LOVE in the time of dysmorphia

Frockwriter thought it seemed a little odd that Britain's Love magazine removed last Tuesday's shot of Australasian model Catherine McNeil from its Twitter feed. Originally published on the Condé Nast-owned magazine's TwitPic account (a photo hosting service connected to Twitter), together with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!", the Tweet was nowhere to be found on Thursday. Coincidentally, earlier that day, we had published the original - apparently unretouched - series of digital shots of McNeil that were taken by McNeil's New York agency, Ford Models - and which had been supplied to Love earlier in the week. But while the shot slipped off Love's Twitter feed, the image had already been reposted by several web forums and blogs, including frockwriter and remains cached on Google images. Oh, and Love also neglected to remove it from the magazine's separate TwitPic feed. What's problematic about this shot? Could it have anything to do with the fact that a quick comparison of the two images suggests some Photoshop magic has been worked on McNeil's left arm? The version published by Love is on the left, above, with the original on the right. 

screen cap of LOVE magazine's twitpic

supplied by ford models

So, who retouched the image?

Difficult to say at this stage, given that neither Love editor Katie Grand nor Ford Models have responded to our communications. 

Just a reminder that McNeil, one of Australia's most high profile models, has been having a bit of a break from the modelling business for the past 12 months. According to Ford, however, McNeil is fit and high fashion-ready, having been "working really hard to get herself together. She's really determined". 

But apparently not sufficiently 'together' for Love's purposes. 

Clearly someone retouched the photo. If indeed it was Love, then of course by no stretch of the imagination would this be the only fashion magazine in the world to have manipulated an image to make a model or celebrity look thinner than she/he is in real life. It's the kind of endemic practice that has become a key focus of such charters and groups as Australia's National Advisory Group on Body Image, whose voluntary industry code of practice recommends the disclosure of all digital retouching. 

Meanwhile, Katie Grand's peers are dedicating more and more space to special body image-focussed editions. 

The June edition of Vogue Italia stars three plus-sized models and separately, Vogue Italia editor Franza Sozzani has launched a petition to combat pro-anorexia websites that encourage young women to be competitive about their body shape. The magazine claims to be attempting to promote healthy beauty standards and to help impress upon young women that being skinny does not equal being perfect.

Robyn Lawley covers Vogue Italia

steven meisel for vogue italia via bella model management

When Australian Robyn Lawley recently landed the cover of ELLE France's 'curvy' issue, frockwriter mentioned that she had just been shot for the June edition of another, even more prestigious European title by one of the biggest names in fashion photography. They don't come much bigger than Vogue Italia and Steven Meisel. Congratulations to Lawley, who appears on the June 2011 cover of Vogue Italia (above, far right) with two other plus-sized models, Tara Lynn and Candice Huffine. Lawley, an Australian size 14, is also prominently featured inside the issue, in the remainder of the Meisel-lensed cover story (see another shot, below), but also in an only-girl editorial shot by Pierpaulo Ferrari (see further down for three behind-the-scenes images from that shoot, taken by Lawley). Lawley has more high fashion gigs on the horizon, having just shot with Max Doyle back home in Australia.  

steven meisel for vogue italia via bella model management

“It [the Vogue cover] just makes the last nine years of my life all worth it" says Lawley's mother agent Chelsea Bonner, the director of plus-size specialist agency Bella Model Management. "I could drop dead right now and I’d be so happy. I don’t know how I'm ever going to top it. It’s just a complete validation of what I've been trying to say for the last nine years: that curves and high fashion do work. And given the same opportunities as any other model gets, the result is just as beautiful, just as amazing, just as glamorous. To be given that sort of opportunity and for Robyn to blow it out of the water like she has, it’s proof that it can be done and it should on on a regular basis". 

Regarding Lawley's legs akimbo pose on the Vogue cover, according to Bonner, Meisel asked Lawley to sit (words to the effect), "How you would sit if you were a really powerful person".  

As for the flak prompted by Bonner's comments on our last Lawley post in April - when Bonner said she has yet to meet a size 22 woman who is healthy -  she notes, "I thought it was interesting that I’m not allowed to have an opinion when Bella is completely my opinion. The whole business is my opinion of beauty and what works and doesn’t work and what the market wants. So if anyone should be allowed to have an opinion, it should be me. We did have a lot of controversy over that and even on our Facebook page. But we had doctors, nutritionists and psychologists writing in and every single one agreed with my statement". 

all three images: pierpaulo ferrari for vogue italia, BTS shot by robyn lawley

It is reportedly 11 years since Vogue Italia last featured a plus-size model on its cover - Sophie Dahl. 

But the body image issue appears to be gathering momentum at the high fashion title. 
 
In February last year, Vogue Italia launched a plus-size-dedicated microsite called Vogue Curvy.

Then in March this year, editor Franza Sozzani launched a petition to combat pro-anorexia websites. 

In a letter to readers on the Vogue Italia website, Sozzani noted [her bold type emphasis]: 

"I did some research and found that there are countless pro-anorexia websites and blogs that not only support the disorder, but also urge young people to be competitive about their “body shape”.

 

Vogue Italia, the magazine par excellence that deals with and promotes aesthetics and beauty, has decided to make use of its authority and its readers on the web (over one million of contacts per month), to battle against anorexia and collect signatures with the final goal of shutting such sites down.


Fashion has been always blamed as one of the culprits of anorexia, and our commitment is the proof that fashion is ready to get on the frontline and struggle against the disorder."

   

Underneath Sozzani's letter, Associazione Bulimia Anoressia founder Fabiola de Clerq added:

"It is of paramount importance to explain teenage girls that being skinny does not equal being perfect and to promote beauty standards which start from and are all about being healthy".

Frockwriter couldn't help chuckling after reading these mission statements. 

Ninety-nine percent of the time, of course, Vogue Italia's models are whippet-thin, many struggling to keep their weight down to satisfy the draconian requirements of the industry's top casting directors, photographers, designers, stylists and magazine editors.

And any model who dares put on a few pounds can expect to be shown the door.