Mini-Experiment: Swimsuit Photo Retouching

One of my friends sent me this article this morning about retouched Victoria's Secret Swim photos. It shows one side by side photo of the untouched photo and the retouched photo, along with a list of things they touched up on the photo.

Side by side: original vs touched up. Photos courtesy of Victoria's Secret.

This is the original article back in August with all the leaked untouched photos of Victoria's Secret Angel, Doutzen. After I saw all the original photos, I went the Victoria's Secret Swim site and found some of the other retouched photos in their ads. Here are three of them along with a few of the things they changed.

Untouched photo.

This is the retouched photo of the tankini to the left. Here is a list of the things they changed:

• The color of the tankini.
• Made the skirt flat across the front.
• Removed the pooch by her armpit.
• Took away the lines in the bend of her elbow.
• Removed some of the pooching on her left hip.
• Pulled in the tankini top by her left hip to make it look like it fits better.
• Got rid of all the bunching of the top above her right hip.
• Took away the fly-aways in her hair and moved it around a little bit.
• Made her left leg skinnier on the inside.
• Flattened out her right hip below the skirt.
• Something to her chin. It actually looks like they pulled her jaw up in the retouch to make her face look more square.
• Removed some of the shadow on her stomach.
• Obviously: lighting.

Untouched photo.

This is the retouched photo of the tankini at left (yes, it's the same tankini). What they changed:

• Her eyebrow lines between her eyebrows.
• Face shape--in the untouched photo, you can see much more definition on the left side of her face than in the retouched photo.
• Removed hip bone shadow.
• Flattened skirt out.
• Put side skirt strings into a bow.
• Flattened outside of right thigh.
• Removed bunching of top on her left side.
• Erased longest piece of hair peeking out from behind her back.
• Flattened out armpit pooch on her right side.
• Defined the shadow on her boobs to make them look bigger.
• Again, obviously, lighting.

Untouched photo.

Here is the retouched photo from the ad of the bikini pictured left. What they changed:

• She's wearing underwear in the untouched photo.
• Removed the pooching on her right side below the band of the top.
• Made her ribs look less boney.
• Smoothed out her right arm--she has sand or something on it in the untouched photo.
• Filled in her belly button a little bit. These are all silly, but this one really doesn't make any sense!
• Smoothed out her right thigh.
• Got rid of some of the fly-aways.
• Touched up her left elbow area.
• Made her chest look less boney.
• Removed a mole on her neck and right shoulder.
• Lighting!!!

Erin Heatherton, Angel.

Erin Heatherton, another Victoria's Secret Angel, said this to Fashionista about the airbrushing: "Retouching is an essential part of our job, you know. We're not selling reality; we're selling a story. It's all about creating this fantasy. And I don't think people should confuse fantasy and reality because no one is perfect--we all know that, and I think people should embrace themselves and not really focus on where people are depicted as perfect and where they're not."

This is such a matter-of-fact quote! She acts like all of us should just assume that everything is retouched. They don't advertise their edits, though. Even when I worked at Victoria's Secret, we never talked about the models except for when an associate would start the Who-Is-Your-Favorite-Angel? conversation.

All of this editing talk got me wondering about the VS Fashion Show. They tape it almost a month before it airs. This year they're taping on November 7, but it's not airing until December 4. I understand that the point of the show is to do a Christmas preview, but why not do a live fashion show on December 4? I spent about 20 minutes looking around the internet to find out...and found nothing. But why do they need four weeks between taping and airing the show? It makes me wonder if there is more than just audio editing to do of the taping.

So, if all of these Victoria's Secret ads are just "creating this fantasy," then why do so many women work so hard to try to be this fantasy? All this "fantasy" is just making men and women expect perfection, and when we're not, because, as Erin said, "No one is perfect," it becomes a disappointment. Why should we keep buying $50+ bras that will supposedly make us a perfect fantasy, if they really don't? All this does is make women feel incredibly insecure because we will never be what men and other women see. So then a new bra comes out at Victoria's Secret--a "bombshell"--and suddenly we think, "Oh good! This will make me so much sexier because that's what the ad says and shows!" And then we go buy the new bra for $60. And then we're disappointed again.

