Would You Ever Consider Plastic Surgery?
People considering plastic surgery often have to deal with negative reactions, whether direct disapproval or people whispering behind their backs. Much like people who wear excessive makeup, or who clearly spend hours fixing their hair, or even people who use suffocating amounts of perfume; people who undergo plastic surgery are often though of as somewhat vain or contrived. This simply is not the case all of the time. The following few paragraphs will demonstrate how plastic surgery can be used in subtle, helpful, or even reconstructive ways that do not indicate vanity.
Perhaps the most “controversial” form of plastic surgery, at least with regard to perceived vanity, is breast augmentation. However, as detailed on related websites like www.aboutplasticsurgery.com/, this type of surgery is not meant only for enlarging breasts; many women simply use it to maintain their familiar figure. For example, following a pregnancy, or even just from aging, many women find that their breasts change. It can certainly be contested that maintaining the body shape one is accustomed to is not complete vanity. Additionally, breast augmentation can even be used to reconstruct a breast or breasts following complications from a battle with breast cancer, a consideration unfortunately faced by many women today.
It is also quite common for people to look into erasing or lessening wrinkles via plastic surgery. This could be considered simply an effort to keep up appearances, rather than an attempt to change what one looks like or enhance one’s beauty. Through methods such as collagen injections and minor lifts, wrinkles can essentially be stretched and flattened so that the surface of the skin remains smooth. Now, of course, there are limits at which this surgery can appear to be a bit obvious or unnecessary… for example, an 80 year old person with perfectly flat and smooth skin does not look natural, and could be considered, perhaps, a bit vain or even somewhat in denial.
These have been just a few examples to help us to think through whether plastic surgery is always artifice. It’s always good to think these things through, rather than just react based on the expected perceptions of others. There are additional examples as well: slight liposuction for people who try and struggle to lose weight due to aging or pregnancy, or lifts and tummy tucks for people who have unflattering excess skin following a drastic or sudden weight loss, etc.
Under what circumstances would you consider plastic surgery?
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Back to School as Student
Along with what seems like record numbers of my peers (and children!), I am formally a college student. Classes begin next week.
This past spring, in my single quarter as student at a local community college, I studiously dressed as myself-as-student. My goal was social. For the first three to four weeks of classes, I carefully put together outfits from the leisure lifestyle segment which reflected my personality. After that, I eased up only a little, occasionally throwing in a blazer or a heel with trouser jeans. Ultimately, I found this strategy to be very effective: I was received as well as I have ever been. Somehow the other students picked up quickly and accurately what kind of a person I was and interacted with me accordingly.
My uniform template for Fall 2010, at least in theory:
dark skinny jeans + cotton tee + structured sweatshirt or leather jacket + 3 mile shoes
A word about book bags: most people my age use a rolling backpack; my daughter has forbidden me from doing so. No worries. I picked up a decent-looking, light gray backpack (for $19.99 at the Eddie Outlet). I will not be hauling a computer in it.
Happy Back to School!
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A Collection of Thoughts on Aging with Style
All week I’ve been ruminating on topics related to aging: the (Biblical) role of the empty nester, relationships between generations, my mom’s wardrobe, and more. Yet, when faced with the desire to produce a Friday Fashion Lab, I once again ran up against my most persistent blogging frustration: I have words, you all want pictures. But where to get them?
Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, I will be able to produce them myself. :) (Which thought came to me sometime in the 24 hours following my first drawing class.) Why not? If I learn to draw, I could just draw pictures of the ideas which are very clear in my mind, scan them, and upload them to the blog. Much less time-consuming than finding them on the internet (which gives great pictures, but takes forever), or taking them myself (yeah, you’ve seen my pictures, and now that I mostly blog when I’m home alone, the clothes must generally be pictured uninhabited, which is less satisfactory).
In the meantime, links!
- Imogen’s post on age appropriate dressing.
- Duchesse on Personal Style at 80
- Great Vogue video on personal style
And finally, in lieu of a fashion lab, a question:
Would an 80 year old be fabulous or frumpy in this Boden dress? What about you? (What about me?)
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