Victoria’s Secret Spring Break Fashion Show New Pink Collection In Miami (Photo : Getty Images)
When “Basic Instinct” actress Sharon Stone was the cover girl on the September 2015 of Harper’s Bazaar, there were speculations the images were digitally manipulated because at 60, the actress looked so trim and taut.
The speculation has long been an issue in the fashion industry as anecdotes from industry insiders share the extensive use of Photoshop to make models look better than what they really are. An article on Refinery 29 cited a photo retoucher who claimed that the Victoria's Secret models were the products of extensive Photoshopping.
Teen Vogue, which also tackled the topic, noted that because retoucher opted to remain anonymous, her narrative would be under a cloud of suspicion and should, as a general rule, be taken “with a grain of salt.”
Among the industry secrets given away by the retoucher are the breasts of the female models are not that firm and well-shaped as it look on magazines. The models wear push-up bras under their bathing suits, but the bras are digitally removed. That explains why models who wear strapless bikini tops still have cleavages.
“If you hold up the bathing suit in your own hand, it’s so heavy because they have all the shit sewed in,” the retoucher said.
The mouse and the Photoshop softwar are all that the retoucher need to give the models fuller bosoms, plumper behinds and to hide protruding bones. The result is skinny-curvy hybrid women who rarely exist in reality. Also erased are pubic hair and hair on the armpits.
While exposing the secret of Victoria’s Secret, the retoucher cited the company American Eagle as being an exception to the Photoshopping when it launched the Aerie Real campaign in 2014. Jen Foyle, global brand president of Aerie, explained, “No retouching is not just a campaign for us anymore. It’s become our mindset and the message behind all we do.”
