The Business of Booty

Tyrisha Brown works out for a bigger booty. She says, “It’s firm, it’s lifted, ’cause we do a lot of squats throughout the class so I feel like it’s actually lifted my butt and it looks nice. I love it.” Why the increased attention on increasingly bigger backsides? Brown says, “All of the celebrities have them. People are even going to get surgery to have bigger butts.” 

 

Plastic surgeon Dr. J. Garrett Harper says celebrity booties are inspiring women of all backgrounds to go after bigger backsides. He says, “Unfortunately, I think Jennifer Lopez has been taken over by Kim Kardashian recently.” Unlike Kim’s career, Harper says the clock isn’t ticking on the big booty’s 15 minutes of fame. He says, “I think in the Charlotte area, I’ve seen a pretty sharp rise in it’s popularity every year that I’ve been here, so it’s been a pretty steady gain.” 

 

There are two surgical options for booty enhancement: implants or fat grafting, where fat is taken from one part of your body and injected into your booty. Harper’s practice, Charlotte Plastic Surgery, only performs fat grafting on booties. He says, “The procedure can last anywhere from two and a half hours to probably four hours depending upon how many different areas you harvest the fat from.” Fat grafting ranges from $10,000 to $15,000. After–and this is crucial–patients must spend at least three weeks off their backsides. That includes sleeping and sitting. 

 

For women who want an easier and cheaper fix, there’s padded underwear. “We have a best seller in a low rise padded, we have a best seller in a high rise padded,” explains Karen Jones. She launched “Bubbles Bodywear” about ten years ago. She says, “We started sort of early in the trend.” 

 

The business of booty is good: Jones even has celebrity clients! “We do. That’s one of the negatives about what we do. We can’t really say who uses our products because we give it away. We give away their Hollywood secret. But we ship to movie sets all the time, we’ve been told actually that our product has become a staple in stylist’s kits in New York and Los Angeles.” 

 

Bubbles Bodywear products range from $25 to $90. Customers can opt for lightweight foam pads or serious silicone. Jones says of the silicone pad, “It’s very squishy and no one can tell that you have it on, especially if they ‘accidentally’ touch your backside.”

 

Back at Trophy Wife Fitness, ladies are sweating for their real, bouncy backsides. No matter how you get it, many agree it’s the perfect accessory for every fashion-forward woman. Williams says, “i just think it looks nice in a perfect pair of jeans or that little black dress, it just gives you that extra ‘ummph’ when you leave the room!” 

 

For women considering surgery, Dr. Harper stresses how important it is to find board certified plastic surgeons who have formal training in the procedure you want.