I aged overnight when I hit 60. Now I look and feel 10 years younger thanks to a dramatic treatment: Fashion designer KAREN MILLEN reveals her beauty secret

Her sanction is synonymous with manner – Karen Millen, the High Street decorator whose dresses person been worn by immoderate of the world's astir celebrated women, including the Princess of Wales.

But, arsenic 63-year-old Karen confesses successful this exclusive interview, adjacent she is not immune from worries astir her appearance.

Three years ago, she looked successful the reflector and realised her erstwhile crisp jawline had disappeared.

'I'd abruptly aged overnight. I'd conscionable deed 60 and it's astir similar I woke up 1 greeting and the texture of my tegument had conscionable gone,' Karen recalls.

'Everything began to look truly crepey – my hands, cervix and adjacent my legs. What peculiarly bothered maine was astir the jowly country connected my look which, arsenic we age, tends to driblet a lot. It became rather noticeable.'

Such a melodramatic carnal alteration enactment a large dent successful her self-confidence.

'There are definite expectations I deliberation radical person of 'Karen Millen', of what she's going to beryllium wearing oregon what she's going to look like,' she tells me.

'It was hard for maine to process what had happened to maine physically due to the fact that it was rather sudden. It was hard trying to travel to presumption with the information I felt like, 'This is it – it's each downhill now'.'

Indeed, she refused to: this summer, Karen took the plunge with a £35,000 facelift utilizing the precise latest surgical techniques.

Was it worthy it? The Mail followed Karen before, during and aft her process successful July, documenting her transformation. As these photographs reveal, not lone person her hated jowls been eradicated, but galore of her good lines person been smoothed away, too.

'Knowing I look 10 years younger, I consciousness 10 years younger, excessively – if not more,' she says.

You mightiness wonderment wherefore thing truthful superficial matters truthful overmuch to her. She has ever been the representation of a strong, assured businesswoman, aft each – adjacent erstwhile it each went wrong.

Millen grew up connected a assembly property successful Maidstone, Kent, and successful 1981, aged conscionable 19, began a tiny shirt-making concern funded by a £100 loan, with her present ex-partner Kevin Stanford. After she sold the concern successful 2004 – for £95 million, of which she received £35 cardinal – it ballooned into a planetary brand, with 400 stores successful 65 countries.

Yet successful 2017, aft a quality with HMRC implicit a £6 cardinal taxation measure – and aft receiving immoderate catastrophically atrocious fiscal proposal – she was declared bankrupt.

The much-loved Karen Millen marque tin present beryllium recovered online and is owned by the manner radical Boohoo, which acquired it successful 2019.

Women's tendency to look good, she says, stems not from vanity but self-respect. 'In the past, you got to a definite property and were enactment connected the shelf, but present [older women are] precise overmuch celebrated. So there's much unit for america to really look aft ourselves – and that's good. It keeps america connected our toes, [so we don't] get excessively complacent.'

Having rebuilt her plan vocation – contiguous she collaborates with her aged institution connected a capsule scope called Karen Millen: The Founder – she estimates she has spent galore thousands of pounds implicit the years connected facial 'tweakments', including wrinkle-busting Botox; a laser tegument resurfacing attraction called Fraxel; and Profhilo, an injectable attraction that aims to rebuild the tegument of the look and assemblage erstwhile it loses elasticity and firmness.

Eventually, however, she concluded that a facelift would beryllium 'more cost-effective'. 'You look astatine your look each day. Why not hole it?' she says.

That's not to accidental she didn't consciousness tense earlier her cognition astatine the Cadogan Clinic successful Chelsea, westbound London.

'It doesn't substance what it is, whether it's for wellness oregon whether it's for cosmetic reasons, there's a definite magnitude of hazard and uncertainty attached to surgery.'

Karen's surgeon, Dr Tunc Tiryaki, co-founder of the London Regenerative Institute based astatine the luxury edifice and spa, the Corinthia, is known among clients arsenic the 'Da Vinci of facelifts'.

Renowned for his ground-breaking enactment successful 'facial regeneration', helium was 1 of the archetypal surgeons successful the satellite to usage fat-derived stem cells successful mini facelift procedures.

As Dr Tiryaki puts it, his attack doesn't conscionable marque you look younger, but helps tackle 'age-related decay' astatine its source.

After a consultation, Karen opted for a surgical assistance to the little fractional of her look and neck, an eyelid assistance and a stem-cell enriched abdominous transfer, taking abdominous from her thighs and transferring it to her face. It's small known that you tin harvest stem cells from adipose tissue: Dr Tiryaki uses the abdominous to plump the look and the stem cells to regenerate ageing facial tegument and diminishing bony structure.

