As much as I love Gok Wan, I can’t quite get on board with his new series for Channel 4, How to Look Good Naked… With a Difference. I’m all for helping women feel better about themselves – and who could refuse a woman who’s lost her leg or arm. It’s just that I prefer my Gok lite, like when he’s got Joan Collins on the couch. I’ll let another demographic feel the inner love.
That said, I’m not opposed to a bit of naked inspiration, and yesterday I got some from the latest issue of Time Out New York. In it, four Manhattan mums – and off-hours poker buddies – are pictured paying homage to Cassius Coolidge’s iconic “Dogs Playing Poker” (I had to look up the artist on that one). Only they recreate it in the buff. Say what you want about the result, the idea that any 40-something mum would agree to get starkers not only for her friends and a young male stranger wielding a camera, but for the entire, dubious readership of Time Out New York’s Dating section – and look damned sexy doing it… Well bravo. (Kudos also to the magazine for doing a regular “Get Naked” column – Time Out London should have one. Brilliant.)
You can read author and broadcaster Mary Elizabeth Williams’s take on the whole mortifying experience here.
In this day and age it takes courage to undress for an audience that could, conceivably, be young enough to date your offspring, and I say this on behalf of everyone who found it offensive to see Kelly Brook staring out from adverts for the West End production of Calendar Girls last year.
I just like to know there’s hope that someone above the age of 6 months will want to see my boobs before I die.
Ellen Himelfarb is a freelance writer and mother of two. You can reach her at ellen.h@mac.com
