Traditional Chinese Medicine recently had a major fashion moment. Taiwanese designer Jenn Lee, at her Spring/Summer presentation for London Fashion Week, debuted a collection that was billed as a “wellness-driven future for fashion.” Models were treated to acupuncture therapy backstage to promote relaxation, and three were then sent out on the runway sporting a crown and face of needles—a radical display of the grip that wellness has on our culture.Fashion, however, is just one example of the recent cultural obsession of acupuncture, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) more broadly. The 2024 Paris Olympics saw swimmers sporting the round, bruised markings which are the signature of cupping—a TCM practice that involves using small inverted cups to create a vacuum, drawing the tissue up and away from the underlying fascia and bone to stimulate blood flow and eliminate the buildup of lactic acid. The therapy is said to ease soreness and promote faster recovery.Athletes are certainly not the only ones embracing cupping, though. As you might expect, wellness guru Gwyneth Paltrow has been spotted with cupping marks since as early as 2008, and Hailey Bieber was recently spotted with them, too. Many celebrities, in fact, have reported success with TCM, including Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Cher, Oprah, and Elle McPerson. It’s even been reported that acupuncture helped Mariah Carey get pregnant.Many fads are embraced by celebrities, yet fail to reach mainstream adoption. TCM seems different. Having existed at the fringes in the West since as far back as the 1970s, the ancient wellness philosophy appears to have reached a tipping point.