Fashion

Fetish has finally crossed over in to mainstream, causing a stir on this seasons catwalks. The weird and wonderful however,does not stop there with PVC and latex effects transcending on to the make-up and beauty scene, but continues with the larger lady being the fashionable body type.

People have been unhappy with their looks for years. Since the advances and availability of surgery it has become a trend to change these dissatisfying natural features. But has it gone too far?
At the moment curvy is in.We are seeing a huge change in the media and fashion industry with plus sized women such as Tess munster being snapped up by modeling agencies. This, some say is a step in the right direction, but are we not just swapping one extreme for the other? We are yet again letting the media pigeon hole what is perceived as beautiful and condemning those who do not have the right attributes.

People who suffer from Body Dysmorphic disorder are excessively concerned and pre occupied by a perceived defect in his or her physical features.  This unhappiness can cause psychological distress, sever depression, anxiety and complete social isolation.  The need to fit in to the norm and present themselves as the idea of perfection is becoming harder, it seems, with every new trend. With the constant criticism by the media and other women competing to be better than the other with comments like "real women have curves" and "fat means ugly" we will never be content.
Perhaps we should all just stop and put forward the fact that all women are beautiful in their own way. How far are we going to go?

Fashion icon Lady Gaga has been seen sporting flesh coloured spikes on her face and shoulders that look like sub-dermal implants in her new video ‘Born this way’ and on Jay Leno. This is apparently the latest trend in body modification in which metal shapes or even items of jewellery are implanted under the skin. It is questionable whether these are convincing prosthetic or surgically implanted.
She claimed on Gayle King’s US chat show that ‘They’ve been there this whole time but I waited until I’d put Born This Way out for you to see them’.  Fans have questioned her new look and the hypothesis they have come up with is that she is referring to a new race of humanity in which there is no discrimination and equality for all is prevalent in society.

Lady Gaga’s new look has been seen for years in magazines like Bizarre with articles further back than 2008 on Dennis Avner the human ‘tiger’ and Erik Sprague the Lizard man who have now found fame for their unusual looks. The question is with all this publicity surrounding sub-dermal implants will it become the norm and soon the desired look?

Facial piercing, branding and scaring have been popular throughout the years in primitive and modern cultures. Some tribes use body modifications as a right of passage. Today we see these piercings and modifications amongst our culture but they serve as an aesthetic purpose. These looks, which have become the norm, would have been frowned upon years ago however, now they have become almost desirable.

The constant development of body modification forces people to conform to the desired look and makes perfection harder to reach. People are fighting to fit in and this constant need results in plastic surgery and an increase in body dysmorphia. When the sizest nature of today's society is combined there is no way anyone will be happy.

Its one thing to change your nose, get a facelift or get breast augmentation surgery if you are unhappy, but to implant objects under your skin to reach an, as some would say, unnatural perfection is a step to far. It seems we are traveling down a road of which there is no return, the desired look becomes more and more eccentric and further away from our ancestors. Could this be seen as evolution or merely self-mutilation?