BABY GOT BACK
[ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES TODAY]
A well-known department store over on this side of the world
has published several shots of a bikini model in which they show how a photo is
retouched and to what lengths magazines/advertisers go to achieve this image of
perfection. On the heels of this, this store also proclaims that from now on
they will be using non-airbrushed photos to launch their new swimwear line.
Their goal: to sell just as many swimsuits whilst showing a ‘real woman’ in one
of their suits than one that looks like she came from planet perfect. The funny
thing is, the photo they show as a before photo, the woman was thin, in shape,
and attractive and didn’t need much help to look better. So in short,
we're still using models who clearly take care of themselves and have good genes,
and don't spend all their time sitting on the sofa shoveling in potato chips as
they watch Jeremy Kyle.
I suppose I’m now wondering what the definition of a ‘real
woman’ is; is a real woman indeed the one in the photo who looks after herself?
Or the one I saw stumbling out of the pub last night with a tank top two sizes
two small squeezed over her ample beer belly, or is it the woman on the corner
that sells The Big Issue (a local magazine over here sold by the homeless) who is
missing three of her teeth. Trust me, I make no judgments here, the woman is very sweet and is trying to make her way in this world, I’m just wondering who is defining a real woman these days and
what exactly that entails? And furthermore, how much realness do we really want
to see in our ads? Cause trust me, I see REAL every time I go into a changing room
under that florescent lighting and it scares the crap out of me!
On the other hand, let's be honest, clothing looks better on
tall thin models who are hot. That's the truth, and I can take it. In fact, I’m
not sure I want to see women ladened with cellulite trudging down a runway like
a Clydesdale as they do their best to squeeze into some haute couture number.
Fashion - to me anyway - is a world of fantasy, (have you seen some of those
outfits, who would wear that stuff anyway??) I know that these women are
starving their asses off - and I like food far too much to starve - but damn can they make a dress look good. I also
understand that if you don't quickly realize that you have to work with what
you've got, you're going to have one tortured existence. I'll never be Amazonian
like most of these women, but I'd like to see any of them wrap one of their
legs around their neck - I may be short, but I'm bendy as hell. And that my
friends can be a definite asset. :-)
Don't get me wrong – along with millions of women out in the
world – I do my fair share of retouching before I leave the house. (Studio
Fix by Mac, how I love thee!) But what has been happening for some time is that
retouching has gone from a few simple fixes - remove some cellulite here, a
dark circle there - to an all out whitewash that makes the model or celebrity
look like some wax-like freak with skin like the Velveteen rabbit, who doesn't
exist in nature. The funniest photos are those of the celebs over 40 that
end up so bleached and wrinkle free, that their faces look like they’ve been
blasted into oblivion. And the irony, the next day you’ll see a real photo of
them out and about clutching to their oversized glasses that cover half their
faces and they look nothing like their photo. Cause well, they're human and
humans AGE. Trust me I wish we could get around this, but it's not going to
happen anytime soon.
It's a business, and there is product to sell, so I
understand the clients wanting to put their best foot forward. But I don’t know
about anyone else, but I’m not buying so and so's latest night cream cause
Julia Roberts looks like a five year plastic doll old in her photo. I’ve been
around long enough to know that most creams don’t do squat. In fact, I think
I’d be more compelled to buy a product if the photo showed me a woman who had a
few wrinkles, some eyebags for good measure, and then showed me how this
product helped cover up some of that damage. Here's a campaign I could get
behind: "Do you look exhausted, those wrinkles and sun spots starting to show?
Here's a cream that won't work miracles - cause honey you ain't 20 anymore -
but at least people won't turn and run from you screaming in the
supermarket." Now that I could get behind.