Why Ralph Lauren Photoshopped That Model So Skinny… It Thought She Was Fat… At 120 lbs

from the how-nice dept

We recently wrote about Ralph Lauren’s DMCA notices about bad Photoshopping, making a model impossibly (and sickly) skinny. While the company apologized for the bad photoshopping, it never apologized for the bogus DMCA takedowns. And, now the other shoe has dropped. The model in the picture has spoken up and noted that she lost her job with Ralph Lauren, because they felt she wasn’t skinny enough, despite being 5’10” and 120lbs. So, rather than showing her as is, apparently the company decided to digitally alter her and then try to find someone who actually is closer to the impossible image they put in their ad.

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Companies: ralph lauren

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Comments on “Why Ralph Lauren Photoshopped That Model So Skinny… It Thought She Was Fat… At 120 lbs”

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81 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Actually, having seen a recent picture of her, I can say that RL may have been right. She is a pretty lean girl, but she seemed to have a pretty evident pot belly. “fat” doesn’t mean overweight, it can just mean the weight isn’t in the right place.

Someone who is 5 foot 10 and 120 pounds is lean, no double about it.

Perhaps you would want to run a real image of her, as opposed to this horrible photoshop?

http://freenet-homepage.de/bradvei1/scans/scans-2/bradvei-Filippa-Hamilton-MAXIMsept4.jpg

Dark Helmet (profile) says:

Re: Re:

“but she seemed to have a pretty evident pot belly”

…….Bwah?

I went to the link, and I have to ask what in the sweet hell you are talking about. That woman is GORGEOUS and if you think THAT is a pot belly….come to the midwest, where we have plenty of men and women (many of them still attractive people) who have actual pot bellies….

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

haha. You guys are pretty stupid. That picture I linked wasn’t of her pot belly, but rather a very nice (but NORMAL) image of a very pretty model. As you said yourself, GORGEOUS and certainly not a stick figure.

http://www.radaronline.com/sites/default/files/photos/image_20091014/RalphLaurenPhillipa.jpg

This gives you a better idea, I would say she isn’t quite the same shape as she was even a year ago. There is a picture circulating around that shows her in a brown evening gown and a notable curve to the front of it.

Remember, fashion houses like their models to stay in size (whatever their default size is) and straying from that is usually a termination of contract by terms.

R. Miles (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Actually, having seen a recent picture of her, I can say that RL may have been right.
So says the one who actually ‘shoped the image.

You’re an idiot if you truly believe your own words.

I have seen other photos of her (untouched) and she’s more than suitable for pushing an exaggerated form to young girls who truly do have a pot belly, forcing their self-confidence over their looks even further into darkness.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

The model is super *HOT*.

The PS image is just plain silly looking. Something that someone would do using some web based java “fun photo distorter” as a joke.

I’m hoping they fired their marketing “artist” and everyone on the approval chain. It’s poor workmanship that never should have been published.

Frankie says:

Re: Re:

1. is that a “real” picture of her?
2. I don’t see her “pot belly”
3. if she has a pot belly at 120 pounds, maybe she’d just drunk a glass of water, I mean think about it, having dropped 15 pounds myself, it’s amazing how “fat” I perceive myself when I’m eaten or drunk, as opposed to when I’m very hungry. There’s nowhere for that stuff to hide

Frankie says:

Re: Re:

1. is that a “real” picture of her?
2. I don’t see her “pot belly”
3. if she has a pot belly at 120 pounds, maybe she’d just drunk a glass of water, I mean think about it, having dropped 15 pounds myself, it’s amazing how “fat” I perceive myself when I’m eaten or drunk, as opposed to when I’m very hungry. There’s nowhere for that stuff to hide

Anonymous Coward says:

Men don’t like skin and bones, and women know that for the most part. The clothing industry seems to be sending the wrong message. It seems like they believe the ideal women should look like they are from Somalia and should be lining up for a bag of grain from the UN. But that’s not the type of woman that’s attractive.

Put women that are normal and look like women we know in the ads. After all, real men don’t go to department stores to watch women put on clothes. Hell, most of us have problems deciding between your black or red dress. Yes, Honey, you look great in both.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

Your right, but right next to these ads in the magazines they talk about a host of problems like anorexia, bulimia, all kinds of other immune-system related issues. Then on page three, they have an expose on how Jennifer Lopez is somehow real unattractive and overweight.

Yet no one seems to be able to figure out the correlation.

angelica (profile) says:

Really?

