Fw: WSJ ~ Gisele, Siliconadas Cause Brazilians to Reassess the Breast

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From: ilena rose <ilena@...>

Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 8:31 PM

Subject: WSJ ~ Gisele, Siliconadas Cause Brazilians to Reassess the Breast

> ~~~ thanks myrl and chris ... $ilicone is big business in Brazil ... ~~~

> ----

> January 10, 2001 WSJ

>

> Full-Figured Model Gisele, Siliconadas

> Cause Brazilians to Reassess the Breast

>

> By JONATHAN KARP

> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

>

> SAO PAULO, Brazil -- When Internet-shopping site Kelkoo.com

(www.kelcoo.com)

> launched here in November, marketing whizzes racked their brains for a

hip,

> daring advertising campaign that would

> resonate with the issues of the day.

>

> Save the rain forests? Brazil's resurgent economy? No, Kelkoo chose

> something the nation was really buzzing about: bigger breasts. The company

> motto, " comparing is natural, " was plastered on billboards showing two

pairs

> of naked female breasts -- one the size of grapefruits,the other much

> smaller.

>

> " This is really ambitious, really Brazilian and really up-to-date -- the

> debate over whether or not to get implants, " says Pierre Bonenberger, the

> company's local manager.

>

> Debate? It's more like a stampede.

>

> Clamor for Cleavage

>

> With summer under way in Brazil, women are lining up for more than their

> usual bikini wax. In a land second only to the U.S. in surgically crafted

> curves, the clamor for cleavage is turning local fashion on its head.

> Silicone implants have become a rare commodity. Brazil's only implant

maker

> is increasing capacity fivefold, and new suppliers are getting into the

> game.

>

> Even Brazil's central bank, which generally pays attention to a different

> boom-bust cycle, is studying whether it should broaden consumer finance

> regulations to make plastic-surgery affordable to low-income Brazilians.

>

> Under the scheme, which has long been used to buy things like cars,

> Brazilian consumers pool their money to purchase big-ticket items.

>

> Hovering over this frenzy is the angel of world fashion, Brazilian model

> Gisele Bundchen. Her voluptuous figure has become the rage in a country

> where an ample bust has never been a

> prerequisite of feminine beauty. Until recently, the most popular cosmetic

> operation in Brazil was a breast reduction.

>

> The change is being fed by a new breed of celebrities dubbed

" siliconadas. "

> These soap-opera stars and socialites happily offer up not only their

> testimonials but also their implant sizes.

>

> Carla , a samba dancer-turned-television presenter, chose a pair of

>

> 220-milliliter implants. Dancer Scheila Carvalho opted for a slightly more

> demure 170ml. Baptista, winner of Brazil's version of the TV show

> " Survivor, " says she initially wanted a 195ml pair but upped her choice to

> 215ml on her doctor's advice.

>

> Revealing even more, these women have graced the last three covers of the

> Brazilian edition of Playboy magazine. The country's most popular

children's

> television-show host, Xuxa, staged a slightly more discreet coming-out

when

> she wore a transparent blouse in a fashion show to

> parade her new assets.

>

> The bust boom isn't confined to celebrities. It has also seized a middle

> class freed from the monetary hyperinflation of the early 1990s and eager

to

> spend more on luxuries like plastic surgery. One survey by a

> financial-industry trade group indicated that as many as 70% of

> Brazilian women and 50% of men want plastic surgery. Breast-augmentation

> operations can be had here for as little as $2,500 -- including the price

of

> the implants -- which often can be paid in monthly installments.

>

> " The stable economic situation in Brazil has made it easier, " says Luciana

> Campos, a 26-year-old law student who received breast implants last month.

>

> For years, Ms. Campos had wanted larger breasts to complement her wide

hips.

