The Etceterist | 09/19/2008 10:00 am

Dr. Pat Wexler Says: 'Cindy McCain Looks Like She Cosmetically Enhances Herself'

Amid storms from Galveston to Wall Street, if the mention of “fashion” feels unseemly today, please resist the urge to arrest it on a morals charge, accusing it for merely existing or, more specifically, if you had the misfortune of stumbling on Bravo’s Tuesday night début of “The Rachel Zoe Project.” That’s just another unfortunate exercise in Bravo’s penchant for promoting marginal style talents (“Project Runway,” “Top Design”) into freak minstrels to laugh at. As the witty Ginia Bellafonte inferred in The New York Times, Zoe is as much Diana Vreeland as … Sarah Palin is John Adams?

The more consumer confidence sinks, the more concern rises in the global fashion industry, especially as preparations for the holiday shopping season approach. But there is hope in a bottle: While women might resist big-ticket fashion items, they will occasionally splurge on a beauty product. The cosmetics industry, worth about $24 billion a year worldwide, is anticipating about seven percent growth this year; remarkable, all things considered.

So it was with great delight that The Etceterist happened upon the world-famous dermatologist Dr. Patricia Wexler at Manhattan’s chicest hotel, the Plaza Athénée on East 64th Street at teatime over the weekend. Fashion Week finally ended here and the flock – in greatly reduced numbers due to the cost of travel and fears about the economy – is moving on to London, Milan and Paris for more shows. Dr. Wexler was attending to business related to the launch of her newest product, Patricia Wexler MD Dermatology Intensive 3-in-1 Eye Cream, available on bathandbodyworks.com and ebay.com among other venues. Like her 3-in-1 Day Cream, in one week it started to re-contour the area around The Etceterist’s eyes.

The Etceterist: It works!

Dr. Pat Wexler: Of course it works!

ETC: You went to lots of shows during Fashion Week, how was your week?

PW: I went to Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Vera Wang, Donna Karan, Marchesa and Tory Burch.

ETC: And?

PW: Like everywhere, people are talking about the economy and the election.

ETC: You are very politically oriented. May we talk surface first before we get “under the skin”? What do you think about the faces in politics right now?

PW: They are different across the board. On one side you’ve got the Democrats, Michelle Obama with this very natural, youthful beauty and also Mrs. Biden, who is very natural and understated, her hair and her makeup, and that she wore Kay Unger a lot during the convention, which is very recession oriented.

ETC: And the Republicans?

PW: Cindy McCain is a much more upscale face and a lot of people talk about how young she looks for her age and the fact that it looks like she cosmetically enhances herself.

ETC: “Cosmetically enhances”: Love that expression, you’re so polite, Pat. Do you think she does?

PW: I think she probably does and she does a good job. She looks like she does more maintenance than the other side.

ETC: And Sarah Palin?

PW: It is definitely a look.

ETC: Any suspicion of “cosmetic enhancement”?

PW: No.

ETC: John McCain?

PW: He had surgery because of skin cancer. You would not call that cosmetic enhancement. You call that restorative.

54 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Hey Susan B……..”I am so ready for Sarah Palin to get a new hairstyle” Apparently, (LOL what am I saying) you didn’t watch the FOX interview with Sean Hannity. Hair - cut shorter - very smooth and healthy - cute bangs — and, her glasses are terrific. And, the lady has a really beautiful smile. If you missed it you really missed knowing Sarah Palin. I know some of you ladies have dished a lot of dirt about her (that’s an understatment) — but I can tell you — this lady is no quitter - she’s in it all the way. And, she is totally unfazed by all the crapola being spewed out there. I remember Hillary and her headbands (I’m sure Hillary, like all of us would like to take some of our old pictures and dump them in a shredder. Her look today is perfect — very soft hairstyle and good makeup. As to Cindy McCain — she can carry off any look — from jeans and a ball cap to a beautiful designer suit. And, she has a figure to boot. And, she certainly knows how to apply her makeup.

By Lady Gator on 09/19/2008 12:13 pm

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Hey Lad Gator, I don’t watch Sean Hannity, so I missed it. lol!!! It’s good to hear that she cut her hair, but at this point, I’m weary of her. “Northern OverExposure.” I have to disagree with you about Cindy McCain. She can’t carry off every look, including the one she has now. She’s a lovely woman with good bones and slim figure, but she needs to get rid of that over-processed blonde hair, get a great cut, tone down the makeup (why do the lightest blondes wear the blackest makeup?), and wear colors that compliment her skin and eyes. I’m remembering a photo of her in a ball cap (wearing huge diamond studs and with her ponytail sticking through, no less). She’s a socialite, and the look just doesn’t fit her. It’s as if she’s trying to look like a “regular” American woman, but can’t go a day without her bling. If she followed Jackie Kennedy’s personal style, she couldn’t go wrong. Like my mom always told me, “You can’t buy good taste, but lots of people try.”

