The Glamour Quotient is all about the beautiful, glittery, bright and shiny things that make us feel good and hot even if we can't own it right now. It's not necessarily about buying, but appreciating the best the world has to offer and wanting the best for your life.The Glamour Quotient features the best-in-class style, products, destinations, hotels, and people, places and things (our features) we can get our hands on. Everything here is all about fun, fantasy, delight and luxury. Glamour is everywhere if you know where and how to look for it. Glamour takes the humdrum out of our everyday existence and makes it all better.
Since she’s arrived on our radar and infiltrated our collective consciousness, Lady Gaga, nee Stefani Germanotta, has taken performance art to new heights. She makes it not just about seeing a performance at a certain place and time and for a certain price, but has incorporated performance art into her everyday life - and for our entertainment- via her wacky, tongue-wagging outfits and antics: Going shopping; arriving at the airport; going to a Yankees game; even attending her teenage sister’s high school graduation ceremony. Not content with just her lady bit change of outfits, it appears Lady Gaga has decided that morphing into a man is her next coup de grace.
An upcoming issue of Japan Vogue will feature very convincing photos of a beyond butch Gaga (see above) who comes off quite convincingly like a not very good-looking middle-class (at best) American-Italian, bridge-and-tunnel (look it up) wanna-be heading out to New York’s Avenue nightclub for the evening. But she pulls it off. What, we don’t know exactly but again it’s Gaga and her unbound imagination and calculated showmanship are never uninteresting at a time when we’re all jaded by the seen-it-all fungus. So Go Gaga. Keep the surprises coming.
Sexy, Summer Surgery?
Speaking of changing appearances, plastic surgery is more popular than ever as the stigma around retooling our bodies rapidly diminishes. So we spoke to South Florida’s Dr. Victor Beraja of the Beraja Medical Institute to find out what the most popular procedures are today. Beraja, who’s performed over 10,000 Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgeries during his years of practice, says he’s seen a jump in (no surprises here) breast augmentations, breast lifts, eye lid surgeries, liposuction and tummy tucks. Pectoral and butt implants and hair and cheek implants are soooo 1985. Women and men 40 – 54 years old make up the largest age group for cosmetic procedures ( 47% of total); 91% of women, account for all cosmetic procedures; men, just 9%.
Known as a sexy, sensual playground where people from all over the world come to party and flutter around half-naked all year round, we asked Dr. Beraja if he thought doctors in South Florida perform a higher number of plastic surgery procedures than the rest of the country because people here are so body-conscious. “South Florida is synonymous with fashion, glamour, social life and is home to many celebrities,” says Beraja. “These conditions have created a heightened awareness of beauty icons and fashion. People [here] have a greater desire to look their best each and every day. In addition, there are a large number of people who are attracted to South Florida to have plastic surgery.” Oh really?
As for his practice Beraja, who has somewhat of a celebrity following, also has a reputation for incorporating advanced procedures including the latest, using a harmonic scalpel for facelifts which causes less tissue injury and swelling and makes for a faster recovery and fibrin glue, a natural sealant sprayed beneath the skin before placing final sutures decreasing swelling and bruising. The Institute also sell products you can’t get elsewhere including Gioventú Eterna, a skin care product line based on vitamin C, alpha hydroxyl acids, and skin lighters. Considering a little nip and tuck this summer? www.beraja.com
