Such a person he is Caroline Levittthe 28-year-old White House press secretary. Recently, Karoline has been in the spotlight, not for her political ideology, but rather for her looks. The close-up portrait taken by Vanity Fair is highlighted by the purported appearance of the lips.
The Vanity Fair shoot, shot by photographer Christopher Anderson, clearly showed off Leavitt’s lips. Beauty experts and netizens were quick to note that there were signs of cosmetic injections along the edge of Leavitt’s upper lips, suggesting she may have gone for plastic surgery. Although some suspected that the marks were accentuated by photography, others suggested that the angle and lighting may have contributed.
“Lip gloss, if intended to cover scars, actually accentuated them, creating a ‘highlighter effect’ that drew attention to them,” said Escobar, editor-in-chief of beauty and wellness website The Daily Beast. “Bruising and swelling, especially if lip fillers have recently been done, may take some time to resolve,” Escobar added. “Maybe it was a recent cure, maybe it’s a slow cure,” he said.
Public response was swift. On social media, users reacted to the image with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. “Injection marks from lip fillers,” wrote one person, with a laughing emoticon, while another wrote, “Why would they use a photo like that?” Some have speculated that the reason for using such an image may have been deliberate, aiming to draw attention through the image.
Leavitt certainly isn’t the first high-profile person to be linked to beauty trends in D.C. In recent years, board-certified plastic surgeons have seen an increase in patients seeking the “Mar-a-Lago face.” This will include full lips, a soft and firm face, excessively full cheeks and obvious makeup. Several supporters of President Trump, such as Matt Gaetz and Laura Loomer, have been identified as having this look, with Leavitt being a part of this trend relatively early.
An expert, Dr. Jennifer Harrington, who is a plastic surgeon and professor at the University of Minnesota, noted Leavitt’s transformation in an interview with Fox news, speculating on the possibility of filler injections in her lips, estimated to be about 0.5 to 1 mL of fillers per lip. The increase, in her estimation, was not obvious, giving her lips “a natural boost”. Cosmetic procedures, especially fillers, are much better done three months before a big photo shoot or an opportunity to give the effects time to settle, suggested Dr. Dara Liotta.
There is growing public interest in Leavitt’s appearance that has been fueled in part by President Donald Trump himself. Speaking in Pennsylvania recently, Trump interrupted his economic speech to comment on Leavitt’s lips, saying with a smile, “They don’t stop like a little machine gun.” It is observations like these, as well as the publicity of the Vanity Fair photoshoot, that have brought further public focus to trends in beauty politics.
Political cosmetic enhancements have little to do with vanity and a lot to do with the kind of scrutiny that comes with being a public figure. Every detail on their face and every stylistic element can and often will feed the media. This kind of scrutiny affects young politicians like Leavitt exponentially because of the kind of power and attention social media platforms generate.
There are some critics who find that the media’s preoccupation with Leavitt’s appearance serves to call into question her career involvement with the administration’s press office because she handles communications for the administration. Others consider it “the way of the world where politics and beauty are ‘inherently linked'” and this “is especially important in the age of high-definition photography”. All this is written from observations made after examining pictures and opinions from experts and some of the guesses that have arisen. The issue can also be seen to highlight the effects of trends like the “Mar-a-Lago face” currently affecting Washington, D.C. In today’s case, however, Leavitt’s *Vanity Fair* appearance has inspired interest and fun on social media and in the news. Whether lip implants are actually real or not, it’s interesting to think about the pressure public figures are under to project certain images and how tiny cosmetic details sometimes make headlines.