We are being played by the marketers of the lingerie industry. I refuse to feel insecure. I refuse to allow retouching to deter me from loving myself. Still committing to confidence!

I decided to do a little experiment: take my own photo in my favorite VS bikini and show it unedited, then edited. The bikini I'm wearing is from the 2010 collection I think. I know it's "out of season" but it's still my favorite! Here's the photo as it was taken with the exception of cropping it closer. The only reason I cropped it is that it was a landscape layout and there was a lot of wall that didn't need to be there!

Edited photo.

And then here is the same photo edited. I don't have any airbrushing tools--just basic editing. I played with the exposure, contrast, highlights, temperature, shadow, and of course, kept the previous cropping.

The first one I took is obviously "real." The other one looks "prettier" in terms of the fact that since I changed the exposure, there are more highlights, but it's not what I look like in real life. I think it's a pretty picture, but it's not me. Also, there is a lot that professional editors would need to change: hair, folds on the bottom of the bikini, armpit shadows, eyelashes (I didn't use enough mascara), and cleavage (I don't have any!).

So. Love yourself. Stay confident. Don't allow these "fantasies" to change how you feel about yourself. Even though my second photo is more acceptable or whatever it is, the woman in the first photo is the woman my fiance is in love with and the woman I am in love with. The first girl is me. The second girl is me + special effects, and this is really basic editing; nothing like what they do with the Victoria's Secret photos. Stay confident! You're beautiful!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

#committoconfidence

2012 VS Fantasy Bra! Commit to Confidence!

Before I get started with this non-political post, I just want to say: keep working for whatever campaign you're working for! I know you're tired of campaigning and seeing political posts in your feed--I am! I have Facebook friends threatening to "unsubscribe" from anyone who continues to post political statuses. But we only have 2 1/2 weeks left until this election! Keep fighting for the candidate (or candidates, if you're working on senate or local campaigns, as well) you think will help us the most. Also, if you're suddenly interested in politics just because of the election, try staying interested in politics and what's happening in our country after the election! Election-time-only interest does not a politically-minded person make. It's like being a "Creaster"--going to church only on Christmas and Easter. ;)

This year's Victoria's Secret "fantasy bra" was revealed recently*. It cost $2.5 million to make. Here is a  look at some of the "fantasy bras." The first five fantasy bras aren't included in this slideshow, so I looked around and found this fantastic blog that has photos of all the fantasy bras.
The table of the history of the fantasy bras below is copied from Wikipedia.

Year	Name	Model	Value	Appeared in fashion show	refs
1996	Million Dollar Miracle Bra	Claudia Schiffer	$1,000,000	No	[97]
1997	Diamond Dream Bra	Tyra Banks	$3,000,000	No
1998	Dream Angel Fantasy Bra	Daniela Pestova	$5,000,000	No
1999	Millennium Bra	Heidi Klum	$10,000,000	No	[94]
2000	Red Hot Fantasy Bra/Panties	Gisele Bündchen	$15,000,000	No	[95]
2001	Heavenly Star Bra	Heidi Klum	$12,500,000	Yes	[98]
2002	Star of Victoria Fantasy Bra	Karolina Kurkova	$10,000,000	Yes	[99]
2003	Very Sexy Fantasy Bra	Heidi Klum	$11,000,000	Yes	[100]
2004	Heavenly "70" Fantasy Bra	Tyra Banks	$10,000,000	No	[101]
2005	Sexy Splendor Fantasy Bra	Gisele Bündchen	$12,500,000	Yes	[102]
2006	Hearts On Fire Diamond Fantasy Bra	Karolina Kurkova	$6,500,000	Yes	[99]
2007	Holiday Fantasy Bra	Selita Ebanks	$4,500,000	Yes	[103]
2008	Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra	Adriana Lima	$5,000,000	Yes	[104]
2009	Harlequin Fantasy Bra	Marisa Miller	$3,000,000	Yes	[105]
2010	Bombshell Fantasy Bra	Adriana Lima	$2,000,000	Yes	[106]
2011	Fantasy Treasure Bra	Miranda Kerr	$2,500,000	Yes	[107]
2012	Floral Fantasy Bra	Alessandra Ambrosio	$2,500,000	Yes	[108]

