Manity Fair: The rise of male vanity

Dave Kenny grew up in an era when a splash of Brut and a flannel cloth under the arms was the height of male grooming. But that won’t wash anymore.

A MAN in his 50s is smiling at me. His face has more lines and grooves than a public ice skating rink. He looks, a little, like a saddle bag with eyes.

Every wrinkle on Hugh Laurie’s face could tell a story. They have been earned and, in turn, earn him a lot of money playing a craggy doctor in House. So why, I ask myself, is he advertising face cream? Is he trying to say: See these wrinkles that you all admire? I’m trying to obliterate them with moisturiser. Is he just being... vain?