Debenhams Bans Retouching of Its Lingerie Models
LatestU.K. retailer Debenhams says it will no longer airbrush the bodies of the models in its lingerie ads and catalog images. “We want to help customers feel confident about their figures without bombarding them with unattainable body images,” says the company’s head lingerie buyer, Sharon Webb. “As well as being a positive from a moral point of view, it ticks the economic boxes as well. Millions of pounds a year are spent by organisations retouching perfectly good images.” Debenhams provided the above images — “retouched” and “unretouched” — as examples.
Webb says the retailer “as a rule” only airbrushes “minor things like pigmentation or stray hair,” which means the company will continue retouching its lingerie images — just not very aggressively, and purportedly not with a view to altering its models’ body shape or size. The announced ban only applies to lingerie images. Why not stop retouching all your pictures?
Debenhams is calling on its competitors to change their retouching policies, too. “We want other retailers to follow suit and encourage positive body-image through minimal retouching rather than bombarding them with unattainable body images,” said a spokesperson. Debenhams is the same company that recently cast its catalog with disabled models and models whose bodies are rarely seen in fashion.
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