Now, if I did the math correctly, making 17 fantasy bras has totaled $116 million. Wow. That is a lot of money. I started freaking out when I saw this. Where do these bras go? Who buys them? Is there a museum where $116M of diamonds, sapphires, and other precious gems is just sitting on busts?

None of the bras have ever been sold. Wikipedia cites this article from the Wall Street Journal saying that the 2004 bra was purchased, but in the WSJ article, it states, "None of the fantasy bras offered by Victoria's Secret each holiday since 1996 has ever sold, though a 42-carat Harry Winston diamond on the 2004 bra found a buyer." Actually, the bras are not even kept after the fashion show, according to this other Wall Street Journal article; they're dismantled! Fashionologie says that it actually took Victoria's Secret until 2010 to admit that they had dismantled the previous bras. I don't know why it took them so long! I think it would actually allow women like me, who think the fashion show is ridiculous, to appreciate it a little more.

So, what does this year's $2.5 million bra represent?

• A $10.7 billion U.S. lingerie industry ($29B global market)
• Victoria's Secret, worth about $4.5 billion
• A $12 million fashion show
• Alessandra Ambriosio only five months after she had her baby!
• Thousands of little girls who hope to someday get their "Angel Wings"

Now, I am not going to sit here and pretend that I don't like Victoria's Secret or I don't wear it or anything like that. I wear Victoria's Secret lingerie almost exclusively. I think I have one or two Calvin Klein things, but other than that, it's all VS. I worked there for a summer job a few years ago. Here are some of the things I learned while working there that stuck with me:

• Feeling good about yourself shouldn't have to come from the outside, but having adorable bras sure helps.
• PINK (the teen part of VS) has some incredibly suggestive sayings on the butts of their underwear and watching middle schoolers buy that underwear is sickening.
• Feeling sexy, regardless of age or size, is attainable. You do not have to shop at VS to achieve this.
• VS bras are pretty much the most comfortable bras I've ever had.

I love lingerie, as you all saw in the yoga photo I posted a while back. I think it's great! It allows you to dress up, it's fun, it's cute, if you pick out it right you get something that fits like a glove, etc. It's not always easy, though. What if you're having a "fat" day? What if you're massively insecure and you put on this amazing lingerie that is supposed to make you feel so good and you just look at yourself in the mirror and see the problem spots that are now exposed (this can happen in any outfit, but lingerie really exposes it)? 

I think that we need to learn to feel sexy because of who we are, not because of what you stuff your body into on any given day. I sometimes feel the sexiest in sweats and a t-shirt, just being me, because it's me. Not me dressing like some model in $75 lingerie, but me being comfortable in my own skin and not needing to dress it up, because I look great and I feel great, even if I'm just in sweats.

Close to 10 million of us are going to watch the hour-long Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year while feeling envy, admiration, and excitement. What if 10 million of us committed to feeling as good about ourselves as we are jealous of those models for an hour? In my experience, the women I envy most are not the ones with great bodies, legs for days, or giant boobs. The confident women are the ones I envy. So be confident! If it takes a new bra set, a new haircut, or a new shade of lipstick, that's fine! Just take that immediate boost of confidence that you feel when you put on that new popping lipstick with you even after you take it off! It makes all the difference! 

10 million strong! This is my challenge to you, with you. Please share this post with everyone you know, and come up with a way to show that you commit to "10 Million Committed to Confidence" and post it with the hashtag #committoconfidence! The VS Fashion Show is going to air on December 4. I think we can have 10 million people commit to feel confident for one hour by then. Let's do it!

My commitment to confidence!

"Be the change you wish to be in the world." --Gandhi

*Due to possible copyright issues, I am not including a photo of the new bra.