Freckles. Scars. Stretch marks. A few lumps and bumps. They’re the marks on our bodies that make us who we are, yet you rarely ever see any sign of them on clothing and underwear ads.
Why? They’re retouched or photoshopped out of campaigns for being considered flaws.
It’s an ingrained industry practice Aussie underwear-meets-technology brand Modibodi is saying a big ‘hell no’ to.
Since its inception, the brand has said there’ll be no retouching or airbrushing of its models, in an effort to stop the body shaming and negative self esteem that seems to go along with it.
The Modibodi babes. Image: Supplied
Bravo.
Instead you'll see women of all shapes, colours and sizes with stretch marks, cellulite, birthmarks and all, who are confident in their own body. To Modibodi, every model is a supermodel.
"For too long there has been too much pressure on women, and young girls in particular, to change their bodies to look like the models they see in advertisements," says founder Kristy Chong.
Mia Freedman talks to Embrace filmmaker and Modibodi ambassador Taryn Brumfit. Post continues after audio.
"But this is just absurd because most often the images are photoshopped with filters applied to achieve these unrealistic results."
The reaction to the brand's move has been largely positive.
"We occasionally get a few rude remarks on Facebook (not from our customers) when we choose to use non-photoshopped curvy but healthy models in our advertising, but mostly our customers congratulate us on representing a spectrum of real women not just fashion-led ideals of what this should be," she says. (Post continues after gallery.)
