Retouched French Fashion Ads May Get Warning Labels

Earlier this summer it was French Elle who popped the lid off of fashion's retouching can of worms by publishing images of celebs and supermodels without makeup or digital enhancement. Really, ever since Jezebel published images of Faith Hill pre- and post-retouching on the cover of Redbook back in 2007, questioning the extreme reconstruction of fashion imagery has hit an all-time high. Harper's Bazaar followed French Elle's lead, showcasing non-retouched photos in their September issue (although, shot by the same photographer, Peter Lindbergh, the photos sent the same message: supermodels, even without the makeup, are still gorgeous). But now the French government is looking to take the biggest step in anti-retouching that the industry has yet seen.

According to Reuters, French officials are looking to place warnings on advertisements and images that have been retouched. “The proposed legislation calls for photographs of people ‘whose body image has been digitally manipulated to be accompanied by a statement saying ‘digitally enhanced to modify a person’s body image’.” And should companies fail to adhere to the warning, they’d be fined upwards of “37,500 euros (55,000 dollars).” The warning won’t only apply to advertisements; it would encompass “packaging, political campaign pictures and art photography.”