How Jennifer Grey’s nose job changed her style type—and made her unrecognizable
If you have a nose job, will you still look like you?
After starring in the hit film Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey had two nose jobs—and as a result, her face changed so much that many people, including close friends, no longer recognized her.
Being a successful celebrity is kind of based on people knowing who you are. So Grey reported that her rhinoplasties made it difficult to book roles, stating, “Overnight I lose my identity and my career.”
That all might sound exaggerated. But based on Grey’s before and after photos, it’s completely believable that people failed to recognize her after surgery. Altering her nose seemed to somehow transform her entire face.
How is this possible? The obvious answer is her nose became way shorter, but Grey’s style essences reveal a much more fascinating story.
What was Jennifer Grey’s style type before rhinoplasty?
Jennifer Grey had a unique pre-surgery style type. While most people have only two or three significant essences, she had four.
Based on virtually draping Grey in different styles of clothing, her main essences pre-surgery were Ethereal Natural Ingenue, in that order. Her vibe was angelic, down-to-earth, and sweet.
We can observe that she looked similar to other Ethereal Natural Ingenue (ENI) celebrities. But something about her face didn’t totally harmonize with theirs.
After comparing Grey’s face to many different styles of clothing, I’ve concluded that before surgery, she was actually an Ethereal Natural Ingenue Dramatic. She had a lot of similarity not just to ENI celebrities but also to Ethereal Dramatic Natural celebrities.
Pre-surgery, she had a very beautiful and unique look.
What was Jennifer Grey’s style type after rhinoplasty?
When I analyzed Grey’s style type following her nose jobs, I found that it had changed.
Grey originally looked harmonious in Ethereal Natural Ingenue Dramatic lines, but after surgery, she appears harmonious in Ethereal Natural Ingenue Gamine lines.
At first, this really surprised me. But it makes sense when we consider how plastic surgery altered her nose.
Previously, Grey’s nose was elongated, with a narrow bridge and slightly flared nostrils—it was highly Dramatic.
Her new nose still retains aspects of its former shape, but it’s much shorter—and Gamine shapes are essentially shortened versions of Dramatic shapes.
Style analysis reveals why Grey’s face changed so dramatically: plastic surgery erased one of her style essences and added a new one.
This is Jennifer Grey many years following rhinoplasty. With her small, short nose, her face has a spunky, Gamine feel (along with Ethereal, Natural, and Ingenue).
But in Jennifer Grey’s before photos, she really doesn’t have any playful Gamine quality—her longer, sharper nose gave her face a more intense, Dramatic look.
Why Grey’s transformation was (un)dramatic
Grey’s physical transformation appears drastic because she lost all significant Dramatic not just from her nose but from her face as a whole.
Why? Besides her narrow, elongated nose, her face pre-surgery didn’t have other angular Dramatic features. So by shortening her one Dramatic feature, she eliminated that style essence entirely from her face.
And the change is also drastic because she originally didn’t have any Gamine.
From a style essences perspective, she really does look like a new person following the nose job.
Why Grey looked so different after surgery: literal and figurative change
It’s not just that by shortening her nose, Grey changed the literal shapes of her face. She also changed her face’s aura and essence. Previously, her Dramatic nose gave her face a striking, powerful feel. But her new Gamine nose gives her face a less intense, more playful feel.
Importantly, neither Dramatic nor Gamine is inherently more beautiful. What’s really fascinating about Grey’s story is that while her nose didn’t look “bad” before her rhinoplasties, it also didn’t look “bad” following surgery. Her new nose wasn’t botched or aesthetically displeasing—it looked like a nice nose, before and after.
Surgery had a negative impact on Grey not because it made her look bad but because it made her look not like herself.
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Part Two: What we can learn
Jennifer Grey’s story brings up several questions about style essences, including:
Is it possible to have four significant essences?
It is possible to analyze the style essences of individual facial features?
What are the implications of having only one facial feature that has a particular essence (e.g., of having a Dramatic nose but not having Dramatic anywhere else in your face)?
How often does plastic surgery change style essences?
These topics are explored below.
Can you have four essences?
As mentioned, most people—both celebrities and non-celebrities—seem to have two or three significant essences.
But recently I’ve realized that more people than I previously thought really do have a four essence blend.
And as Jennifer Grey’s story illustrates, even seemingly small amounts of a style essence can potentially have a big impact on your look.
Future posts will discuss more about four essence types.
Can you type individual facial features?
Some may wonder if it actually works to analyze the style essences in a person’s individual facial features.
In my view, it works in theory, and it also works in reality.
For example, it doesn’t really make sense, from a logical perspective, that a person’s individual facial features would have different essences from their face as a whole. It doesn’t make sense that you’d have curvy Romantic eyes and somehow not have any significant Romantic essence in your face as a whole, or have a sharp Dramatic nose and somehow not have any Dramatic in your face as a whole.
What makes a lot more sense is that the shapes and vibes, the essences, that are found in your face as a whole are also detectable in your individual facial features.
And from typing the individual features of many different people, I can say with confidence that this is true—the essences in your face as a whole are also found in your individual features.
But as Jennifer Grey illustrates, not all of your essences are necessarily manifested in all of your facial features.
If only one of your facial features has a given style essence, does that make that feature unharmonious?
I’d emphatically say no. Many gorgeous celebrities have only a single facial feature that reflects a given style essence.
For example, Angelina Jolie has a highly Romantic face (with Ethereal, Dramatic, and Classic). I think the only place she has significant Ethereal is in her eyes (and I actually think her eyes are more Romantic than Ethereal). But it doesn’t make her appear unharmonious to have only one Ethereal feature; it makes her look unique.
Having small amounts of a style essence, even having a style essence in just one facial feature, isn’t a bad thing. It doesn’t make you look unharmonious, and it doesn’t make you look less beautiful.
Can plastic surgery change style essences?
Previously, I speculated that while it’s possible for plastic surgery to change your style essences, this doesn’t tend to happen, especially not when the surgery is carefully and expertly done.
But based on Jennifer Grey’s case, I’m now open to the idea that plastic surgery may change style essences more frequently than I originally thought.
Grey’s case also highlights how even if a nose looks aesthetically-pleasing post-surgery, it’s not necessarily the best nose for you. Good plastic surgeons know this and will strive to make the altered nose harmonious with the face as a whole, which is why I still think a case like Grey’s where one style essence is eliminated and a new one is introduced is relatively rare—but clearly it can happen.
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A final practical takeaway
For people who dislike one of their facial features, a suggestion is to consider what you can do to make that feature appear more harmonious with your overall look.
For example, in pre-surgery photos of Jennifer Grey, her overall styling—hair, makeup, outfit—typically didn’t seem to have much, if any, Dramatic. It would have been interesting to see how she felt pre-surgery with, for instance, longer, narrower hairstyles that better matched her long, narrow Dramatic nose. She may have found her nose more harmonious with her face as a whole.
Your features are beautiful—you just have to find the styling that matches their beauty.
Summary
Jennifer Grey began her Hollywood career with a unique four essence style type: Ethereal Natural Ingenue Dramatic
Two rhinoplasties shortened her nose, which had been her one Dramatic facial feature
Her shorter nose no longer had Dramatic—she became an Ethereal Natural Ingenue Gamine
People had trouble recognizing Grey because of the literal and figurative change—going from Dramatic to Gamine meant that her overall vibe shifted from having striking and intense qualities to more fun and playful qualities
Even seemingly small amounts of a style essence in a face can dramatically impact a person’s look
