At some point in 2024, a meme circulated about a trend in plastic surgery called “Mar-a-Lago face”, named after U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf resort and estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and describing people in Trumpland who seemed to have undergone similar plastic surgery procedures. The look is unmistakable: oversized lips, frozen forehead, puffed up cheeks, and in Matt Gaetz’s case, perma-surprised eyebrows.
Highlights
- Latest facial surgery trend is based on the looks of two people in particular
- Plastic surgeons explain that pixie nose and big lips are noticeable features
- Netizens react to trend with mostly negative comments
Picking up on the trend, the internet got to work after Trump was elected, pasting before-and-after photos of those who most exemplify the trend, including Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security; Matt Gaetz, Trump’s failed nominee for U.S. Attorney General General; Laura Loomer, far-right political activist and Trump buddy; and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. Ambassador to Greece.
Now, one of the doctors who has apparently done some of the work, revealed in an interview that there are two people in particular who other people say they want to look like.
Ivanka Trump and Kristi Noem are the two women others aspire to resemble
Image credits: hedgehog94/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
Image credits: Jud McCranie/Wikimedia
According to the Daily Mail, Dr. Norman Rowe is a board-certified plastic surgeon who practices in Manhattan, the Hamptons, and Palm Beach.
Rowe said he sees more than a dozen patients a day at his office in Florida, mainly people with the same influences and social references. Most of his female clients ask to look like 43-year-old Ivanka Trump.
Image credits: roweplasticsurgery
“People will come in and say, ‘I want to look like her, I like her eyes, I like her nose, I like her lips,'” he told the Daily Mail.
Rowe’s older clients, meanwhile, have pointed to Kristi Noem as an example, saying that they '”like her look” and think she “looks wonderful.”
Doctors describe puffed up faces and inflated lips as central to Mar-a-Lago face
Image credits: Gage Skidmore
Image credits: Laura Loomer
Other doctors have explained Mar-a-Lago face with a similar vocabulary.
Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Faryan Jalalabadi tells The Independent, “It’s the tiny little pixie nose and big lips.”
While other plastic surgeons have approached the matter with more openness. “The alleged Mar-a-Lago face is really just some bronzer and a little botox to improve one’s appearance,” said Dr. Gary Motykie from Los Angeles.
"Looks like something out of a Stephen King horror story.” Most netizens react negatively to the trend
Image credits: Patrick McMullan/Getty Images/James Devaney/Getty Images
Image credits: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images/Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Image credits: RepKristiNoem/Alex Brandon - Pool/Getty Images
“They look like retired adult movie stars,” one person said.
“They all look incredible for their ages. We all need a little help with age - just get the right help,” another person sympathized.
Yet others asked, “Laura Loomer is 31 years old. Why does someone that young need fillers?”
Still another said, “Imagine paying to look like that? Paying! They look like Jim Carey in the Mask.”
“It’s a tiny little pixie nose and big lips,” doctors explain of the latest plastic surgery trend
Image credits: uv_group/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
It’s not just plastic surgery trends, but also fashion. The sheath dress, it has been pointed out, is the unofficial ‘uniform’ of conservative high profile women close to Trump. NY Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman says of the MAGA look: "There is a very specific look associated with women who subscribe to the Trump worldview, one that is sort of a cross between a Fox newscaster and Miss Universe.”
Friedman explains that the look generally includes shoulder length hair, false eyelashes, plumped up cheeks, heels, and a sheath dress.
“The effect underscores an almost cartoonish femininity that speaks to a relatively old-fashioned gender stereotype; the counterpart to this woman is the square-jawed, besuited guy with a side part,” said Friedman.
SLOTUS, Second Lady of the United States Usha Vance, is decidedly not on board
Image credits: Africa Studio/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
One woman who is decidedly not embracing this style or Mar-a-Lago face is Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance. Known for her minimal or barely-there makeup and natural hair color, she was asked about fitting into the Trump aesthetic during an interview with the Free Press. After being asked if she was comfortable amongst the “blondes, Botox and facelifts of the White House,” Vance let out a hearty laugh.
Image credits: VP
"For what it’s worth, my reception into this world—and I’m not from a particularly wealthy background, not from a very fashion-oriented background personally or professionally—has been really positive. People don’t seem to care all that much what I look like," she told the publication.
Most online chatter tends to view the movement negatively