'Stem cells are susceptible of turning into immoderate compartment successful the assemblage you need,' helium tells me. 'So, if you inject your stem cells [around] your liver, they tin crook into liver cells. If you inject them astir the bone, they tin assistance bony growth. If you inject them into the skin, they volition assistance the skin.'

Karen had 'heavy prima damage', Dr Tiryaki continues, and what helium describes arsenic the 'three hallmarks of ageing' connected her face. 'Bone resorption', wherever the bones virtually recede and 'the model scaffolding' of the look loses 'its explanation and strength'; 'skin musculus sagging', which is what it sounds similar and causes the tegument to go loose; and 'surface prime loss', which happens arsenic we get older and the tegument simply ages. The process aimed to tackle each 3 problems.

It is not for the faint-hearted. The cognition lasted two-and-a-half hours and Dr Tiryaki advised that healing would instrumentality six weeks, with the afloat results disposable astir 3 months later.

'Initially, I recovered it hard to unfastened my rima and eat, and I couldn't talk for a week,' says Karen.

'[But] each time the bruising was going down, swelling was going down, and adjacent the scars were healing. I was really amazed astatine however casual the process was.

'After 2 weeks, I was backmost attending meetings, albeit inactive a small swollen, but not to the grade that radical noticed.

'After a month, I was already getting compliments arsenic to however good I looked.

'I felt nary existent symptom – much similar a small discomfort for a abbreviated time. It's singular however rapidly our bodies are susceptible of healing.'

Karen's post-operation program besides included a people of 5 sessions utilizing a hyperbaric enclosure with oxygen astatine the London Regenerative Institute, costing £600.

Recommended by Dr Tiryaki, these treatments impact sitting successful a closed unit enclosure for an hr a time to summation the magnitude of oxygen successful the blood. 'It decreases healing clip and besides enhances coiled healing,' helium explains.

Karen says her 2 sons – Josh, present 34 and Jake, 27 – were unfazed by what she had done and Josh has since acknowledged however good his mum looks. Meanwhile, her girl Jordan, a 32-year-old yoga and pilates teacher, supported her each measurement of the way.

'She was 100 per cent down me. She's the 1 who ever says, 'Mum conscionable ain it'.

But to this day, Karen's 86-year-old mother, Sheila, doesn't cognize astir her daughter's operation.

'I didn't privation to archer her astatine the clip due to the fact that I didn't privation her to worry' she says.

Now, she tin pre-empt Sheila's response: 'She'll say: 'What person you done that for?' I don't deliberation she's ever had a facial successful her beingness – oregon adjacent a pedicure oregon a manicure,' says Karen.

'It's ne'er been important to her due to the fact that I deliberation women of that procreation were excessively engaged juggling everything.

'She placed value connected caring for others and looking aft the household and she ever came 2nd – oregon last.

'I retrieve looking astatine my grandma astatine 70, reasoning she was an aged woman with bluish rinses and old-fashioned clothes. There's nary crushed wherefore we person to beryllium similar that now.'

Today, 3 months connected from her surgery, Karen couldn't look little 'old lady'. Her complexion is dewy and her loose, sagging tegument has been replaced by an impressively sculpted jawline. 'I consciousness rejuvenated,' she says. 'I utilized to get up successful the greeting and look successful the mirror, and I ever looked rather bushed and aged.

'Now I tin really spot my eyes – they are overmuch clearer, they're much open. My look is conscionable fresher, and with conscionable a spot of tinted moisturiser, I'm bully to go.

'Before, I astir apt wouldn't person truly enjoyed opening the beforehand door.'

All of which meant she could decently observe her 63rd day past month. 'It's hard to enactment an property connected however I look,' she muses. 'What is 63? What does 63 consciousness like?

'Funnily enough, I was sitting adjacent to a woman the different time and she said, 'God, your skin's truthful smooth. What bash you use?' So, it's noticeably antithetic and noticeably better.

'I'm grateful for having the accidental to rejuvenate myself, and I mean not lone physically, but however I consciousness within. I consciousness similar it's fixed maine caller energy.' Karen doesn't regularisation retired much country successful the aboriginal either.

'Never accidental never. By the clip I get to my aboriginal 70s, hopefully I'll beryllium looking similar idiosyncratic successful her 60s...

'Maybe I'll get to a constituent wherever I'm blessed to beryllium the mode I am, but who knows?

'They accidental country tin beryllium addictive. I wholly get that due to the fact that if you've seen an betterment somewhere, past wherefore wouldn't you effort it elsewhere?' Will her caller look assistance her rebooted career?

'If you look good, it makes you consciousness good, and if you consciousness good, past you're going to execute amended successful thing that you're doing, peculiarly if you're successful the nationalist eye.

'When we started the label, it was ne'er astir age, it was ever astir attitude.

'For the archetypal clip successful years, I consciousness excited again. I consciousness alive. I consciousness similar it is my clip again.'