> U.S. popular culture has influenced her sense of beauty, she says. And the

> emergence of a relatively full-figured Brazilian as America's new beauty

> icon only adds to the attraction. " Hollywood actresses give

> more attention to breasts, " she says. " Gisele also had an influence. "

>

> The emergence of breasts as Brazil's " new national passion " -- as one

> women's magazine, Plastic Surgery and Beauty, declared -- is redefining

> local notions of beauty. Brazilians traditionally valued big buttocks and

> small breasts. When Rand, design director for General Motors Corp.

in

> Sao o, arrived last year and asked what Brazilians like in cars, a

> colleague replied " bunda " -- which literally means " buttock " but in Brazil

> also embodies the idea of sensuality and form.

>

> Meanwhile, the word " tchan, " slang for something desirable, was recently

> popularized by a band whose sensual dancers emphasized their buttocks.

Three

> of the dancers have since had breast implants and become " siliconada "

> centerfolds. It's apt, says plastic surgeon Dr. Toledo.

> " The'tchan,' " he says, " has moved. "

>

> Speculation abounds that Ms. Bundchen herself has gone under the knife.

> Montiero, Ms. Bundchen's agent in Brazil, said the 20-year-old

model

> wasn't available for comment, but that Ms. Bundchen's breasts are natural.

> " Nobody believes it, because they are perfect, " Ms. Montiero

> said.

>

> There's no doubt that demand for breast jobs has soared during the past

year

> with the rise of Ms. Bundchen and her 36-24-35 figure. Lucimar Viegas, who

> had her breasts downsized just three years ago, discovered this recently

> when she checked in to a famous Sao o clinic to have her breasts

> re-enlarged. Despite traveling six hours from Rio de Janeiro for the

> surgery, the 29-year-old Ms. Viegas was told to wait -- for three months.

> There weren't enough implants to go around.

>

> About the same time, phones were ringing furiously at Silimed Ltda., the

> largest supplier of silicone prostheses in Brazil, and the only local

> manufacturer. Demand had doubled in just two years, and Silimed wasn't

able

> to provide its customary next-day delivery service.

>

> " Oh, there was some yelling, " recalls Silimed president Antoine ,

> " because when a woman decides on implants, she wants them immediately. "

>

> The crisis passed quickly, and Mr. suspects a rival may have spread

> rumors about a continuing shortage to gain a foothold in Brazil. Even

months

> later, at a plastic-surgeons' convention, Mr. says he had to fend

off

> remarks like, " Is it true that you're exporting everything and neglecting

> the Brazilian market? " Renowned plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy says the

> waiting list for breast surgery at his free clinic in Rio de Janeiro is

more

> than a year, and 80% of the women still want less -- not more.

>

> But nearly half of his paying breast patients now want implants -- bigger

> and bigger ones. From 120ml to 160ml a few years ago, women are asking for

> 200ml to 260ml, and several previous patients are trading up.

>

> " They're still not as big as implants in the U.S., but it's a huge

change, "

> says Dr. Pitanguy.

>

> " Everyone likes them bigger since they started seeing Gisele, " says Luiz

> Toledo, a plastic surgeon in Sao o. A specialist in facial and body

> contouring using liposuction, Dr. Toledo now performs 10 breast

enlargements

> a month, up from one or two a month before the " Gisele

> effect " took hold.

>

> He discourages patients from trying to emulate sex symbols. But women

often

> bring magazine photos of Ms. Bundchen, or at least her bust, to show what

> they want.

>

> Ms. Bundchen's full-bodied beauty is a welcome change after years of

Calvin

> Klein's gaunt mascots, and it's fired foreign demand for Brazilian models,

> says Decio Ribeiro, director of Ford Models Brasil. But he says he's

> troubled by women who treat cosmetic surgery as casually as " going to the

> bakery. " Breast implants are hottest among young women, even minors. And

> some doctors encourage an early start. " The ideal age for a reduction or

> augmentation of this organ is 15, " plastic surgeon Ronen Almeida writes in

> the newsletter of Mater Dei Hospital in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's

> third-largest city. Many fellow practitioners reject that advice, but 10%

of

> the 300,000 Brazilian plastic-surgery patients in 1999 were teenagers,

> according to the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery.

>

> Write to Karp at jonathan.karp@...

>

>