adventurous
style-makers around the world made headlines this year with unusual,
extreme, and sometimes even painful fashion choices. Here's a rundown of
some of the oddest ways in which people tried to improve their looks...
for better or worse.
1. The NBA's geek chic It's rare that the worlds
of fashion and sports overlap, and even rarer that the lanky,
oft-tattooed men of the National Basketball Association inspire a trend.
But by the end of the 2012 NBA season, basketball players were turning
post-game news conferences into veritable fashion shows — thanks,
mostly, to their oversized, Steve-Urkel-esque glasses... which don't
necessarily include lenses. The consistently flamboyant Russell
Westbrook of the Oklahoma Thunder claims he started
the nerdy glasses trend back in 2008. (Japanese schoolgirls more likely
instigated the lensless look.) In any event, by mid-2012, Miami Heat's
LeBron James and Dawyane Wade and the Thunder's Kevin Durant were all
sporting massive, chunky frames.
2. The made-up South Korean maleA growing number of South Korean men are ushering in a new era
of cosmetics-friendly masculinity. In the socially conservative,
male-dominated country, men are using everything from foundation to
lipstick to eyebrow pencils to advance their careers and social status.
What's behind the paradigm shift? Experts credit relaxed rules on the
importation of Japanese comics, with their depiction of pretty men, and
the cultural influence of Ahn Jung-hwan, a hero of South Korea's World
Cup soccer team, who led the charge for so-called "flower men."
3. Mustache implantsIn certain Arab countries, a full, thick mustache is a sign of a man's power,
and for those who struggle to achieve the wooly status symbol
naturally, a surgically implanted mustache has become an increasingly
popular option, even at $7,000 a pop. Using a technique called follicle
unit extraction, a doctor takes hairs from more hirsute parts of the
body and implants them in the mustache area and — voila! — the upper lip
is lonely no more.
4. The Ukraine's "Barbie flu"
It
may be physically impossible for a human to achieve Barbie's extreme
proportions and cartoonish allure, but that isn't stopping a wave of
Ukrainian women from trying. With the help of plastic surgery, eyelash
extensions, colored contact lenses, and some serious styling, these
young women are transforming themselves into "living dolls" with tiny
waists and implausibly large busts (one contender boasts a surreal
34-18-34 figure). While some of the women say they're looking to
publicize their style-focused professions, critics have described the
so-called "Barbie flu" as an "escape from reality."
5. ChinplantsWhen most people think of plastic
surgery, they imagine nose jobs, breast augmentations, and tummy tucks.
But weak jaws have become the hot new flaw, with chin implants gaining
rapidly in popularity, according to data released this past April.
Demand for the procedure shot up 71 percent over 2011. Observers
theorize that the amount of time Americans are spending using Face time
and video-chat programs, which exaggerate the shortcomings of a weak
chin, has contributed to the surge.
6. Cosmetic limb-lengtheningOnce reserved for
people with dwarfism and children with unequally sized legs,
limb-lengthening is reportedly catching on for cosmetic reasons among
the vertically challenged. The procedure, which is both arduous and prolonged,
requires doctors to break the patient's shin bones and insert
telescoping rods that gradually "pull" the two halves of the bones apart
at a rate of 1 mm per day (as new bone, nerves, and arteries grow to
fill in the gap). The excruciatingly painful $85,000 procedure can add
two, three, and in extreme cases, up to six inches to a person's frame.
7. Bagel heads
Finally, the year's most bizarre style-craze honor goes to... Japan's "bagel heads." In September, the National Geographic show Taboo
showcased Japanese body-art fans who, presumably bored by tattoos and
piercings, sought to adorn their foreheads with a circular bulge
distinguished by a bagel-like "hole." To achieve this effect, body
modification artists inject 400 cc of saline into the subject's
forehead, then press a finger into the lump to create a dent. Since the
body absorbs the saline, the look only lasts a day or so. Considering
the overwhelmingly nauseated response from American critics, this trend seems unlikely to take hold stateside.
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