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Secret weapon that makes French women so alluring – they always dress from the inside out

10th May 2022

ON the whole, my English friends have a relationship with their underwear that is a little like the one they have with their dishwasher. It’s useful, not very pretty and lasts for decades. I remember one pal once joking that of course her underwear was …

It is supposed to be taboo but I think I look thin and fabulous, so what’s wrong with saying so? asks Helena Frith Powell

3rd February 2022

A tall, slim woman in her thirties wafts across the room – all thick glossy hair, blemish-free skin, clear eyes, full lips and an air of confidence normally reserved for French women from the bon quartier of Paris. Or at least this is how I believe I l …

As Holly Willoughby sparks anger by saying it’s ‘the best experience ever’… Is it insensitive to say you enjoy giving birth?

9th December 2021

By Helena Frith Powell  Sitting in a fibreglass tub at a birthing centre in Crowborough, East Sussex, 22 years ago, many things went through my mind as I worked to welcome my first child into the world. ‘When is this going to stop?’ being the most …

As Sarah Jessica Parker dons them in the revival of Sex And The City: Can anyone pull off dungarees in middle age?

11th November 2021

By Helena Frith Powell   While shopping with my 22-year-old daughter this August, I recalled how much I love dungarees. My daughter tried on a dark blue linen pair. They looked fabulous. She suggested that ‘we’ buy them and share them. ‘I’m t …

Britain’s strictest headteacher says discipline starts at home. So… Are parents to blame for pupils’ bad behaviour?

4th November 2021

By Helena Frith Powell   Should your child behave badly, it’s probably your fault. I write as a mother of two girls who used to dread parents’ evening — it was one protracted and painful apology. One of the problems is the misguided notion no …

As devilish moniker becomes more popular than ‘Nigel’…. Is naming your child Lucifer a hellish choice?

21st October 2021

By Helena Frith Powell When our son was born, I tried to get several ridiculous names past my husband: Raphael, Salvador, Angelo, even Gabriel. But not at any moment in my postpartum confusion did it occur to me to suggest Lucifer. I admit it has a cer …

After Dishy Rishi told the Mail he’s a stickler for perfect rows of plates… Does it matter how you stack the dishwasher?

6th October 2021

By Helena Frith Powell Rather than arguing about who is going to empty the dishwasher, in our home we have endless fights about filling it. I stand alone (unless Rishi happens to pop in for lunch) in the ‘everything has its place’ corner. In the opposi …

As Dominic West wins back his wife after those Lily James pictures: Should you stay with a husband who strays?

15th April 2021

If I were his wife, would I ever trust Dominic West again? Here I am, at home with our four children, when pictures are beamed across the globe of him gazing adoringly at a clearly besotted Lily James, as well as kissing her, stroking her cheek and snu …

Should we be allowed to WFH forever?

8th April 2021

After a year of working from home there are those who will now be keen to swap an unpleasant commute for an amble down the stairs or a desk opposite the accounts department to one overlooking their geraniums forever. And some generous bosses might even …

These feminist puritans need a flirty Frenchman to snap them out of their self-obsession

10th October 2020

Thank goodness for the French. The actress and political activist Catherine Deneuve, along with 99 of her countrywomen, has denounced the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment as ‘puritanism’ fuelled by ‘hatred of men’. Meanwhile, many in Britain, …

Sex in la Cité really is a Carrie on! The French are up in arms about Netflix’s racy new hit Emily In Paris – but for a Brit who lives in France, it rings all too true

10th October 2020

Despite French criticism, the series has drawn a huge audience, thanks in no small part to its heritage. If you’re getting déjà vu — pretty young woman working in media teetering round a major city in ever more extravagant outfits — it’s no coincidence …

Should affairs in the office be forbidden? After a City firm sacks two staff for having work romances, two writers give their opposing views

10th September 2020

NO By Helena Frith Powell How would you feel if you had to sign a ‘no romance’ clause when you started a new job? Astonishingly, this is now common practice in the U.S. Meanwhile, BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset-management firms which has a …

John Lewis has opened its first cosmetics counter for men, so: Could you fancy your husband if he wore ‘manscara’?

15th January 2020

YES By Jenni Murray   My old man isn’t likely to be among the first in line at the new John Lewis make-up counter for men, but would I find him less attractive if he were? Certainly not. Why shouldn’t he pop a smidgen of Touche Eclat over his …

If only EVERY woman was able to give birth like the French: As new UK mothers are targeted by incontinence ads, a writer who’s had postnatal care on both sides of the Channel reveals the difference

23rd September 2019

DAILY MAIL 7 AUGUST 2019 – When my husband and I moved to France in 2000 with our one-year-old daughter, Olivia, I learned an awful lot about the cultural differences between our two countries from my new mum friends. Not only, it appears, do French wo …

The Femail Face-off: As a top US expert says it’s time to ditch our touchy-feely ways… Should we ban handshakes and hugs for good?

10th April 2019

YES By Kate Spicer Once we are on the other side of this pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci, Donald Trump’s virus expert, says we should carry on compulsively washing our hands and refusing handshakes. What? No shaking hands ever again, you say? The mere prosp …

How the French master the menopause

30th April 2018

‘They can replace hands and lungs, they can fit pacemakers, but they can’t do a damn thing about hot flushes,’ laments the lead character in the new French hit film Aurore, or I Got Life! to give it its English title. My first reaction on hearing this …

Finally! A no-knife eye lift that actually works

27th August 2017

Helena hated her crinkly eyelids for years, but didn’t want surgery. Now she’s found a solution (but it’s not for the faint hearted)   The morning of my eye lift treatment, I look in the mirror before I leave home and say a not-so-fond farewell to …

‘It is like having a magic wand’

9th July 2017

  Helena Frith Powell has spent decades trying to eradicate stubborn stomach fat and tries the new Tripolar machine as it is able to ‘sculpt’ any tummy. The fat-busting treatment costs £300 a session but for Helena it is worth it… By Helena Frit …

The rise of La Cougar

21st June 2017

During my last visit to France I visited my beautician. I have known Chantal, who works in a salon in Montpellier, for 15 years and I always pop in for a facial and to talk about the latest skincare products. This year, she had some unusual advice for …

Finally a cure for the curse of WRINKLY KNEES!

15th January 2017

New Harley Street treatment sees medical threads inserted into the skin to tackle sagging problem areas (with some VERY surprising results) By Helena Frith Powell For The Daily Mail When I was in France on holiday about a year ago, I first noticed a se …

Can a mask made of algae really perk up your breasts?

18th December 2016

Revolutionary beauty therapy promises to bring out the best in your bosom By Helena Frith Powell For The Daily Mail Apparently, we Brits are blessed with the most impressive breasts in Europe. The average size in the UK is between 36C and 34E, and it i …

What’s it like to follow Trinny’s bizarre £10,000 beauty regime?

7th December 2016

HELENA FRITH POWELL dared try it for a month – vampire facials and all Have you wondered what it would be like to have all the money and time in the world to spend making yourself look younger? That’s the life former TV presenter Trinny Woodall, who’s …

The new trick to look younger? Go half grey!

25th September 2016

One dye-hard brunette tries out the latest age-defying salon treatment Dyeing my hair was one of the first things I ever did to fight the ageing process. I was in my mid-30s when the first bits of grey poked through. I remember being livid. As well as …

What French women REALLY think of us!

20th June 2016

Helena Frith-Powell was initially very intimidated by the elegant Frenchwomen she met when she first moved to France in 2000. Here she asks three French women what they really think about Brits We have always felt threatened by our French counterparts, …

Are British women vulgar? Yes! says Kristin Scott Thomas

26th February 2016

Kristin Scott Thomas slammed British women in Marie France this week, calling them ‘drunk, vulgar, lacking in style and orange’ due to fake tan. Helena Frith Powell said she too was ‘tres British’ when moved to France but has changed…  By Helena Frit …

‘Come off it, Keira! Lucky women like us owe everything to our looks’

9th October 2014

As Miss Knightley laments the fact that she misses out on roles because she is too pretty, one writer says she should be grateful   There are certain events in my life that I know never would have happened if I’d been born ugly. Real life-changing …

Whisper it…but NO mother wants to work

9th April 2014

It’ll infuriate feminists but HELENA FRITH POWELL – who once lived for her career – says she’s stumbled on a basic human truth At first, Helena was too scared to admit she was a stay-at-home mother, now she sees it as a ‘liberation’ Two years ago I sud …

The awful day we knew we’d lost our looks

5th March 2014

It’s the moment all women dread. Four writers reveal when it hit them By JILLY JOHNSON and KATE GARRAWAY and CLAUDIA CONNELL FOR MAILONLINE and HELENA FRITH POWELL Actress Sharon Stone struck a chord with women everywhere recently when she revealed the …

Why does a happily married mother turn to jelly on seeing her first love?

