Rio de Janeiro, Jan 27: Brazilian model Angela
Bismarchi will dance nearly nude ahead of a 300-person drum
corps in next month`s carnival parade, hoping her sculpted
beauty as a "Percussion Queen" will lead her samba group to
the championship.
But she has another goal in mind as well.
In preparation for Rio`s five-day carnival blow-out in
February, she`s having her 42nd plastic surgery - closing in
on the Guinness World Record of 47 surgical procedures held
by 52-year-old American Cindy Jackson, who calls herself a
"living doll" and now promotes her own skincare line.
"I always was vain," Bismarchi, 36, acknowledges at
the medical clinic near Rio where her plastic surgeon husband
has operated on her 10 times. "And for carnival, you have to
feel especially pretty."
Just days before Brazil`s February 2-6 carnival
begins, Bismarchi will have nylon wires implanted in her eyes
to give them an Asian slant, in line with this year`s theme of
her Samba group, Porto da Pedra: the centennial of Japanese
immigration to Brazil.
Bismarchi`s unabashed passion for plastic surgery has
made her a celebrity in this image-mad country, where even the
poor get surgical enhancements on the installment plan.
Brazilians see no shame in touching up their bodies, which
are routinely exposed at carnival and flaunted on the beach
in thong bikinis so tiny they`re called "Dental floss."
Born poor in Rio, Bismarchi had her first cosmetic
surgery in 1992 after her daughter was born. She was just 21,
but said she was depressed after nursing caused her breasts
to sag. So she had them lifted, adored the results, and became
so fascinated with cosmetic surgery that her next two husbands
were plastic surgeons.
Bureau Report
