Is Celebrity Retouching Coming To An End?

A couple of weeks ago, multi-hyphenated celebrity Zendaya Coleman called out Modeliste magazine for retouching images from her photo shoot. "Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19-year-old hips and torso quite manipulated," she wrote on her Instagram. "These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have." The magazine has since pulled the images, but it looks like more photos have resurfaced from the original spread. If you view them, you'll notice that the magazine not only brightened them but altered Zendaya's hair, collarbone, and face shape. Small changes, yes, but noticeable. In one photo, her legs and waist were slimmed down, her hair was "tamed," and, weirdly enough, her bracelets were swapped. Why anyone would want to alter an already perfect visage and body, the world may never know. But thankfully, as i-D points out, there's a new wave of celebrities speaking out against retouching in the industry. Kate Winslet put a requirement in her L'Oréal contract that states there will be zero retouching done on her upcoming Lancôme ads, photographer Petra Collins is forgoing airbrushing, Amy Schumer recently praise-tweeted Entertainment Weekly for not digitally manipulating away her body, and last year Lorde posted side-by-side photoshopped and unphotoshopped images to remind her fans that flaws are, indeed, okay. According to i-D, this shift has a lot to do with the popularity of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. "With the rise of social media, celebrities have a direct conduit to their fans, #NoMakeupSelfies and all," the article reads. "With some of Hollywood's biggest names and freshest faces standing firm for what they believe in, we'll continue to take baby steps toward what's right, and what's real. Gone are the days when our media sources can get away with dictating how women's bodies should be censored or celebrated." Amen to that.