Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Beauté Fatale?

Warning: too much Photoshopping may be dangerous for your health. According to London Times' Charles Bremner, "A parliamentarian from President Sarkozy's party has tabled a bill that would require a 'photo retouched' label on every improved picture that appears in advertising, the media or product-wrapping. Failure to signal Photoshopping or other enhancement would be punished with a 37,500€ fine." The argument being that "These pictures can lead people to believe in [fake/fatal] realities which often do not exist."

An interesting Op-Ed, except for its starting line: "Few nations have cultivated beauty and its attendant artifice as much as France." Attendant artifice? The very characteristic of la femme française is her art of cultivating natural beauty. Unlike the heavily "restructured" freaks roaming U.S. streets -- especially in L.A.
UPDATE 10/05/09: France May Put Warning Labels on Airbrushed Photos in Time

UPDATE 10/08/09: The Photoshop Effect

illustration via parismatch.com

2 comments:

The Daily Connoisseur said...

I think this idea is wonderful... I just saw the September Issue and was very interested to see how they discussed the need to photoshop Sienna Miller's "toothy smile" and awkward neck...

LA Frog said...

Cannot agree more. The September Issue is on my movie list, if only because la Wintour is more real than real. Talk about a heavily cosmetized freak. Amazing the power she (still) has over fashion and the image of women...