By Susan B on 09/19/2008 12:52 pm

I liked the hairband on Hillary.

By James the Game on 09/21/2008 9:50 am

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You might have been the only one, James! lol! Many liken Hillary’s hairband to Sarah’s teased hair bump. Silly (for a grownup woman) and very, very, very trendy.

By Susan B on 09/21/2008 5:08 pm

Personally, I like a woman’s hair down to about shoulder length, and natural-looking, not permed up. Palin looks spectacular with her hair down, and trying too hard to look businessy with the glasses and teased-up ‘do. Just one opinion.

By James the Game on 09/21/2008 7:56 pm

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The hairband—the woman should have been flogged! I am not coming back to this thread if we are berating Cindy McCain for ruining her looks with her “drug addiction.” I have a fam member with the same problem—no walk in the park and not dumb political fodder for half-vast remarks, either. Ick! Have fun trashing your fellow woman.

By Star Lawrence on 09/19/2008 11:42 am

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Plus—to me, Cindy always looks gorgeous. I enhance my looks cosmetically—Maybelline, not dept store. Come and get me, big fake that I am! I agree with the poster that said this thread was not worthy of the site—what else have ya got?

By Star Lawrence on 09/19/2008 12:12 pm

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You’re right Star, I’m being catty. Guilty! I’d never comment on Cindy’s drug problem, though. I’m not objecting to enhancing her looks, either. Just the harsh haircolor and makeup. I’d love to have her bank account, so I could treat myself to really good cosmetica on a regular basis.

By Susan B on 09/21/2008 5:21 pm

The press mocked HIllary mercilessly for her many hair and style changes. The press are jackals. I would hope that wowow would at least look for interviewees who don’t exhibit such partisan condescension toward half of the American public. “It’s a look”? At least not on the non-political topics. It would have been interesting to hear about the challenges of skin care in a climate like Alaska that has such extreme weather - and super-short days in the winters - and super long in the summer. I’ve never read anything about that topic in the zillion magazine articles I’ve read over the years. Research shows that those women who are able to produce children past forty are shown to be aging more slowly than average, and that is a predictor of a longer-life span. Palin skin looks fresh and she looks radiant. Maybe that’s part of why so many people hate her. The old green-eyed monster.

By Bella Mia on 09/19/2008 11:45 am

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Why believe eerything you see on You Tube? If some people can fake a picture, they can also fake a video.

By Chari Bonagua on 09/19/2008 12:05 pm

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oops. Wrong spelling.

By Chari Bonagua on 09/19/2008 12:06 pm

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Well, this seems more like an advertisement for Wexler’s product, but you had to put Cindy in the headline to make us take a look. Cindy is a very attractive lady and humanitarian. I really like her even if I don’t support her husband. So what business it of ours if she does cosmetic surgery or enhancements? Stop picking on her and get back to the really scary looking candidate in terms of issues—Palin!!

By Brooklyn Gal on 09/19/2008 12:09 pm

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Carol: I think you nailed it–––––”…seems more like an advertisement for Wexler’s product…” and they threw in poor Cindy for some more muddy slinging. Sly Wows–––they know where to get us rived up and where the money comes from.

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 09/19/2008 2:41 pm

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I don’t know where it gets us to speculate on whether someone else had cosmetic surgery. The high heels on the doctor, though. I find that interesting. Ever since I turned forty I have been completely unable to wear heels over 2-1/2 inches and uninterested in wearing any heels on Saturday afternoons. Maybe I just broke my ankle too often or maybe I find it somewhat unsexy to be falling on my face, or maybe I know that wearing high heels tend to wreck knee cartilege over time. As for Gov. Palin’s hairstyles, she has had at least four of them since she was announced as veep candidate. She will probably have more. But there are much more interesting things about her than her hair.

By Elizabeth Bennett on 09/19/2008 12:12 pm

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How petty all of this talk is and a waste of time. Whenever I have hope that women will rise above such pettiness. I’m disappointed. My question is why do women do this to other women? What is Cindy McCain’s personal look have to do with issues? Same goes for Palin’s eye glasses and hairstyle. Let’s move beyond pettiness and discuss the real issues that these two women could play as a First Lady or Vice-President.

By Susie Ruth on 09/19/2008 12:25 pm