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Monday, August 22, 2005 9:04 AM PDT
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TimesLeader.com, Mon, 22 Aug 2005 8:01 AM PDT
Voluptuous is out, small is in for Colombian models http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/world/12446082.htm
Colombia's fashion industry tries to blaze a new trail featuring women without surgical assistance. MEDELLIN, Colombia - In the heart of Colombia's plastic surgery industry, a surprising whiff of disdain is emerging toward a Colombian fashion-industry staple.

Posted on Mon, Aug. 22, 2005


SCOTT DALTON/FOR THE HERALD
NATURAL: A model struts Thursday at a Colombian fashion show.

Voluptuous is out, small is in for Colombian models

Colombia's fashion industry tries to blaze a new trail featuring women without surgical assistance.

BY STEVEN DUDLEY

Miami Herald

MEDELLIN, Colombia - In the heart of Colombia's plastic surgery industry, a surprising whiff of disdain is emerging toward a Colombian fashion-industry staple.

''Big breasts are out,'' declared Judy Hazbun, a designer whose label carries her name, during the annual Medellín Moda fashion fair last week. ``Women don't want big breasts anymore . . . I never use models with big breasts.''

There was a time when such words were near blasphemy in Colombia's small but growing fashion industry, when ''voluptuous'' was the choice word for describing the icon of a beautiful woman.

But from clothes designers to casting directors and modeling agency managers, a new idea is being felt up and down the catwalks: The era of the Pamela Anderson wannabes is ending.

It remains to be seen whether the smaller-is-better idea will take hold on the streets of Colombia, where breast augmentation surgery seems as common as getting your teeth cleaned. No government or independent organization keeps statistics here, but the International Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery ranks Colombia 21st on its 2004 worldwide list in terms of the number of corrective procedures.

Colombia has long been a hotbed of plastic surgery. Doctors here, less threatened with lawsuits than in other countries, began doing surgeries much earlier than many other countries. Surgery remains cheap and available.

In Medellín, a city of 3 million people, there are 66 clinics that perform what is commonly called aesthetic surgery, which for breast augmentation costs about $2,000, about five times less than what it costs in the United States. Nationwide, there are 485 clinics.

So renowned is Colombia's cosmetic surgery industry that people come from as far away as Japan and Spain on package deals to get the lower prices. For many years, this silicon phenomenon has been evident in the catwalks.

But for people in the industry, like Tony Marques, the creative director for the modeling agency Stock Models, it was like the dark ages.

''Seven years ago, this industry was all curves,'' he said. ``It was so cheap, so crass.''

Marques and other model agents say things began to change when the designers started going to Europe and the United States to study fashion trends and TV here began bringing in Italian and French channels, as well as Fashion TV.

''They used to be influenced by things like Melrose Place,'' said Margarita Gómez, a 20-year veteran modeling agent with Informa Models of Colombia, referring to the designers' penchant for using fashion from the mid-1990s Darren Star nighttime soap. ``Now they're looking for more refined women: less breasts, more elegant, with more style.''

The models, industry officials say, also changed their perspective, seeking to appeal to an international market.

''They're looking for more exotic women these days,'' said Julia Maria López, a 26-year-old model, referring to the talent scouts and designers. López added that she did not even consider getting breast augmentation, and that she and many of her friends in the business were much more conscientious about this decision than in years past.

''I think it's an aggressive way to approach your body,'' the svelte, dark-skinned Medellín native said. ``I think I look I great the way I am.''

Felipe Espinoza, a fashion show producer, agrees.

''It was a very aggressive period for women because what people were saying, between the lines, was that you had to be a super voluptuous woman to be beautiful,'' he said. ``Now women are looking to exploit what they have.''

The changes were apparent on the runway at Medellín Moda last week as women modeling Carmen Belissa Martínez's Beverly Hills swimsuit line were noticeably smaller above the waist.

''I looked for models that didn't have surgery, or at least didn't have noticeable surgery,'' Martínez said after her show. She added that less than half of her models had breast surgery, a smaller number than in years past.

''The Colombians have changed; they want to be more international, this is true. But only half true,'' said Chacha Posada, a casting director for Informa Models. ``The truth is that surgery continues with the same frequency as before, only different surgery.''

German Wolff, a local plastic surgeon and former president of the Colombian Association of Plastic Surgeons, said that breast surgery continues apace despite what happens on the runways. ''It may take awhile to hit the streets,'' Espinoza acknowledged.

At the shows, which ended on Friday, the designers said they were looking for women sizes 6 or even 8 to model.

''We want someone more subtle, more elegant, more normal women,'' said the designer Martínez.

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