There’s an immortal line in the film Dazed and Confused when Matthew McConaughey‘s sleazy character says, ‘That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age…’
A similar philosophy can be found in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs where the ageing silver foxes of Bondi, Vaucluse and Double Bay keep getting older, yet their girlfriends (while not school-aged) rarely seem to push 25.
However, there seems to be one very notable exception to the rule.
Pip Edwards – 44, a single mother and a powerhouse of the fashion business – is arguably the most in-demand woman in the east. If you look at her dating history, its a Hall of Fame of Sydney’s movers and shakers. The pretty young influencers paying $2,000 a week to live by the beach just can’t keep up.
Her former flames include Ksubi king Dan Single, former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke and Grill’d co-founder Geoff Bainbridge.
Then there’s bar tsar Cam Northway and, most recently, interior designer Joshua Clapp – who happens to be the ex-partner of her best friend Leah Simmons, the famous personal trainer.
What do these men have in common? In some cases, controversy. But mainly it’s that they are all rich, all powerful, all admired.
And, at one stage or another, they were all tripping over themselves to date Pip – despite having their pick of Sydney’s most beautiful women.
Pip Edwards – 44, a single mother and a powerhouse of the fashion business – is arguably the most in-demand woman in Sydney’s east (pictured here with her latest flame, Joshua Clapp)
So bulletproof is Pip’s personal brand that not even Michael Clarke’s messy brawl in Noosa could take the shine off her
Of course, I’m not suggesting Pip isn’t as beautiful as the 20-somethings swanning around Bondi. However, what I hear from eastern suburbs insiders is that it’s not just her looks and banging body that have men wrapped around her little finger.
One former flame confessed he was ‘addicted’ to her during their time together. He knew he should probably break it off, but she kept drawing him back in, like a siren.
‘She’s a temptress, I couldn’t control myself and kept going back for more.’
There’s a term for that: raw sex appeal. Not all women have it – even the most gorgeous of them. But Pip has it in spades. Seriously, ask any man you know.
Aside from her effortless cool-girl style and impressive rig, another ex said it was Pip’s mix of ambition and casualness that had him captivated.
‘She’s confident, successful and a little intimidating,’ they revealed. ‘And you know she’s not after anything too serious – unlike most women out there.’
While her love life is legendary, Pip rarely dwells on her boyfriends in interviews. Only recently she said she did not understand the public interest in the men she dates, and dismissed most of them as uninteresting. Ouch.
‘I don’t know what’s so interesting about my boyfriends. I think I’m more interesting,’ she told Stellar magazine.
‘Respect to the ex-boyfriends, but there are way more interesting things and more layers to me than that.’
Pip’s former flames include Ksubi king Dan Single, former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke and Grill’d co-founder Geoff Bainbridge (pictured with Pip in New York City)
So often we hear of the ‘Peter Pans of Bondi’ – the men in their forties and older who like to date younger women. It’s so common it’s a cliché.
That’s perhaps why it’s so refreshing to see Pip pluck these rich, divorced middle-aged men from Icebergs, show them a good time… then a few months later move on to the next one.
I’m sure most women in their forties would dream of living her life.
And in addition to her siren-like sex appeal, the other thing that makes Pip such a unique entity in Sydney’s east is how she emerges from all her relationships completely unscathed.
No man can bring her down or tarnish her brand. No matter who she dates, she remains an icon to P.E Nation-clad yummy mummies from coast to coast. So bulletproof is her personal brand that not even Michael Clarke’s messy brawl in Noosa could take the shine off her.
Speaking of Clarkey’s bust-up (you know, that one where he swore blind to his girlfriend at the time he hadn’t slept with Pip behind her back), Pip’s response to the fracas was so cool it remains my favourite thing about the whole sordid saga.
A year later, she dismissed it all as a ‘distraction’ that drew focus away from ‘the bigger picture of my life and what’s actually real – and that’s my business, and work, and my son’.
Will her latest love affair with Joshua Clapp go the distance? Who knows. I doubt Pip is even thinking that far ahead.
Whatever happens, I have it on good authority that she is well and truly aware of her allure and the power she holds over suitors past, present and future.
‘She’s a real enchantress,’ one ex said.
