EYES MOST IMPORTANT

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32005, 4 June 1969, Page 2

EYES MOST IMPORTANT

The eyes have it, according* to Mr Glenn Roberts, a face designer from New York, who is visiting Christchurch. “A clever woman speaks volumes more with her eyes than with her mouth,” he said yesterday.

Described as “a master magician with make-up," the bachelor with golden whiskers believes women should not try to camouflage irregular features, but rather emphasise good features. The eyes were usually the most important asset In a face, he said. “Who said that a nose should be a certain size, er that a face should be a perfect oval? I think that is oldfashioned. If a woman makes up her eyes more, she can focus attention away from a large nose. And, if a nose it

large, it doesn’t matter, as long as the skin covering it is beautiful; any skin can be improved.” Mr Roberts is in Christchurch during a New Zealand tour to introduce a new range of cosmetic preparations. Convinced there are no unattractive women, only those who do not make as . much of their beauty as they could, he has no time for contouring or camouflaging. “I am called a face designer probably because I used to design fashion, but this often leads women to believe that I am going to reconstruct their faces. This is not true,” he said.

“My whole theory is not to change a face, but to make it better. I do not believe in shading, because too much make-up results in a loss of identity or individuality.” Modern in dress and ideas himself, Mr Roberts likes a healthy, “believable" look for both men and women. He agreed that the “natural*' look required the use of more preparations than ever, tb achieve the effect of none. But, he said, every woman had a duty to her husband and friends to look better. Mr Roberts was ready to point out the faults of men.

“There is a tremendous lack of grooming in New Zealand on the part of the men. Throughout the world, at this point, there is a great deal of emphasis on youth, and 1 don't see why meh, any more than women* should walk round looking old or being grey before they really need to. I do not tMnk there is anything effeminate about looking well groomed.” Not Fair He added: “I think it is terribly unfair for a woman to spend a lot of time and effort getting ready to go out, only to be met by a man wearing the same suit he has had on all day. It really comes down to an insult” •

Mr Roberts has spent the last two years travelling, with only two weeks at home in his New Yprk apartment. New Zealand is his twenty-first country, and he plans to visit 60 more.

Before taking up his present position in 1965, he spent 10 years as a fashion designer on Seventh Avenue, New York. He designed couture, daywear, sportswear, children’s clothes, and a wide range of accessories, and was among the innovators of paper dresses in 1957. But, having decided that fashion's most important accessory was a woman’s face, he left fashion to study techniques of advanced face and hair design at the famous Wilfrid Academy.