| Wednesday 30 October 2013 |
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The navel debate: Gwyneth Paltrow
|  | | Gwyneth Paltrow | |  Gwyneth Paltrow has worked damn hard for her "22-year-old's stripper's butt" - as well as the rest of her slim, toned body - and she's at pains to show it off to the world. Take yesterday evening. The 41-year-old actress and lifestyle guru was back in London (over from her new base in Los Angeles) to attend her friend and presenter Amanda de Cadenet's dinner to launch the UK series of her show, The Conversation.
In attendance was model Sophie Dahl looking effortless in a smocked minidress, while 24-year-old Daisy Lowe poured her creamy curves into an elegant dark blue jumpsuit with small cut-outs at the side. And there was Gwyneth, brazenly displaying her bronzed, taut abs, belly button and all.
Here at Telegraph Fashion we've been keen documenters of the midriff trend, and we're fans of the sight of a cut-out gown or high-waisted skirt paired with a cropped top to reveal just a small band of flesh. Actresses Rooney Mara and Carey Mulligan give great midriff on the red carpet and heck, even Paltrow nailed the look in a Pucci skirt and top at the 2011 Emmy Awards.
But the exposed belly button, on anyone aside from a belly dancer, Rihanna and a pop starlet aged 25 or under is just, well, a bit much. "A toned stomach (and for that matter, a smooth, gently rounded one) can be an uplifting sight - on a beach," comments our fashion editor Lisa Armstrong. "But out and about town, it's unclear what they bring to the party, other than a dose of trashy-ness."
Indeed, just a couple of nights earlier a newly trimmed-down Mariah Carey did her best Princess Jasmine impression (unintentionally, may we add) in a navel-bearing Alexander McQueen skirt and black halterneck top at the BET Black Girls Rock Event in New Jersey. No, we didn't have 43-year-old Mariah and Gwyneth down as sisters in style either, but that's what you get when you go down the desperate road of the bare belly button.
Yes, Paltrow's embellished crop top is chic and fashion-forward, but her black trousers needed at least two more inches on the waistband for the combination to graduate to the appropriate level of demure-ity. As Armstrong points out: "If you are a Celebrity Who is Now More Famous For Spending Way Too Much Time With Tracy Anderson Than Her Acting, then trotting out your washboard stomach looks suspiciously like a desperate attempt to show off the fruits of your labours. Again. Actually, fruits, being high in fructose, have probably been outlawed from CWINMFFSWTMTWTATHA's life. And so should this outfit be." (Independent Woman)
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