"our retouching has been overzealous"

[Hannah Bell]

retouched beauty mag photos of already skinny models transform them into toothpick dolls: discuss


http://jezebel.com/5546459/ann-taylors-photoshop-insanity

http://jezebel.com/5605608/ann-taylor-we-agree-our-retouching-has-been-overzealous?skyline=true&s=i

[zappaman]

1. yuck

but dishonesty in advertising is par for the course

[Warpy]

2. Even Auschwitz didn't starve them down to that figure in the jeans

That big head on top of that awkwardly shaped body is beyond grotesque. Even if I were still built like an ironing board, I'd give their "fashions" a miss in favor of material that draped like it's supposed to.

Photoshopping is not always a retailer's best friend. It's a deadly enemy in this case.

If they want to show their clothes on total hatracks, they should just do line drawings with absurdly long legs like retailers used to do.

[aquart]

3. Oh look. The Barbie ideal.

[SouthernLiberal]

4. I don't believe it was inadvertent

I think it is part and parcel of the design industry's message. Who ever you are, what ever you look like, there is something wrong with you. If our clothes do not look good on you, it is because of your horribly imperfect body. We do the best we can, but it is all your fault. You are just not good enough, even if you are a supermodel.

I can't help but wonder what is wrong with us that so many women take this message to heart. I don't look like a supermodel. Never had, never will. I'm over 50 and overweight, and no clothing is made to look good on me. So I have a somewhat different perspective on all of this.

I followed a link on the second of the pages linked above. It shows Ann Taylor employees wearing the designer's clothes and gushing about personal style. Ladies, you do not get personal style by slavishly following the dictates of a single designer. Personal style is about you buying and wearing clothes that look good on you, not some twisted idea of what a woman should look like.

Until a significant number of us walk out of stores that don't sell what we want, nothing will change.