Generations of beauty: the same hype, repackaged

A sharp jawline in your dreams? Kim Kardashian’s Skims face wrap promises it while you sleep. But look closer and you’ll see no futuristic invention, just an old medical tool repackaged. Once meant for healing and recovery, it now sits on shelves as a beauty trick. Proof that the future is sometimes simply secondhand.

What’s trending on TikTok today was sitting on bedside tables in the 1960s. Heads tightly wrapped, not for glamour but for recovery. Bandages were standard after jaw and facial surgery. In fact, they’ve existed since ancient Egypt. And now? They come with a celebrity campaign and a €62 price tag.

Sleep is no longer a break
This shift—from medical necessity to beauty accessory—shows how thin the line is between survival and luxury. Where bandages once served a purely restorative purpose, they’re now sold as a trick for a sharper jawline. According to a BBC article, doctors call the effect mostly temporary: some fluid loss, a tighter selfie look, and then back to normal. Still, they fit perfectly into a culture where even sleep is drafted into the endless project of shaping our bodies.

Reinvented and repackaged
Once medical, now fashionable. The product itself hasn’t changed—only the world around it has. A world where even rest and recovery are reframed as opportunities for self-improvement. With a push from marketing and celebrity endorsements, something old suddenly shines as if brand-new.

The Face Wrap is just one example. In our RetroFuture exhibition, you’ll find many more products that once existed and are now back in the spotlight. They show how old dreams are constantly being repackaged—and how the future often looks surprisingly similar to the past.

Headimage: © Skims