Take It From A Victoria's Secret Angel: 'Healthy Body Image Is Not Something You're Going To Learn From Fashion Magazines'

Victoria’s Secret model Erin Heatherton was asked about her feelings about Photoshop. How does digital retouching impact her work? How does she feel about the increased public scrutiny of retouching? Her answer was surprisingly direct:

“I think it’s people’s own prerogative to be able to look at something and know the difference between ‘this is what someone looks like with makeup on’ and ‘this is what they look like in real life.’ This is what happens when you do a photo shoot; retouching is an essential part of our job, you know. We’re not selling reality; we’re selling a story. It’s all about creating this fantasy. And I don’t think people should confuse fantasy and reality because no one is perfect–we all know that, and I think people should embrace themselves and not really focus on where people are depicted as perfect and where they’re not.”

Heatherton compared Photoshop to movie special effects; something obviously unreal that enhances the story:

“I think we’re all intelligent enough to know the difference between what’s real and what’s not. I think that’s something that children should be taught by their parents, it should be taught in schools. Healthy body image is not something that you’re going to learn from fashion magazines.”

That’s true — but it’s pretty hard to develop healthy body image in a visual culture where virtually every single photograph of a woman in advertising or in magazines has been digitally “perfected” in ways that are intentionally invisible. Maybe one day we will have an instinctual understanding that fashion pictures aren’t “real” in the same way that movie explosions aren’t, but we aren’t there yet. [Fashionista]

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Your morning heartswell is here: Covergirl made Talia Castellano, the 13-year-old cancer patient and aspiring makeup artist whose YouTube tutorials about makeup have been watched by hundreds of thousands of people, an honorary Covergirl. This actually happened last month on Ellen DeGeneres’ show, but the brand only just released the picture on its Facebook page. [Facebook]

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The full lookbook for the Neiman Marcus and Target/Council of Fashion Designers of America holiday collaboration is here. Among the many products is an Alice + Olivia bicycle ($499.99), a Diane von Furstenberg yoga mat ($49.99), and a Derek Lam cocktail shaker ($49.99). We suspect the metallic Marc Jacobs pouch bags ($69.99), the Lela Rose dress ($99.99), the Rodarte moon wrapping paper ($7.99), and the Tracy Reese blouse ($79.99) will be popular — but personally, top our list is those Band of Outsiders cookie cutters ($29.99). All the items in the collection will be available for sale at both Neiman Marcus stores and Target stores simultaneously. [Glamour]

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Here is an ad for Stuart Weitzman shoes directed by James Franco (Dave Franco’s brother) starring a pants-less Petra Nemcova. [YouTube]

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Our long national nightmare is over. Yves Saint Laurent has formally dropped its countersuit against Christian Louboutin over the use of red soles in footwear. The dispute between the two companies lasted 18 months; here’s a recap of the case and the judge’s decision. [WWD]

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Speaking of knock-offs, Los Angeles-based retailer Nasty Gal feels like Forever 21 ripped off the logo and sparkly print used for its magazine logo. [Racked]

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Arizona Muse is on the cover of Vogue Russia. [FGR]

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“Sculpture Made of YSL Lipstick on Show.” Best Women’s Wear Daily headline today, or best Women’s Wear Daily headline of all time? [WWD]

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• Uniqlo has announced it will donate over $127 million to various children’s charities over the next decade. [WWD]
• Paris Hilton and her perfume licensee, Parlux, are suing the International Perfume Palace Inc. over the latter’s “Paris Paris” perfume, which the heiress argues is confusingly similar in its design and packaging to her own namesake fragrance. [WWD]
• Victoria’s Secret accidentally included a still photo of Alessandra Ambrosio wearing the magical diamond bra of destiny in that video of VS angels talking about “seduction” last week — thereby revealing that Ambrosio was going to have the honor of wearing said bra during this year’s show. VS also recently (and apparently accidentally) uploaded unretouched photographs of Doutzen Kroes to its Web site. Oops. [P6]
• Rachel Zoe is working on developing a half-hour scripted comedy based on her life for NBC. In addition to that half-hour scripted comedy she does for Bravo. [THR]
• Fashion Star and its crew members have reached an agreement about their union dispute and production of the show will resume tomorrow. [LATimes]
• “22% of Companies Still Lack Social Media Plan.” That should work out well! [WWD]
• Billy Reid’s collection for eBay launches on November 14, is priced at $50-$100, and includes items for women. [Racked]
• The Canadian department-store chain Hudon’s Bay Company has filed for an initial public offering on the Toronto stock exchange. Hudson’s owns the Bay and Lord & Taylor. [WWD]
• Piazza Sempione is for sale. We were not previously aware that “Piazza Sempione is controlled by a Luxemburg-based holding company, owned by L Capital, the private equity arm of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.” [WWD]
• And now, a moment with the Financial Times‘ Vanessa Friedman, one of our favorite voices in the fashion industry today:
• “To me, clothes are about identity — sociopolitical identity — and fashion gives you a chance every six months to rethink what that means.”
• [The Cut]