Admired, controversial, commented, but always a landmark. Cătălin Botezatu spoke openly about beauty and aesthetics, in a challenge that our magazine launched.
■ When did Cătălin Botezatu first come into contact with aesthetic medicine?
The first time I came in contact with aesthetic medicine was many, many years ago, but not because I would have done any aesthetic procedure then, but only because I had and have many friends who work in this field. Apart from botox, which I knew could erase wrinkles by injection, at the time it seemed very cool to me – a novelty used by Hollywood stars. It’s about the treatment of PRP (plateled-rich plasma) or platelet-rich plasma, the so called vampire therapy that I also did with my good friend Dr. Morad, the one who first explained this technology to me. I was very happy at the time.
■ Is Cătălin Botezatu a follower of naturalness and natural-looking aging?
Yes, I’m a fan of the natural look as you get older. For a man it is nice to age normally, naturally, to have expression wrinkles, which can really make you sexier. I am not a fan of cosmetic surgery (here I am referring strictly to men), because after a certain age, if you exaggerate, you start to look like a mask. You no longer have your features, your skin runs down your face and all the proportions are strangely restored. One is to hide a wrinkle that is too deep, to make small adjustments to make it look like you are younger, not changed. And another is to start pulling the skin on your face, to change all your features, to reposition your eyebrows, to pull your eyes, to stop looking like you. So yes, I prefer to age naturally and adjust, as a man, with small injections, with a rejuvenating effect and that’s it.
Now there are still prejudices or people insinuate things, but in 10-15 years to make small aesthetic interventions will become normal, because everything has to do with culture.
■ That’s about men’s cosmetic procedures. How are men in Romania compared to men in other European countries?
They are clearly more reluctant than other European countries. Which is wrong. If you want to intervene a little on your face, when necessary, you can do it elegantly, a little, without exaggerating. Okay, I’m not talking about obvious defects here, a very big and ugly nose, distant ears or I don’t know what, where it seems really recommended to do a rhinoplasty or otoplasty. We are not talking here about the necessary, obligatory surgery. In Romania we still need education, small aesthetic interventions will become normal for men, if those responsible will do the right thing in the direction of information and education. When we look back we will say: do you remember, when 10-15 years ago people looked at this with suspicion or prejudice? Now there are still many who really laugh if a man wants to stay young longer and do small cosmetic procedures. Or insinuate things. But everything passes, because the acceptance of aesthetic medicine is also about culture.
■ A botox made in its time can change in a short time the way you position yourself in the entourage or the way you perceive yourself. True or false?
Botox made in its time does not change your perception at all. If you do, you do it for yourself because you have a complex and you want to eliminate it.
Antiaging. Aesthetic procedures must be done at the right time, especially to look younger, not to change your features.
Syringe. The scalpel can do irreversible things.
IT DEPENDS ON YOU IF THE INTERIOR MAKES YOUR EXTERIOR BEAUTIFUL. WHEN ALL WOMEN LOOK THE SAME, THERE IS NOTHING OF PRAISE.
■ How does Cătălin Botezatu see beauty now?
Beauty is ephemeral. The packaging is perishable. Outer beauty becomes a thing that changes over time. It’s up to you how you know to change the outside from the inside and to your advantage. For me, beauty is defined by an inner trait, a special attitude. A beautiful woman is not a specific beauty, she is the one whose features, cheekbones, hair styling, position you on a level of beauty. You can go beyond established standards through certain traits and attitudes. If you have those exaggerated lips or if you have 5 kg silicones, it does not mean that you are beautiful. True beauty is naturalness. All surgeries must be done keeping the natural line, otherwise all women become the same, look the same or do not look at all with who they were before. And that’s nothing to praise.
■ What cosmetic procedures should a man never do?
I can’t say that men should be stepped and not do their procedures, there are all kinds of interventions that I would not do or would not recommend to a man: to raise his cheekbones very hard, to change the line of the eyes, cat eyes, to raise his eyebrows. You know how it is, after 60 years the skin no longer has collagen and if you pull it, you manage to stretch it, but in a strange way, in something unnatural. However, people always know how old you are, and 100,000 operations will not attract more sympathizers, but only really motivated mischievous comments.
■ At the moment, what is the most important project for Cătălin Botezatu?
My projects are fashion, national and international fashion shows, now I am preparing an autumn collection with which I will go everywhere: and at the fashion week in Paris, in Dubai, but also in other big fashion capitals. The businesses I have are all about fashion and fashion: the stores I have and the expansion I am preparing in London, the restaurant chain that bears the name of a brand I work for, but my most important project remains fashion.
I’M A REALISTIC GUY, NOT A DREAMER
■ What else does Cătălin Botezatu want from life?
I am often asked this question. I don’t necessarily want something special, extraordinary, green horses on the walls or things that can’t be done. My desires are all based on projects that I work on and that materialize, strong things that I work on intensely. My wishes are achievable projects. I’m a realistic guy, not a dreamer. I can’t imagine the 100 million castles by the ocean. I could not allocate time, stress, resources, a lot of money for such a thing.
■ A thought for the magazine’s readers?
I recommend to the readers of the magazine to always be extremely critical of the image they see in the mirror in the morning, when they wake up, to be just as critical when they want to have surgery, whether they are men or women. . Any wrong intervention can change their aesthetics, their lives. To choose well what they have to do, I wish them only successful cosmetic interventions and good health. And most importantly, be very careful at any time they choose to do with their body.
