Glossip Girl: The Beckham Factor - why are male celebrities getting better with age?

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate what Glossip Girl likes to call ‘The Beckham Factor’. That’s the magical mystery turn in ageing that means some men out there actually get better as they get older. I’ve dubbed it ‘The Beckham Factor’ because there really is no better example than the transformation from the bleached-blonde curtains of England’s number 7 to the stubbly, chiselled jaw of the one and only David himself today.

Other men who really do seem to be ageing like a fine wine are 43-year-old, Scottish hunk Gerard Butler, who we wouldn’t kick out of bed for giving us stubble rash, or Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, 32, who once owned a pair of Beckham-style blonde curtains himself, but who is now so rugged he sends some women giddy. Closer to home we have 42-year-old The X Factor judge Gary Barlow who would cause serious blushes if he held open a door for us. Be honest - who wouldn’t like a ‘yes’ from Barlow now he’s perfected his facial hair?

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Perhaps that’s part of the allure… J Crew’s latest advertising campaign features some seriously hot models, all of whom are sporting face-fur to the max. No longer for old men, the beard is having a moment and it’s a sexy one!

Men do have the edge over women when it comes to ageing. For one thing their skin is 25% thicker than women’s, has higher collagen content, which to add insult to injury breaks down at a slower rate to ours. And, of course, they don’t have the issue of menopause and the effect that change has on the quality and condition of our skin.

It’s an ugly-duckling phenomenon that men have the monopoly on. Karlie Kloss and Miranda Kerr didn’t become hot as Hades over time, they were always smoking; but with guys it seems it’s not about what you’re born with and more about what you can grow into.

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But let’s face it, we’re not just talking about men ageing well. What we’re really saying is that some men get a whole load of sex factor as they get older. Gary, Ryan and Becks, 38, were all cute and fairly wholesome back-in-the-day but now they have the floor-dropping appeal that can part an A-list party like Moses and the Red Sea.

Then of course there are the guys who started out hot and are now plain sizzling. Matthew McConaughey, 44, could have wooed us into the backseat of his Chevy back in 1993 in the movie Dazed and Confused, but these days, not least as the face of D&G, we’d quite happily let him buy us dinner. Bradley Cooper, 38, has always been handsome but his looks, like his career, seem to be getting better and better - Glossip Girl certainly wouldn’t mind gazing into his baby blues over Sunday brunch.

There’s nothing worse than seeing your celebrity crushes age before your eyes, so we salute The Beckham Factor for keeping our eye-candy tantalising despite the passing years.