Beyonce told us we weren’t ready for the jelly.
But since the days when the Destiny’s Child star and other well-cushioned celebs like J.Lo launched a cultural booty obsession, rump-lovers have struck a serious blow to the idea that women should look like hipless runway models. From low-rise jeans to buxom mannequins in stores, women with bootylicious figures have reached institution status in society.
“It’s become more acceptable to have curves and have buttocks,” celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch said. But some booty enthusiasts have taken the trend to a level even Sir Mix-A-Lot might not have been able to imagine at the height of his “Baby Got Back” heyday.
More than ever, big-booty seekers are undergoing plastic surgery to enhance their flat or small derrieres with buttock implants. Although the procedure is still nowhere near as popular as breast augmentation, demand is growing rapidly.
The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reports that 3,885 buttock implant surgeries were performed in 2003, a 533 percent increase from the 614 performed the year before.
Kenneth Stein, a plastic surgeon with a downtown practice, said the demand for a J.Lo-like bottom is a powerful trend that will increase.
“A lot of people have abnormally flat butts, and we can give them shape,” he said.
Stein operates on about 100 buttock patients per year, although only about 10 percent of the procedures involve implants. A slightly cheaper, less-invasive option is for patients to undergo fat injections, in which fat is taken from one area of the body, like the stomach or lower back, and deposited in the buttocks.
Whereas implant surgery costs about $9,000 and is extremely immobilizing–some patients can’t sit for 10 or more days–fat injections cost about $4,000 to $6,000, and discomfort usually lasts for only three to five days.
Fat injections can produce inconsistent (lumpy) results, however, and some implants can be too firm.
Still, many people are willing to chance buns of steel or a bumpy bum to achieve a perky behind that will mold nicely into a pair of Apple Bottom jeans.
“It’s just like any other procedure,” Academy of Cosmetic Surgery spokeswoman Kelly Miller said of the risks of surgery.
“But it’s all about people feeling good about themselves. It’s about balance to their body.”
And with popular styles and clothing lines like Marc Ecko and Baby Phat showcasing ample rears in their clothes, it’s not shocking that people who don’t have quite enough junk in the trunk are trying to stock up.
“Those itty-bitty supermodels are out the door,” said Candisse Collins, a 21-year-old law student from the South Loop who is not surprised that people are surgically enhancing their backsides. “Now people want to get thick.”
But not too thick. Just because a full-figured bod is hip doesn’t give people license to expand the definition of curves to include tummy rolls and cellulite, celeb stylist Bloch said.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a curvy body, but sometimes you just have a big ass,” he said, citing the craze over jeans with pre-faded patches on the butt and thighs as an example of excessive showcasing.
“There’s nothing great about a big anything. The right proportion is nice.”
Regardless of small, medium or large–real or fake–the effect of the Bootylicious Era on women of all sizes seems to be the idea that it’s OK to be sexy in a non-rail-thin way.
And from the looks of things, many people like the freedom to be different.
“Any way a woman wants to enhance her [butt] is fine with me,” said musician Phillip Anders, 27, of Roscoe Village. “She could do Pilates or squats. She could eat a bunch of hamburgers.”
———-
mcarberry@tribune.com
