Denis Pelli's Blog

CBS on Kate’s nose

To see me on CBS, click the link, above, and scroll down the CBS page to the video of doctor and patient. I appear for a few seconds, interviewed by Emily Smith, in the middle of my Perception of Art class, making a comment about the new popularity of cosmetic surgery among women who have their noses changed to look like that of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. I also said, but this was edited out, that this seems an interesting demonstration of how integrative and labile beauty is. We think of beauty as fixed to an image, universally, for all time, but, in fact, when Kate Middleton became a royal princess, this enhanced her beauty, and, in turn, changed our notions of beauty, to the extent that other women now want to look like her. The aired video then records my further comment that this happened earlier with Jackie Kennedy, whose fashion sense affected a whole generation. Thanks to Christina Lammer (Sociologist, Medical University, Vienna, Austria) for timely sharing of her insights on cosmetic reconstructive surgery.