Hi Rene
I think the silence is due more to the fact that cypress, particularly leyland cypress, is traditionally thought of as poor bonsai material. Well i say rubbish - i have one approx 2 ft high formal upright leyland and i must say it puts up with a lot of torture
and always bounces back. The foliage always responds to pinching by growing faster and i normally have difficulty in keeping up with it during the summer. Its not finished yet by a long way so i wont post a picture as it would be shot down in flames. Your restyle is definately an improvement and i actually quite like the result especially once the foliage bulks out somewhat and develops into the proper foliage triangle. One tip i recently learnt was to die the raffia dark brown so that it doesnt distract from the tree - something that would certain benifit the viewer of this example.
Rgds James