7 things that are Photoshopped in practically every fashion photo you see

It’s no secret that the pixel perfect image of beauty Photoshop creates is basically unattainable, just like it is unreal and misleading; it’s also no secret that in every fashion photo you see you are more likely to fall for the “fixed” reality rather than the genuine truth, with more things tweaked that you could think of.


So it’s a good thing that in a world keen on altering our image and our mind via Photoshop and social media, there are people who still choose to expose the truth, women who are not afraid to embrace their true beautiful selves (here’s looking at you Gigi Hadid).

And while a blemish fix here, and a touch of colour there wouldn’t bother anyone as long as they were used for purely aesthetic purposes, the fine line between polishing the reality and totally reinventing it is constantly being pushed. When a survey reveals that 70% of women feel depressed after looking at a fashion magazine for 3 minutes instead of them feeling inspired, perhaps even motivated, you just know things aren’t exactly right.

So here’s to encouraging women to aspire to a healthy body rather than impossible standards of beauty, here’s to celebrating realness in every shape, colour and size.

Below, 7 things that are Photoshopped in practically every fashion photo you see.



In order to tame some of society’s unhealthy obsession with airbrushed photos and avoid the feeling of “shock” usually accompanying the un-photoshopped photos of our favourite celebrities/ models, here is the unveiled truth, or the things that are repeatedly “fixed up” before being delivered to public consumption:

1. Blemishes.
Barely noticeable pimples to acne, spots to birthmarks, blemishes to blips and dark circles, anything that’s likely to “ruin” the lustrous smoothness of skin in a fashion photography is considered a flaw, or an anomaly, whichever the title they’re the first to be removed with painterly artistry:



2. Skin folds & skin tone.
If you ever wondered why skin folds are never part of the picture that is because they are being carefully removed due to unaesthetic values and to further enhance the porcelain-like appearance of the skin. Evenness of the skin to skin tone, trust that everything is being meticulously adjusted:



3. Eyes & lips.
Next come the eyes which are made sharper and brighter, the eyelashes intensified, the eyebrows delicately touched up; the lips are usually perfected into an even more flawless shape, with the lip colour further accented with a bit of a glossy texture:



4. Teeth colour.
As with everything else, teeth don’t escape the perfecting Photoshop process, in fact when it comes to retouching portraits, whitening teeth is one of the most common edits ever made because who doesn’t love a brighter and whiter smile?



5. Hair.
When it comes to hair lots of things can be done for it to gain that ultimate bigger and better quality, both in real life, and in Photoshop. From removing stray hairs to adding volume, from intensifying the colour to adding highlights to the locks, from making the hair glossier to removing any signs of dullness, there’s nothing a fair amount of retouching can’t fix, that’s why hair in magazines is never short of dreamy:




6. Waist & hips.
Here’s where things usually get real tricky; in the moment a woman’s body has to suffer such tremendous transformations just to sell a product, just to fit an idealized standard of beauty, just to force up an unattainable ideal on girls and women who are already being told how they should look and feel about themselves on a daily bases, reality ceases to exist, replaced by a sad, sad fantasy.

There’s no such thing as a perfect body, because every body is already perfect in it’s own way, beauty is all about embracing diversity with all of its shapes and sizes, beauty is about being real and appreciative of every little bit of you, beauty is about loving your body no matter what and taking good care of it:



7. Make-up.
Talented make-up artists, models with flawless skin and high-end make-up products: you’d think they would suffice in turning beauty into an editorial statement but sometimes the look you aim to replicate in real life is nothing but a digital fantasy. Eyelids to lashes to lips and cheeks, it can all be made into an illusion: