It suits you, sir ...
IT’S the time of the year when you can’t swing a designer handbag without hitting a ‘best-dressed lady.’ No summer social event is complete without a parade of coiffed and couture-clad females, but where are their male counterparts?
This weekend it’ll be the guys’ turn to feel the pressure for once in Kinsale at the Point to Point ‘Best-Dressed Gent’ competition.
The Irish male is timid when it comes to grooming and personal hygiene.
So the organisers of the Point to Point found a local man in need of a makeover: John Martin Nyhan, a 40-year-old farmer from Rathmore, Kinsale.
Plucked from his fields, he was soon ensconced in the unfamiliar surroundings of the C Spa in Kinsale’s Carlton Hotel.
After a promise that no wax would be involved, John Martin agreed to stay.
Having cast her expert eye over her reluctant client, therapist Karen Desmond recommended a body scrub, an Elemis advanced anti-ageing facial, a soothing head massage and a manicure.
The still-nervous John Martin was gently persuaded onto the treatment table, the lights dimmed and Karen started to weave her magic.
The body scrub passed without incident and John Martin relaxed. By the time the face pack was on and a slice of cucumber adorned each eye, he was to the manor born.
The head massage was rewarded with a gentle snore and the manicure deemed a success on the grounds that “the cows will appreciate it”.
He could see a difference, describing his skin as “glowing” before realising what the lads in the pub would say and fleeing for the safety of his dressing room to recover his equilibrium and prepare for the stage two of his makeover.
With the assistance of Dave O’Connor, of Suit Distributors Ireland, he was later decked out in a Steel & Jelly cream-linen suit with a fine-pink stripe and hot-pink silk lining, teamed with a soft-cotton blue and pink-striped shirt by Michael Oliver, racy pink socks, a jaunty panama from Hattitude, in Kinsale, and an exceedingly sexy pair of Bolle shades from Egan’s Opticians.
His first reaction on seeing his new image? “Shock and horror — I look like a drug dealer.”
Thanking therapist Karen for being gentle with him, John Martin said that, much to his surprise, he enjoyed the treatments immensely.
But added that he “probably wouldn’t be making a habit of it”.
According to C Spa supervisor, Andrea Jeffreys, this is not an unusual reaction.
“Men are always shy about having a facial.
“They never admit to booking one themselves — they always blame the wife or the girlfriend. But it’s just like going to a Turkish barber where they use hot cloths and steam to open the pores.
“Men are always welcome at the C Spa and I’m sure John Martin will be back. We promise we won’t tell.”
John Martin’s final thoughts? The best we could get him to say was that he “noticed a phenomenal difference to the old face” that he “loved the suit, which was a perfect fit” and “I’ll be hanging onto the glasses”.
So will we be seeing John Martin in all his besuited splendour entering best-dressed gent competitions this summer?
Smiling enigmatically, he would only say, “I can’t see myself wearing it around the farm, but never say never.”
* Do a John Martin and unleash your inner George Clooney for a chance to win a four-ball at the world famous Old Head of Kinsale Golf Links, recently voted ‘most spectacular on the planet’.
There are ‘Best-Dressed Gent’ contests at the Kinsale Point to Point on Sunday, Jun 3, at Farrangalway; and the Cork Summer Show on Sunday, Jun 17 at Curraheen
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