Mario Testino—best known for photographing models for Vogue magazine—said, “No! Beauty is emotional! That’s why plastic surgery never works. Women who want to change their nose, lips, they don’t understand that they are doing nothing except erasing their magic.”
Sigh.
Okay, Mario. I can see what you’re getting at. But you only ever see the most uniquely stunning, beautiful women in the world. Your job is literally to photograph them so that the rest of us aspire to that level of perfectionism. you can’t then tell us that we are “erasing our magic” if we choose to try and live up to even the tiniest of the expectations that you’re setting.
This “inspirational quote” from good old Mario sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole about judgement when it comes to cosmetic surgery.
Everyone seems to judge people who have had cosmetic surgery when it’s for “vanity” reasons. I recently posted a TikTok video (I know, why do I even know that platform exists, right? I’m 52, FFS) in which I made mention of the fact that I have bits of Botox and filler now and again. As soon as I said it, I felt myself start to worry that people would judge me for that. It’s how it works, right? We admit to not wanting to look like our real selves and the accusations begin! As it turned out, it was fine… no–one watches my videos—and rightly so—but the point of the video was that I’d found out that day that some people are now paying to have their earlobes filled. Yes, earlobes. As we age, we lose the elasticity in our skin which means you can’t wear your favourite heavy earrings anymore… so those people have their earlobes filled to enable them to do so.
Upon hearing this, I felt myself become soooo judgmental! “People pay to have their earlobes filled? Are they mad? Haven’t they got better things to be worrying about?” etc., etc. This is coming from me, a woman who has spent a not insignificant amount of her income on breast augmentation (twice because it went wrong the first time) so that… what? I’d look better in a tight top? Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that, but the fact remains that my hypocritical, judgy, little self couldn’t wait for the opportunity to criticise another person’s choices. Who cares? I know it’s a cliché, but if you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else, do whatever makes you happy! Life is short.
When Pink was asked about the cosmetic surgery Madonna has had, she articulated beautifully what Madonna means to so many of us—me included (I broke my mum’s heart in 1986 by covering up her Laura Ashley wallpaper with a floor to ceiling poster of Madonna). “We shouldn’t be talking about Madonna’s face; we should be talking about all the badass shit that woman did for the rest of us to come along after her.” I love that. If I’m honest, it does sadden me that even someone as powerful and strong and in control as Madonna has felt that she needed to have all of that work done… but it’s nothing to do with anyone but her!
I talk about this and much, much more in my most recent podcast episode.
Find out more about my Avoid Excessive Cleavage podcasts here.