29th April 2013

Helena Frith Powell’s new novel, The Ex-Factor, is about first love   There’s something so powerful about first love. As Bob Dylan put it so beautifully: ‘The future for me is already a thing of the past – you were my first love and you will be my …

The intelligent diet: Exclusive secrets from the Viva Mayr clinic

8th July 2009

On the shores of Austria’s picturesque Lake Worth lies a private clinic that has achieved an almost cult-like status among its loyal devotees, who include celebrities, business execs and Russian oligarchs. In the five years since it opened, an array of …

How long after giving birth should a woman wait to make love?

3rd April 2009

It’s an issue all parents face – but rarely talk about. Now, one mother dares to ask that important question… After giving birth, a woman thinks of many things; chocolate, baby names, how soon she can go home, how soon she can sit down without the he …

Stockholm: Swede sensation

23rd February 2009

Never mind the Vikings, Stockholm is a city designed for children. The days of rugged bearded men and plunder are over; today, this is a city of gentle, safety-conscious people. You need only look at a zebra crossing and the cars screech to a halt. The …

That’s where Atlantis went!

15th December 2008

Paul, a friend and veteran of the Leap Of Faith, explains: ‘It’s just like bungee-jumping or paragliding. Have you ever tried those?’ Now you mention it, I haven’t. And I have never had any desire to do so. But as soon as I heard we were going to the A …

When do you start losing your looks? We asked eight writers aged 31 to 73

18th August 2008

Women start to worry about losing their looks at the age of 28, according to a survey which polled the views of 4,000 women. So is this true, or does 28 sound too young – or too old? We asked several women writers, aged from 31 to 73, to reveal the mom …

Manhattan Makeover

10th June 2008

The makeover begins before I even get on the plane. I’m in a small cubicle wearing nothing but a black paper thong, being sprayed with fake tan by a girl called Sian. I’m at Heathrow, about to board a flight to New York for a makeover weekend so I may …

And the bride’s mother wore white…or how to avoid wrecking your child’s wedding

6th May 2008

They say your wedding day is the most important day of your life. Preparation often starts a year or more before the big day with dress fittings, gym memberships and debates about whether or not to risk falling up the aisle in your the seven-inch stile …

What really stops ageing and why looking young is every woman’s holy grail

13th March 2008

Looking eternally young is every woman’s Holy Grail — and we spend millions in pursuit of it. So can anything truly banish those wrinkles? The author of a new book sought out experts around the world to find the answer…   Ageing is something of …

Magic mountain

6th December 2007

After a hard day on the slopes, I am now lying in the heated outdoor pool of the Mont Cervin Palace Hotel in Zermatt, gazing at the Matterhorn. Earlier in the day, my husband and I had enjoyed the perfect day’s skiing, soaking up the dramatic scenery a …

Was your first kiss bliss (or a miss) ?

4th September 2007

Forget the twinkle in his eye, his smile or even the size of his wallet – the way a woman determines if a man is good relationship material is in the first kiss. As the Mail reported yesterday, scientists this week claimed that women have learned to us …

Richer, wiser and keen for children – why older men make perfect partners

30th August 2007

My aunt always told me there is nothing more boring than a young man when you’re young or an old man when you’re old. Scientists have now confirmed this and, what’s more, it’s not just cultural, it’s biological. Mature males who ogle young totty are no …

Confessions of a secret shopper

17th August 2007

My husband thinks my favourite haunt is a second-hand designer clothes shop in Covent Garden. It is a marvellous place, where you can pick up secondhand designer kit for next to nothing, along with shoes, handbags and other accessories. What he doesn’t …

Why Channel 4’s goosed reporter should turn the other cheek about bottom pinching

2nd August 2007

As the people of Oxford yesterday began returning to their flood- stricken homes, smeared with silt and sewage and piled high with the sodden remains of their possessions, at least they were able to sleep safely in their waterlogged beds. The Thames Va …

Why smart girls love to fake it

28th July 2007

The last time I went into Tod’s in London’s Sloane Street, I fell in love with a handbag. It was a subtle shade of green, small and just too cute for words. I picked it up, hung it off my arm and did a twirl. It made my existing handbag (also designer) …

French lovers? They haven’t got a clue-seau

13th July 2007

My father always told me there are two things you can never criticise a man for: his driving and his sexual technique. Perhaps the two skills are linked. After all, they are both expressions of physical dexterity. But if French driving is anything to g …

What Bruce, Demi and her toyboy can teach us all about divorce

21st May 2007

There was uproar among my divorced friends last week when Demi Moore was seen canoodling with her new husband Ashton Kutcher in front of her old husband Bruce Willis on a boat. Most older (and balder) former husbands would have thrown the young whipper …

How I said ta ta to my tum!