Jeez AC#1…
My gfs and I always say that a guy that loves girls with little boy bodies has a tinii penii.
As for real pot bellies (and yes, I have one. I had two children so it’s kinda hard to lose that) I was very self-conscious. But my boyfriend loves to play with that particular part of my anatomy. I was the one that had to get over my hang-ups about it.

Dirk Belligerent (profile) says:

If you look at the Sports Illustrated Swimbo issue desk calendar, you’ll notice that the majority of the 365 photos are outtakes from the shoots that produced the issue. While still good, they have something or another than disqualified them from print – usually incorrect exposures, unflattering shadows, odd poses – and a few of them are clearly because the girls look *fat*. Not the muffin-top spongy look of normal people, but the “more weight than a supermodel should have showing” sort of thing.

Look at Rebecca Romijn on “Eastwick” – she recently had twins and is carrying her post-partum weight and she sure doesn’t look like she did as Mystique, though remember the X-Men movies were made 4-10 years ago.

For someone who has 3 kids of her own, I don’t get why Angelina Jolie is so skinny now. Both in “Wanted” and set shots from “Salt”, she looks too scrawny to kick ass. She needs to get back to her “Tomb Ho” and “Mrs. & Mrs. Smith” weight where she looked luscious and unlikely to snap her arms while beating the crap out of someone.

Brendy says:

I don't see anything wrong with this...

I count my 117 lb 5’8″ gf’s calories all the time because even a gain in 5 lb’s would cause me to think she’s fat. She gets very annoyed when I do so, and she complains about it to other people like my friends and family. I personally hate curves because I know in 5-10 years those curves will turn into cellulite and I won’t even be able to look at the girl. Been 6 years, and she’s STILL with me, somehow.

RL needs to give off the perception that their clothes will make people look skinny. Makes sense to me. I saw her on the new news, and she wasn’t fat but she wasn’t skinny either. Just regular.

The mentality here in socal is that women need to be skinny and fashionable. Whenever I visit the midwest or east coast, I am appalled at how ugly people are. The women wear no makeup, are 50 lbs overweight, and have no sense of fashion. Seriously, I’d say that MAYBE 1 in 10,000 are even remotely attractive. You just would have to understand the culture out here in order to judge the rationale behind RL’s decision.

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: I don't see anything wrong with this...

You appear to have some severely unrealistic ideas about what women should look like (hint: everything that makes them look female rather than like 12 year old boys – boobs, ass, etc – is made of fat). It’s a shame you feel you have to push your delusion onto your girlfriend (*you* wouldn’t be counting her calories if she was doing it for herself instead of for you), and I feel sorry that your being with her seems to depend on whether her body goes through a natural ageing process or not.

“The mentality here in socal is that women need to be skinny and fashionable.”

That doesn’t make it right. Besides, “skinny” doesn’t have to mean “bag of bones”. There’s a large gap between a woman with natural curves and one who’s overweight by any rational measure.

“You just would have to understand the culture out here in order to judge the rationale behind RL’s decision.”

We understand it, and understand that it’s shallow, pathetic and damaging. But understanding it doesn’t mean we have to think it’s acceptable.

Dark Helmet (profile) says:

Re: I don't see anything wrong with this...

GOD you must be trolling…

“I count my 117 lb 5’8″ gf’s calories all the time because even a gain in 5 lb’s would cause me to think she’s fat.”

You’re the idiot that caused the overreaching and equally idiotic “Women’s movement” (quotes? because they don’t really represent ALL women’s interests, only those that agree with their idiotic point of view).

“I personally hate curves because I [am a closet pedophile]”

FTFY

“The mentality here in socal is that women need to be skinny and fashionable.”

Reason number 48,344 that SoCal needs to be nuked off the planet…

“Whenever I visit the midwest or east coast, I am appalled at how ugly people are.”

Okay, are you for real? Please walk through downtown Chicago any day of the week (particularly in the summer) and tell me that the women in my fair city aren’t GORGEOUS. St. Louis? Same. Twin Cities? Same. Cleveland? Same. All are the same, with the possible exception of Milwaukee, where the average in looks dips a bit 🙂

“The women wear no makeup”

Not

“are 50 lbs overweight”

Not

“and have no sense of fashion”

Yeah, you’re an idiot. Name the single most popular female icon in America when it comes to current fashion trends and then tell me where she’s from. The correct answer is Michelle Obama and Chicago, tard.

Brendy says:

Re: Re: I don't see anything wrong with this...

