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-Cheryl Cole beats Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni, Sex and the City and Victoria Beckham as Style Icon of the Decade-
-The Average Brit Woman Spends a Week Every Year in Front of the Mirror-
-Shoes/heels names as the biggest female fashion drain!-
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British women will go into style decline after they hit the age of 30 - that’s the verdict of a new study which reveals the fashion follies of the modern female; from the fashion icons that inspire us to the money and time spent on looking good in 2009 and beyond.
Over 3,000 females between the ages of 20 and 60 took part in the poll which was specially commissioned by The Style Network (Sky 253) to celebrate the launch of new fashion series ‘Running in Heels’ (Tuesday 7th April at 10pm). The results provide a fascinating insight into women and their wardrobes in the ‘noughties’, and the icons we turn to for style guidance.
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The 25-30 year old age group were pinpointed as the generation at the height of stylishness; 56% of twenty somethings are exposed as devoting over a quarter of their income to clothing and cosmetics, favouring fashion and appearance (39%) over career development (25%), mortgages (7%) and starting a family (6%). The formerly fabulous early 30s meanwhile confess that priorities have changed - raising a family now takes precedence with a resounding 50%, while fashion and appearance trails behind career development (19%) and planning a marriage (12%), with just 6%.
The biggest fashion cash drain for women was exposed as the traditional weakness for shoes. Respondents admitted that the average British woman will splash the cash on twenty pairs of shoes in a single year. But the results also suggest that today’s trends may soon become tomorrow’s trash, as one in four of those surveyed confess to buying a pair of shoes that they will only wear once. A further third (35%) of women also revealed how they will bin a pair of heels within only year after purchasing them.
Women’s clothing cycles are equally as speedy - 44% of British women have over 6 items of clothing in their wardrobes that will remain unworn, and on average we will purchase 5 new items to add to the wardrobe count every month. This amounts to a staggering average annual spend of £3,000, as women replenish their wardrobes with new purchases to stay ahead with the trends.
British female vanity levels are in the ascent - by our own admission, we waste over one week of every year spending time in front of the mirror. Of the results polled, women devote 33 minutes staring at their reflection on a daily basis, which amounts to seven whole days perfecting those poses and a whopping whole year of our lifetime.
The influence behind our desire to get the wardrobes refreshed and keep the shoe cabinets stocked seems certain, as Cheryl Cole is named Style Icon of the Decade. Singer and TV favourite Cole leads the field when it comes to aesthetic appeal, over other fashionable females including the cast of Sex and the City, bohemian beauty Sienna Miller, and Cole’s WAG rival Victoria Beckham, who falls into fourth place. The full run down of the decade’s style icons appears below:
1. Cheryl Cole
2. The cast of Sex and the City (Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon)
3. Sienna Miller
4. Victoria Beckham
5. Kate Moss
6. Michelle Obama
7. Kiera Knightley
8. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
9. Penelope Cruz
10. Agyness Deyn
At 25 meanwhile, Cole isn’t the only famous female who complies with the trend-setting mid to late twenties fashion clique. Alexa Chung, a mainstay on the best dressed lists, is only 25, while queen of curves Beyonce Knowles is 27, alongside the Royal Family’s Zara Phillips and presenter Fearne Cotton.
TV stylist and model Lisa Butcher said “It’s not surprising that 25 to 30 year olds take the trophy for stylishness, given the number of gorgeous young girls like Cheryl Cole and Alexa Chung who occupy our fashion pages. Just as 30 something women like Princess Diana and Jennifer Aniston reinvented our style tastes back in the ‘90s, it seems it’s now the twenties who are setting the trends and staying ahead of the game.”
Episode One of Running in Heels will air on The Style Network at 10pm on Tuesday 7th April; the series goes behind the scenes at a leading women’s fashion magazine to follow the staff and sample their hectic yet uber glamorous lifestyles.
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