Isabella Blow famously discovered Sophie Dahl and put her size-14 figure in Italian Vogue. But not everyone was as thrilled with Dahl's body, judging from the recent transformation of a nude David LaChapelle photo of her.
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times Style magazine in the U.K. published a cover story about a new book about Blow put together by her former assistant, Martina Rink. The Times used a Blow-styled photo of Dahl for their story, but as an astute tipster noticed, it differed rather drastically from the version that appears in Rink's book.
From the neck up, the photos appear to be identical. But some strange alterations have taken place, of two kinds. The first, the creation of a composite that gave Dahl a new positioning of her left hand (slightly over her breast this time, and a red object of some sort held over her other breast. The positioning of her right hand is also slightly different. But both images clearly use the same image of Dahl from the neck up, and likely her torso and legs as well.
The second one is incontrovertible: Somewhere along the way, Dahl's butt went from being a normal butt — meaning, when you sit on it, it squishes — to being a hard plastic sort that is somehow supposed to plausibly support her weight along with her elbow. And take a look at her waist: Although they've sensibly left in her stomach folds, the sides of her waist have been taken in like an invisible corset. And her upper arm has also lost some of its natural curve.
Who is to blame here? Did The Sunday Times Style magazine decide the original photo was just too real for them? Did David LaChapelle's office provide an alternate version? We've contacted representatives for both, as well as the author and publisher of the book, and will keep you updated.
In the meantime, here are the original photos — the bottom one nipple-baring and NSFW.
Related: Isabella Blow
DISCUSSION
I think it's an encouraging sign that they left her stomach and thighs un-Shopped.