Channelling Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins roasts Kim Kardashian’s ‘face shaper’

You know your product is “sick” when Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter himself gives it his seal of approval.

US celebrity and influencer Kim Kardashian’s multi-billion-dollar company Skims recently rolled out a US$48 (S$61.80) piece of headgear that it claims will sculpt the face – scoop up the cheeks, neck and chin and hold them in place – as you sleep.

It bears close resemblance to a post-surgery compression garment, with its chin wrap and Velcro closures.

Reactions to this “shapewear” for the face have been swift, sharp and sweeping, so much so that award-winning Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins – who played prolific serial killer Lecter in the movie The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) – has joined in on the fun.

Many have compared the face wrap to the muzzle-like, brownish mask strapped around the head of Lecter in a scene from the movie, in which a senator questions him about her missing daughter.

Channelling that scene, Hopkins posted his “review” of Kardashian’s latest promotion.

“Hello, Kim. I’m already feeling 10 years younger,” Hopkins, speaking with Lecter’s indecipherable stare and metallic voice, says in the video, which has been viewed more than 37 million times.

He then makes the same menacing slurping sound Lecter taunted the senator with, and closes it with a flat “goodbye”.

In the video’s caption, Hopkins wrote, in a reference to one of his memorable double entendres in the movie: “Thank you, Kim. Don’t be afraid to come over for dinner.”

Kardashian’s tongue-in-cheek response to his video was: “I’m screaming!!!!”

Beyond this comedic tit-for-tat, the Kardashian headgear has set off a fierce debate about advertising and women’s insecurities.

Some have hailed it the future of non-invasive facial sculpting, but others have accused Kardashian and her US$4 billion company of making claims not grounded in science and making women more insecure about their looks.

Skims is trying to rebrand the face wrap, typically used after intensive cosmetic surgery, as a “must-have” that can be used every day to “shape and sculpt” the face.

But medical professionals have questioned these claims.

Dr Anna Andrienko, who specialises in cosmetic procedures, told the BBC that while these garments “may offer some temporary sculpting or depuffing effects due to pressure and heat retention”, the results are far from permanent.

“These face wraps do not deliver lasting contouring or skin-tightening results,” she said. “At best, they can reduce fluid retention short term. At worst, overuse may lead to skin irritation, breakouts or circulation issues if worn too tightly or for prolonged periods.”

Casual observers say the product is contributing to “bad self-esteem among young people”.

It adds to the many questionable beauty trends that have had people scraping, pulling and pinching at their faces or taping over their lips at night just so they can feel good when they wake up in the morning, they add.

“What that says to me is that this pressure to look beautiful has become so consuming that there is not even a moment of our day – (including) while we are sleeping – that has not been commodified for the project of becoming more beautiful,” said Ms Jessica DeFino, a beauty critic and writer of the Review Of Beauty newsletter.