depends on your face shape and, more importantly, your features,’ says Alice.
‘Strong features are best to carry this off. But Sharon has quite a large forehead, so if I was styling her, I’d loosen her hair up at the front and give her a bit of a fringe to soften it.
‘But swept back at the sides suits her. It makes her face look wider rather than longer.’
NIPPED, TUCKED AND BOOSTED?
With a perfect body and not a wrinkle in sight, has Sharon Stone succumbed to the surgeon’s knife?
She says not, but admits turning to injectable treatments such as fillers to hold back time.
‘i can’t tell you how many doctors try to sell me a facelift,’ she has said. ‘i’ve even gone as far as having someone talk me into it, but when i looked at pictures of myself, i thought: “What are they going to lift?” ’
there was, however, a brief flirtation with lip injections — something that she says she did only once because it gave her a trout pout.
But she does have facial fillers — plumping injections that restore youthful volume and smooth lines.
‘it’s so common now,’ she told harper’s Bazaar magazine last year. ‘And it’s far better than having your face cut apart and ending up looking like you got sucked into a wind tunnel.’
Plastic surgeon Adrian Richards, clinical director of the Private Clinic, says that’s the typical attitude of celebrities nowadays. ‘She looks good but she looks like a lady in her 50s,’ he says. ‘Normally these people have gentle treatments rather than surgery to help them look good — facial peels, very small amounts of fillers, quality skincare products. these slow down the ageing process rather than making them look radically different.’
he believes the actress, who rose to fame in the Nineties with the film total Recall, may also have had Botox because there are no frown lines between her eyebrows, which is unusual in a woman of her age.
STUNNING SWIMWEAR
ShARoN Stone’s never been shy about flashing the flesh — who can forget the infamous leg-crossing scene in Basic instinct? — but by 58 most women have switched to a one-piece swimsuit.
‘But why would you when you have a figure like this?’ asks celebrity stylist Kate Barbour. ‘instead she’s chosen a bikini that shows off and enhances her curves. the good thing about a triangle bikini is that it lifts and supports your bust, creating a great shape.
‘And this halter-neck style flatters broad shoulders like Sharon’s as it elongates the neck. Side-tie bottoms are a great choice for someone with a good figure — they lengthen the leg, don’t cut off the hips and the ties mean the sides won’t dig in and create the dreaded bikini bulge — the swimwear equivalent of muffin top.
‘And the monochrome giraffe print is classic so can be worn for many seasons to come.
‘it works well with most skin tones and can be styled with other colours if you want to wear a sarong.’
DAPPLED LIGHTING
EvEN the natural lighting in this photograph is working to Sharon’s benefit.
‘harsh sunlight straight onto the face isn’t flattering,’ says former model turned photographer Rose Quinn. ‘But here the light is coming from the side — it looks as if it’s coming through the leaves of a tree and gently dappling her body.
‘it’s highlighting certain parts of her — the decolletage and waist — while the back of her leg and left arm are in shadow, which is slimming.
‘the picture is also bleached out, which means you don’t see any lines on the face. And it looks as if it’s been taken on an iPhone because there’s no high details. the better quality the camera, the more flaws you will see.’
FIGHTING FIT
hER body is most likely to be the result of good genetics and careful upkeep rather than the surgeon’s knife.
‘She’s an ectomorph shape, which means she’s naturally tall, slim, small busted and long limbed, like Jerry hall and Joanna Lumley,’ says Dr Richards.
‘Ectomorphs tend to stay that way throughout their lives quite easily — they have naturally low body fat.’
But that fabulous figure (she’s 5ft 9in and weighs nine stone) isn’t just a result of good genes — Sharon freely admits she had to work hard to maintain it.
She practised pilates for years until she hit 50 and the twin challenges of the menopause and ageing, both of which slow the metabolism, meant that she had to try harder to stay in shape.
‘i’ve found that since i hit 50, i’ve felt i needed more muscle tone,’ she says. ‘So i joined a gym and i do weights. i really like it.’
Like most hollywood stars, she has a personal trainer and goes to the gym four or five times a week for up to an hour at a time.
‘But she also tries to stave off boredom by doing different types of exercise including yoga, stretching and dancing.
‘that saying — “Dance like nobody is watching” — i do that,’ she says. ‘i dance hard until i sweat. it’s good for the mind and the body.’
then there are two Power Plate sessions a week at her home where she stands and exercises on a machine as it vibrates rapidly (25 to 50 times a second). it’s meant to provide an effective fatburning workout.
And if she feels she’s putting on weight, she walks up the stairs instead of getting the lift and parks further away from wherever she’s going.
MOISTURISE FOR FLAWLESS SKIN
thE 58-year-old says her smooth skin is thanks to following her mother’s advice to moisturise twice every day and use soap only sparingly on her face.
She uses Mac wipes to remove her make-up and Shiseido cleansing water before bed each night. She also slathers on high-factor sunblock every day to negate the ageing effects of the LA sun.
CLEAN EATING
DESPitE her fabulous figure, Sharon doesn’t nibble on just a lettuce leaf when she goes out for dinner.
‘i like porterhouse steak and rib-eyes,’ she says. ‘this works for me because i have very low cholesterol and low blood pressure. i also eat fish and cheese.
‘i like clean food prepared as simply as possible. i used to love wine, but i don’t drink at all anymore.
‘i think, at a certain point, it’s better for women not to have any alcohol because it can make your face, breasts and midsection get very bloated.’
She teams her meat with fresh vegetables, but not onions or garlic, and avoids caffeine, instead drinking herbal cleansing tea. A treat is a few squares of dark chocolate, which she carries everywhere with her.