Airbrush's Bristles Get Prickly for Fashion Mags

After years of digital enhancements that make today’s celebrities look more alien than human, a movement is under way to make fashion photography more realistic, the New York Times reports. Leading by example is photographer Peter Lindbergh, responsible for a series of un-retouched celebs on the cover of French Elle. He doubts it’s a permanent shift, but People and Life & Style have followed suit stateside.

American editors have been loathe to forgo slim bodies, whiter teeth, and absent blemishes. Fashion mags thrive as an escape from reality, they argue. But alterations are so common with today’s digital tools that readers themselves are demanding change. “There is a hunger for authenticity,” says Glamour's editor. “Artifice feels very 5 years ago.”
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