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Airbrush's Bristles Get Prickly for Fashion Mags

Readers demand more realistic photos

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted May 28, 2009 1:58 PM CDT

(Newser) – After years of digital enhancements that make today’s celebrities look more alien than human, a movement is under way to make fashion photography more realistic, the New York Times reports. Leading by example is photographer Peter Lindbergh, responsible for a series of un-retouched celebs on the cover of French Elle. He doubts it’s a permanent shift, but People and Life & Style have followed suit stateside.

American editors have been loathe to forgo slim bodies, whiter teeth, and absent blemishes. Fashion mags thrive as an escape from reality, they argue. But alterations are so common with today’s digital tools that readers themselves are demanding change. “There is a hunger for authenticity,” says Glamour's editor. “Artifice feels very 5 years ago.”

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (1)]

"Life & Style" says its recent Kim Kardashian cover is "100% untouched," reflecting a new aesthetic in fashion photography. (AP Photo)

Kate Winslet famously complained 5 years ago when the British GQ slimmed her cover photo. (AP Photo)

Photographer Peter Lindbergh is leading the movement to have more realistic fashion magazine covers. (Getty Images)

Gisele is featured on the cover of ELLE Singapore. Some fashion magazines are starting to lighten up on the airbrushing. (Elle)

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The big discussion in the fashion business has always been about should we retouch girls, should we create a portrait of a girl that is not achievable by a real girl. - Photographer Phil Poynter

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COMMENTS

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Showing 2 of 2 comments

Robert_Dada

May 28, 2009 10:45 AM CDT

I totally agree. This is part of culture's fixation on celebrity: these people are revered for their beauty and appearance which is delivered via deceit. This further reinforces the notion that the general public is somehow less valuable than the celebrity which of course, is not true. Show them as they truly are.

paul123

May 28, 2009 8:27 AM CDT

I've got an idea, to make a photo look more realistic, lets not touch it up at all

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Media • Entertainment • Technology

fashion • photography • magazine • celebrity • Photoshop • Glamour magazine • magazine industry • Elle • Jay-ZTV • Peter Lindbergh

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Airbrush's Bristles Get Prickly for Fashion Mags