Who remembers the photo that Kim Kardashian posted to Twitter and hash-tagged #vampirefacial? Back in March the mom-to-be and reality TV star tested out one of the newest trends in youth maintenance: the blood facial aka Vampire Facelift.
The blood facial trend is intended to help fight signs of aging with the help of (still unproven) science. Two teaspoons of blood are extracted from the patient’s arm, spun in a centrifuge for approximately 10 minutes to separate the platelets, and then platelet rich plasma (or PRP for short) is injected back into the patient’s face. Kim K. squirmed and cried as she was pricked with the tiny needles that delivered the extracted blood back into her face.
Bloody ridiculous, right?
Vogue Italia seems to think so. They just released “Luxury,” a video shot by Steven Meisel to accompany his June 2013 cover shoot featuring the ever-gorg Gisele Bündchen. However, spliced in between glamorous shots Meisel gives Gisele the blood facial treatment, amongst an array of other beauty treatments, including booty cupping and a less invasive mani-pedi. In the video, Gisele takes a selfie of the vampiric procedure.
Considering this is their Health & Beauty issue, are Vogue and Meisel suggesting that we’ve taken procedures a bit too far? Is this remotely luxurious?
Keeping in line with that line of thinking, Gisele most recently eschewed Photoshop, as well as professional hair and make-up for her latest campaign for BLK DNM, complimenting the approach BLK DNM designer Johan Lindeberg took. Lindeberg reportedly shot the campaign in under two hours, no hair, no makeup (but then released a campaign photo that didn’t feature her famous face, but rather her rear.)
“I feel like women should be really real and raw and it doesn’t happen anymore [in fashion photographs],” Bündchen told Fashionista.
“I love that feeling of, you know, we are women, we are so different, our imperfections are what make us unique and beautiful. He [Lindeberg] gets that. He’s not trying to retouch you or put a pretty light on you. He’s not like ‘you gotta look a certain way.'”
Despite the constant backlash to the beauty industry and industry beauty standards, new outlandish procedures akin to the blood facial crop up on the daily. Every new treatment and Photoshopped advertisement blurs the line a little more.
If beauty is pain, where do you draw the line?