I am not trolling I am being 100% serious.

LOL yea Michelle Obama is the trend setter for young women, riiiigghhtt. You may have a different opinion of beauty and what overweight is. It’s fine, you are used to it because that’s all you know. Come to Laguna Beach or Newport and tell me your women are hotter. You may think 160 is an average weight for a woman. To me, that is grotesquely overweight. It’s all good man, enjoy your extra cushion, but know that Hollywood sets the fashion, not your loser states. I was born in Chicago btw and when I visit my family there and in Wisconsin I’m disgusted by the people I see. So many fat women, God! Oh and St. Louis, the second worst city in the country instead of it’s old standing of being the worst! Good job citing that as a place with reputably good looking people. Don’t be jealous because all you got are butchy fat women.

Valkor says:

Re: Re: Re: I don't see anything wrong with this...

Dear Brendy, I hope your “girlfriend” kills you with a bag of dicks. Unfortunately, if she’s been with you for six years of calorie counting, she’s too emotionally damaged to stand up to you at all.

Helmet’s response was unfortunately incomplete. Every single sentence in your original post was either factually inaccurate or completely batshit insane. I would really love to think that you’re trolling, because your posts are so chauvinistic and show an appreciation of everything superficial about “girl(s)” that I don’t want to believe they are spoken by a real person.

Your attitude toward women would have been charmingly obnoxious in the 50’s, and you clearly have no idea what BMI is or is even supposed to mean. Your us/them attitudes, be it state to state or gender to gender, are quite disturbing. Have you ever considered professional help? Your posts are too frightening to be real and too consistent to be a troll.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re: I don't see anything wrong with this...

I am actually writing a major paper on the media’s affects on young women, and the kind of crap you’re spewing is exactly why there are so many anorexic and bulimic women in this world. They just want to be accepted, but jerks like you push them down with your unrealistic ideals. In 1917, a woman who was 5ft 4in and 140lbs was considered beautiful and very desirable. Girls as young as 7 years old are aware of what a diet is nowadays and think they are fat. What you do to your girl friend is wrong. No girl deserves to be treated like that. Real men do like curves. My beautiful curvy sister just got engaged to a great guy. This obviously just shows that you only care about a woman’s body, and not her personality. It makes me sick. I hope you come to understand that SoCal’s standard shouldn’t be the world standard. SoCal’s standard is creating both women with eating disorders and obese. Women who aren’t successful dieters become compulsive eaters because they are looking for comfort and food does that for them. So in reality SoCal is responsible for both extremes. Thanks for volunteering your home as the place to blame 😛 I’m a young woman, 5ft 4in, 160 lbs, most of my weight is comprised of muscle. I am curvey, and I am BEAUTIFUL.
P.S. Words of wisdom for the guys: Pick curvey over scurvy.

megatrollificus says:

What's sexy about narrow-hipped-tiny-tit-no-butt-flatbellies??

Everything, if you’re a fashion designer. Because that describes their actual sexual targets: teenage boys.

Seriously, the people who design these clothes are more attracted to waifish butt boys than real women. Thus are the standards of what a “high-fashion model” should look like derived.

Not that there’s anything wrong with THAT*.

*-waste of money and time and the destruction of self-respect for millions of girls and women aside…

Anonymous Coward says:

I’m the same height as Philippa, and weigh only a few kilos more. But by BMI-standards, I am underweight. In the ‘normal’ photos of her, make-up, the right lighting and a little bit of photoshop (it’s still there, just less obvious) try to make her look like a healthy woman, but her hip- and wristbones are still sticking out. This means she is skinny to the point that she’ll bruise very easily, will feel cold very easily, and can probably draw her own skeleton quite accurately based on feeling her bones.

On the photograph where she wears the black top that would be showing her pot-belly: it’s a stupid design. Even 12 year old girls can look a bit pregnant wearing that type of top (although I still can’t see the pot-belly there, since there’s fabric falling over her belly, so it’s virtually impossible to determine its form). And even then, possible reasons for a woman’s belly sticking out a bit:

– bad posture
– she drunk a lot of water
– she’s having her period

popsugar says:

please men are useless and know nothing about beauty to let alone comment on it. women are all shaps and sizes. having small breast is just as beautiful and femmine as having larger breast because women come in all shaps and sizes. so men quit trying to make your useless opions matter because they don’t. being small dos NOT make a woman boyish. it simply just means she’s small all men need to die to improve the self esteem of women

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