The world of fashion is a lot like the stock market. This dawned on me after reading a beauty columnist's successful attempt to wean herself off Botox by going cold turkey, after using the wonder injection for almost a decade. Smart money, as everyone knows, is those who get in early and jump out before a bubble bursts. Likewise, clever fashionistas spot a trend and then switch to something new while others are still following it. After an amazing run, you wonder if Botox is about to go the way of credit derivatives and collateralised debt obligations. Writing in the Financial Times, beauty columnist Beatrice Aidin describes a group of cutting-edge fashion gurus in New York known as the facialists. These are not beauticians, but highly trained cosmetic surgeons. And no, they don't do facials. Rather, many are former Botox advocates who now help people like Aidin to get off the bacterial substance. Their rallying cry is: 'Facial expression is normal.' Oh, the irony! So, after getting the world hooked on the stuff, they are now charging big money to help women adjust to life without it. Doesn't that sound like Goldman Sachs, which famously shorted the mortgage debt market before the credit and housing bubbles exploded in the US? This was after it had sold massive amounts of credit derivative stuff to clients? When widows and orphans start buying into a market, it's usually time to abandon ship. Now consider the signs. A colleague of mine who absolutely has no need for Botox, has just had her first shots. A few months ago, sex photo scandal-struck actress Gillian Chung Yan-tung - not someone known for having foresight or even an afterthought - started injecting the stuff into her legs to reduce their bulk as part of her work as spokeswoman for a beauty salon. Soon the 'in' thing will be to say you are getting off Botox, not shooting it.
