Ageless Elle is not your average role model

WELCOME to the age of age. Is it just the age we are at, or are women now more obsessed with age than ever before?

I think the latter. Age obsession is now fuelled by the rapacious beauty industry, preying on our vulnerabilities and worst fears. And also by celebrities whose wealth and popularity is in direct proportion to how much younger they look the older they get.

Model Elle Macpherson, 52, (pictured) has made an industry out of it. This week, she is advising us crones to drink three litres of water a day instead of the commonly recommended two. What am I, a leaky radiator? Don’t answer that.

Meanwhile, 70-year-old Cher is about to start a show in Las Vegas. This week, she said that when she looks in the mirror, she sees an ‘old lady’.

Does she really believe that — or is she just angling for everyone to cry: ‘No, darling, you look fabulous!’

Sharon Stone, 58, and Liz Hurley, 51, proved this week that they still look great on the beach, while Trinny Woodall, 52, has a reinvented herself as the older lady’s online friend.

Her website gives the skinny on everything from glycolic face peels to hiding bingo wings (wear a soft draped blouse under a sleeveless dress. Why, who would have thought of that?)

They are amazing, even if we all suspect that a few of them have had secret surgery.

And how practical is it for ordinary women on ordinary budgets to hold back the years like they do? Not very, but don’t stop us from trying.