Beauty queen 'died for a firmer behind'

A former Miss Argentina and international model has died three days after booking herself in for a buttock lift at a Buenos Aires, in a tragedy that has thrown the growing national obsession with the body beautiful into the spotlight.

Solange Magnano, a 38-year-old married mother of twins who still enjoyed a successful modelling career, died of a pulmonary embolism.

“A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind,” said fashion designer and close friend, Roberto Piazza, in whose runway shows Ms Magnano frequently appeared.



Ms Magnano, who was Miss Argentina in 1994, had gone with a friend to a clinic run by Monica Portnoy, which, according to reports in the Argentinian press, performs an average of 15 such procedures daily. But after complications developed during the operation, which involves injections of the substance Polimetilmetacrilate, she was rushed to hospital with acute respiratory deficiency.

Her condition deteriorated until she suffered the embolism on Sunday, said Dr Gonzales Cortes, who attended her case.

“She only underwent the procedure because she thought it was no big deal,” said Guillermo Azar, another associate from the fashion world and a close friend of the model. Mr Piazza said Ms Magnano had not needed the operation and suggested she had fallen victim to an increasingly beauty-obsessed society.