Making the Cut: How Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming Our Lives by Anthony Elliott

Author:Anthony Elliott [Elliott, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: aVe4EvA
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 2011-06-29T17:23:58+00:00

Chapter 4

Making the Cut: Cosmetic Surgical Culture in the Global Electronic Economy

Richard Daley, as I will call him, is an American who came to London to work in the m&a division of one of the uk’s leading investment banks. Since finishing his studies in Business Administration and Finance at an Ivy League college in the us, his career trajectory has been rapid. After a short period of training in the us, he worked for investment banks in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Australia. He welcomed the challenges of advising companies on capital markets and acquisition financing. He enjoyed the teamwork and fast-changing projects that arose from cross-border mergers and acquisitions. ‘When you work in banking at such an advanced level, you will understand, the demands are very pressing and you develop intense relations with colleagues quickly – even though you’re aware such projects are only transitory.’ Now, in London, the short-term trajectory of deal making and teamwork is more evident than ever to Richard. He described to me the ‘buzz’ of the 24/7 investment-banking lifestyle – the thrills and spills of high-pressured work, the organizational challenges of no set daily routine.

For a man so seemingly at ease with the fluid world of global finance, I found myself surprised when Richard Daley told me how much he relished the firmly grounded nature of his morning routine at home, before leaving for the office. As it happens, he is anything but flexible when it comes to his domestic routine. Waking to bbc news on his digital radio at 6 a.m., the first thing Richard does each morning is to check his Blackberry for overnight email. I am most struck by the fixity of the ensuing ritual: he showers for fifteen minutes, from 6.10 to 6.25, and then dresses for the day. His clothing, from his selection of suits down to shirt, matching tie, cufflinks, socks and shoes, has all been chosen days in advance. Sitting in his minimalist kitchen by 6.45, drinking coffee and eating cereal, he scans the Financial Times to keep abreast of global finance. The routine, he tells me, doesn’t vary – unless he is travelling. Such fixation on a set routine is partly what Freud meant by the notion of repetition compulsion, the endless replay of certain actions in order to keep complexity and ambiguity at bay and thus the assertion of some degree of control (however minimal) over the self and world.

Oddly, Richard hasn’t followed this routine in recent weeks. Taking some time off from work, he told colleagues that he needed to get away for a break. Perhaps Paris. Maybe Vienna. The reality, though, is very different. Richard, 43, has been consulting doctors in Harley Street regarding cosmetic surgery. He decided he needed stomach lipo suction. Rather than expressing any sign of guilt or anxiety over appearing vain, Richard speaks matter-of-factly, carefully explaining to me his reasons for undergoing the surgeon’s knife. ‘It pays to look good, everyone knows that’, he remarks. And look good he always has, at least until quite recently.

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