The Bottom is Back - In Gyms and Jeans

Monday, 06 June 2005

Figure-hugging pants, anatomic bikinis and special exercises. Model Fernanda Lessa claims she never stops training to be able to wear miniskirts. This summer's focus of attention for men and women

MILAN - All women dream of an apricot, but many have to settle for an aubergine. In between, there are oranges, which may not be perfect but are still a good result, and the depressing drop-shaped variety. Men don't have these problems. They have the pert bottoms they were born with, assuming their weight is kept within reason, because of the proportion of lean mass, higher than in women, and fat mass, obviously lower than the other sex. At worst, men will have to put up with a pear shape.

Nip and tuck specialists turn to the greengrocer's shelves when they are classifying their patients' buttocks. Personal trainers are less agricultural, merely shaking their heads and piling on the exercises, since the gluteus maximus is one of the body's strongest muscles. Both categories have been working overtime recently. They call it buttock mania and it affects men and women equally. Significantly, a leading gym equipment company has designed a machine specifically to mould marble-hard backsides. More than one designer label, Fiorucci and Gilli included, has launched lift-and-carry jeans to revitalise this sometimes generously proportioned appurtenance. In spring, there were shaping tights but now that the hot weather has arrived, there is him and her underwear, in the form of reducing trunks. A torrent of creams, gels, oils and sprays promises comparable results. Then there is the new beachwear. Tangas are less in evidence, as designers have realised that not everyone has the right figure, and anatomic briefs have made a comeback.

There are massages, electro-stimulators and a British brand of slimming sneakers. And of course special courses in the gyms. Advice from ancient times, like alternate hot and freezing showers, is on offer but in the operating theatre, the issue is more serious. Surgeons have techniques to lift wobbly bottoms, including liposuction with supportive sutures here and there. "But", says Alessandro Rodella, organiser of the competition to find the 2006 testimonial bottom for lingerie manufacturer Roberta, "we found only one buttock-lifted candidate in the 10,000 we selected. Her backside was out of proportion to the rest of her body". Mr Rodella knows what he is talking about. "We're now down to 400 girls aged between 18 and 22".Only a four-year age range? "Experts tell us that the upper limit is when the buttocks are at their most tonic". Is buttock mania a lost cause, then? "In my homeland [Brazil - Ed.]", says a serious Fernanda Lessa, "no one compromises on buttocks and tummies. They must be perfect, which could be because we live on the beach, where you don't need jewellery, clothes or high heels. I do an hour and half of Pilates method exercises every day. I don't if it's true that we Brazilians don't need to, but at 28 I'm not going to stop exercising just to see whether my bottom stays in shape! "The Brazilian model also explains how to disguise a less than perfect bottom. "In today's jeans [unsurprisingly, the fashion item of the moment - Ed.], any bottom can look good but only genuinely beautiful buttocks can pass the miniskirt test".

Piero Pazzi, an experienced talent scout, claims that there are two kinds of models. There's the catwalk category ("it doesn't matter if they don't have a perfect bottom") and the ones you realise at once will make a fortune modelling underwear ("Take Gisele Bundchen or Adriana Lima, from South America, obviously"). "Carla Bruni was unique. She had a perfect bottom, to which she devoted hours and hours of step aerobics". Legend has it that it was during a training session in gym of the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan that Mick Jagger saw her (or it?) and fell in love. After all, when a bottom is pretty, it's pretty. But there's no need to go overboard protecting it, as Jennifer Lopez (number one in the 2005 hit parade, with Brad Pitt's) has. She has insured her derrière for one million dollars.

Tyson Beckford has a healthier attitude. The 33-year-old New Yorker with a Jamaican father and Chinese mother, has been one of the world's highest-paid male models since 1991, and is the exclusive testimonial for Ralph Laurent and Pirelli. "I have never, in all these years, underrated the importance of buttocks and waist. In my job, they are crucial. They give you perfect carriage. What do I do? Well, two hours of squats with weights every day. I need to be tonic to stay alert in the *censored*pit of my car when I'm Formula 3 racing". And the women can't resist. "It's true that the girls in the paddock are always making remarks. They say women look at men's hands, but..."Does it bother Beckford? "Why should it? "Do women have a feel too often? "No, of course not. For me, and I think for other men, a woman's hand on my bottom isn't something I associate with vulgarity".


Author:Paola Pollo
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