Special Beauty Report: Erasing Ethnicity
Around the world, the desire for pert features, pin-straight hair, and a willowy physique - those dubious emblems of American beauty and success — is driving a multibillion-dollar industry.
Most Popular Cosmetic Surgeries by Ethnicity
In the past five years, the number of plastic surgeries performed on minorities jumped 65 percent — compared with an increase of 38 percent for the overall population. Why the spike in minority candidates? Higher incomes and access to a wider range of ethnic-specific techniques.
A Global Love Affair with the Knife
In an attempt to preserve traditional Eastern looks, plastic surgery was banned in China until 2001. Now, it's a $2.4-billion-a-year business. Add Japan, which spends $18.4 million on plastic surgery annually, and India, where cosmetic surgery has experienced a 15 percent growth in the past three years, and Asia is now the world's second-largest plastic-surgery hub. The U.S. is still in the lead, with its whopping $8.4 billion industry.
The Quest for a Ski-Jump Nose
Unlike the rhinoplasties performed on Caucasians (often to straighten a bridge or remove a bump), nose reshaping for minorities generally leads to narrower nostrils, a higher bridge, and a pointier tip — shapes typical of white noses.
Top Countries for Breast Augmentation
Spain, Italy, U.K., Sweden, Finland, India, Norway, Slovenia. In the U.S., the procedure ranks #1 for Hispanics and #2 for Asian-Americans among minorities.
Are Blue Eyes Better?
Has the craze for a more Westernized look sparked a global crisis?
Don't it turn their brown eyes blue?
Would Aishwarya Rai, the stunning former Miss World and Bollywood darling, be as popular if her eyes weren't a glowing green-blue? Would she have snagged a L'Oréal cosmetics contract or crossed over to Hollywood?
Since color contacts by FreshLook became available in 1984, women of color — including Naomi Campbell, Lil' Kim, and Ziyi Zhang — have been eager to experiment. "Our largest market is with dark-eyed and dark-complected women," says Jeff Cohen, vice president of global marketing for CIBA Vision (makers of FreshLook), citing African-American, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern women as the top customers in the U.S. "Color contacts are huge with Middle Eastern women because their clothing often covers everything except their eyes. It's one of the only ways they have to express their originality."
With this uniquely exotic notion of lighter eyes coming into vogue, colored-lens users climbed to 2.7 million in the U.S. alone last year.
Skin: The New Status Symbol
Has the West's fixation with tanning finally challenged the East's centuries-old belief that pale skin is synonymous with high social standing?
In June 2007, the first-ever tanning salon opened in Beijing. Called DB Salon, it serves legions of women under 30 with a strangely specific goal: to have the caramel coloring of American pop princess Christina Aguilera.
In India, Bollywood stars are going for the burnt-sienna hue one sees in Malibu, achievable only via a bottle.
And in Japan, bronzing goods account for $140 million in sales.
