‘Skinny Doesn’t Sell’ So Disturbing Trend Has Models Airbrushed To Look Fatter

Reverse retouching

Fashion magazines are notoriously known for using models who are unhealthily thin and photoshopping them to look even thinner, but apparently skinny no longer sells like it used to, so now some of these mags are adopting an equally disturbing trend of digitally enhancing these models to look larger and curvier.

Called reverse retouching, models are now being fattened up with more weight on their arms, their legs and their mid-sections. It’s a disturbing practice of using models who have been schooled to believe that skinnier is better–even at the expense of their health–and then adding curves where none exist.

It’s something that first came under scrutiny in 2010 when Jane Druker, the editor of Healthy magazine in England who is dedicated to healthy faces and figures, admitted that a cover girl arrived at the shoot looking “really thin and unwell.” But rather than being sent home to get healthy and gain some weight, the magazine chose to use her and simply retouch the photos to make her look fuller.

Disturbing Trend Has Skinny Models Airbrushed To Look Fatter