LIVING DOLLS – IN SEARCH FOR PLASTIC PERFECTION
Ivana Stoyanova
In 1997 the pop group "Aqua" made the hit song Barbie girl, which reached the top of the charts. Who would think that the text of the song will be played in reality for years? The Living Doll Subculture consists of people who share a strange obsession with perfection in their appearance and devote huge sums of money and time to continuous cosmetic and surgical regimes in order to look like plastic dolls. Thanks to the internet, this trend is becoming more and more popular every day, and becoming a "living doll" becomes a very profitable "profession".
For subculture representatives, the perfect appearance is usually achieved in two ways: with costumes, masks and make-up, which is more common or the more drastic method - passing through an almost endless cycle of plastic operations. In some cases, when that is not enough, they resort to regular hypnotherapy in order to achieve the free mind of a doll.
In the West, it has always been thought that Japanese women look like dolls, which has prompted Japanese media for a long time to fight against this image. Today, however, this statement acquires a new meaning among young women who are actually already looking to resemble dolls. Anime and manga heroines are the main cause of the growing popularity of the subculture, which is currently the most widespread in Japan. Massively, the "living dolls" achieve their perfect looks through makeup, and plastic surgery remains in the background.
Masking is also one of the means by which sub-culture representatives serve. One of the most interesting components is called Masker. "The Masked" are men dressed in the so-called Fem Skin, a silicone suit and face-masks in an attempt to embody the ideal of a woman.
At first glance, it looks like transsexuality, but " the masked" do not usually define themselves as women. It also appears that there are elements of sexual fetishism, but motivation as a whole is not always sexual, but rather to run from reality. Some men spend thousands of dollars on custom masks, costumes and accessories. The question of why they made it arouse the curiosity of the general public, which even led to the filming of the film "Secrets of the Living Dolls".
As far as achieving transformation through plastic surgery is not easy or fast. Typically, many surgical interventions and devices are required. The vision of the "living doll" includes small lips, curved thighs, stubborn breasts and a perfect nose. It is typical for men to place implants in the seat, hands, chest and calves. In addition to rhinoplasty, other plastic surgery of the face is a change in its shape and that of the chin. Some "living dolls" are known to have a rib or two less. Sometimes the representatives of this subculture are called "human barbita" because they long to look like Barbie's actual doll, which is usually associated with impeccable feminine beauty and perfect proportions. Valeria Lukyanova (the most famous follower of this subculture) has come to an end with plastic surgery and a lot of diets in an effort to achieve that vision, which cost her $500,000. Unlike Valeria, who denies most of her operations, Justin Jedlika, better known as the human Ken, admits he has spent over $100,000 and has undergone more than 100 operations to become the perfect doll. Just like Justin, 35-year-old Rodrigo Alves pays $883,000 for 57 painful operations - including ten nasal, face lift, muscle implants, hand-painted blue eyes, and four ribs removal. Rodrigo's face provokes worldwide interest, and he earns thousands of media appearances that he has funded from his operations.
But enough for them. What does this mean for us? If these are just single cases, examples of the severe consequences of an extreme impulse to mischievous perfection, what is their popularity due to? It would be easy to ignore the many followers and media appearances of these "single cases," but the truth is that we are the ones who put the scalpel in their hands and encourage each of their next steps to their unreachable ideal. Is this subculture not a circus performance led by ourselves?
Photos:
1. Barbie Doll and Ken Doll.
Photo: Courtesy: Mattel /
https://money.cnn.com/2011/01/27/
2. The blogger, Vinus Palermo.
Photo: Courtesy: Venus Palermo /
https://www.facebook.com/venusangelic/
3. - 4. Representatives of the "masked".
Photo: © Barcroft /
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/
5. Human Barbie and Ken - Valeria Lukyanova and Justin Jedlika.
Photo: © Inside Edition /
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2272066
6. - 9. Valeria Lukyanova - the Living Barbie.
10. - 12. Anastasia Shpagina
Photo: https://zlyka.com/devushki-barbi-foto/
13. - 14. Justin Jedlika
Photo: https://morphoman.blogspot.com/;
© Caters New Agency /
https://www.dailymail.co.uk
15. Rodrigo Alves during an interview with ITV.
Photo: © ITV /
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/5405678/
16. Rodrigo Alves
17. Rodrigo and Justin.
Photo: http://tyisho.com/
Sources:
https://steemit.com/subculture/@lpfaust/;
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/
https://www.medicalbag.com/body-modification/;
https://hyperallergic.com/57313/living-dolls/
https://tpenfoldperez.wordpress.com/;
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/
Read: 3561 times © Fashion Lifestyle Magazine, issue 99, January 2019
MORE PUBLICATIONS:ISSUE 35: HARDSTYLE – TNE ELCTRONIC SUBCULTURE WITH HARD BEAT
ISSUE 17: THE NEW WAVE SUBCULTURE – THE NEW WAVE OF THE OLD CLASSIC
ISSUE 16: THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STREET ART – THE SUBCULTURE OF THE REAL ILLUSION
ISSUE 15: DISCO – SUBCULTURE THAT STAYS YOUNG
ISSUE 14: THE SKATE PARK SUBCULTURE – A MIXTURE OF EMOTION, MOVEMENT AND SELF-CONTROL