26th April 2007

Helena believed plastic surgery was only for the vain. So what made her go under the knife to remove a spare tyre so small it was almost invisible? Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a pot belly. When I was 12, I would stand in front of a mirror, poin …

My first love still makes me feel giddy… but we’re both married now!

26th April 2007

Prince William may have broken up with Kate Middleton, but if my own experience is anything to go by, it won’t be the last time they see each other. First loves never really go away. Ask Prince Charles. A first love is something iconic, something that …

Seduction a la francaise

23rd February 2007

When I lived in England my preferred seduction technique was as follows. Drink as much alcohol as possible. Make the man I was trying to seduce drink as much as possible as well. Pretend to fall over in his general direction and see what his reaction w …

Is new-look Coleen queen of chav or chic?

23rd February 2007

She has a magazine lifestyle column, a £2million book deal to write about fashion, lucrative Asda and Nike contracts, and is launching her own line of sportswear. Yet three years ago, Coleen McLoughlin, 19, was a Merseyside schoolgirl with puppy fat an …

Berlusconi excused because ‘Italian men live for flirting

23rd February 2007

The wife of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has just done what millions of Italian women must have felt like doing; publicly rebuked her husband for flirting outrageously. Veronica Lario wrote a letter to La Reppublica – one of the few …

Don’t let yourself go just because you’re the wrong side of 30

23rd February 2007

A plea in Femail recently by Lauren Booth begged women of a certain age to “embrace wrinkles and explanding waists”. Author of Two Lipsticks and Lover, Helena Frith Powell, strongly disagrees. Rarely has something made me want to reach for my lip gloss …

Shopping in France

13th December 2006

Napoleon was wrong. It is the French who are a nation of shopkeepers, not the English. Here in France there are specific shops for every item; here one doesn’t live in Tescoland. You would as soon buy your beef from the supermarket as your lingerie. Th …

Respect Ladies, please

11th December 2006

Last week Amanda Platell wrote an article in Femail about men leaving their wives and girlfriends for younger women. She cites Brad Pitt as an example of the ultimate swine. He left Jennifer Aniston for the much younger Angelina Jolie and then immediat …

Sueing Sisters

11th December 2006

I used to work in the city as a financial journalist and headhunter. I encountered sexual harassment on a daily basis. I was chatted up, whistled at and even had flowers sent to my office containing suggestive notes. I found the city a grossly unfair p …

Give me a real man

11th December 2006

About two years ago I made a new friend called Patrick. Since then I have introduced him to lots of my female friends. They all adore him. A week ago I sat down with one of them and tried to define why. Patrick is the wrong side of 60, so it isn’t his …

The Great Myth: Why French women aren’t all stylish

11th December 2006

The most popular look with the French women in the village I live in is an easy one to copy. Take an old pair of slippers, preferably weather-beaten and worn as you have spent years walking to the bakery in them, a totally shapeless grey dress and a di …

The Baby-Gap issue

11th December 2006

A report published last week by the Institute for Public Policy Research states that Britain is suffering from a baby gap of 92,000 babies a year as women put off having children because of the rising cost of childcare. Six years ago my husband and I w …

Why I want to be a WAG

11th December 2006

There has been much discussion about the best formation – some favour a 2-2-3, others think we should operate with a lone striker. There has also been much debate about the tactics – do we begin slowly or set a blistering pace that the others can’t mat …

Heja Svergie

11th December 2006

Imagine a country where it is dark for most of the year. Think of a place where the snow is so deep you can’t leave home without a snow-plough. Envisage somewhere so cold that if you go out with wet hair it freezes and breaks off. And a glass of beer c …

What are men on?

11th December 2006

What is he on? At home he has a beautiful, elegant, intelligent and talented woman. And yet he can’t resist the young totty on the side. Actor Ralph Fiennes has been revealed as the latest in the line of men who risk their relationships for something t …

Daddy, how could you walk out on my wedding?

1st November 2006

  Helena Frith Powell never knew her eccentric Italian father, Benedetto Benedetti, when she was growing up.Her mother left him – and Italy – for a man who was to become Helena’s stepfather when she was just three years old. But when Helena was 14 …

How Britain is going to waist

31st July 2006

  When ex-pat, HELENA FRITH POWELL returned to Britain after six years she was horrified by how we’ve changed shape:The Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, has hired an acupuncturist to help him lose weight, a …

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