PALIN MITENK BLOG

By Sara Nathan

Too thin: Kamilla Wladyka was so skinny in real life that her image was airbrushed to make her fuller-figured on the front cover of Healthy magazine


Health food giant Holland & Barrett has been thrown into the latest row over Size Zero models - after airbrushing a too-thin model to make her appear curvier and healthier.

The company has been attacked for altering the body of Polish model Kamilla Wladyka, who appeared on the April cover of its customer magazine - ironically called Healthy - in a bid to conceal her shockingly skinny frame.

Jane Drunker, the editor of the magazine that promotes ‘health and wellbeing’, came clean during a debate on digital modifying or ‘retouching’ as it is commonly known, as she said: ‘We had to put on about half a stone.’

The editor claimed that Miss Wladyka had appeared healthy during a casting for a photo session a week before the photo shoot, however, she looked too thin to feature on the magazine’s cover on the day of the shoot.

Miss Drunker said: ‘When she did arrive, there were plenty of clothes that we couldn’t put on her because her bones stuck out too much.

‘She looked beautiful in the face, but really thin and unwell. That’s not a reflection of what we do in our magazine, which is about good health.’

The disclosure will add to concerns about the Size Zero row ongoing in the modeling world, where increasingly slender models are continuing to be hired.

The details on Miss Wladyka’s modeling card, provided by her agency, claim that she is a size 6, with a 24 inch waist.

However, Gerard Chevalier, a psychotherapist and former fashion photographer, who too part in the debate organised by Leni’s Model Management, said Miss Drunker had told him that the image was enhanced to make the model appear two to three stone heavier than her real weight.

He said: ‘She told me the girl was so thin, they had to put 15 to 20 kilograms on her.’


Size zero trend: Miss Wladyka in an advertising campaign for Australian swimwear label Rochford


Model Jodie Kidd – who ignited a row over her slender frame when she first started modeling aged just 16 – was also at the debate, which was attending by photographers, magazine editors and other models.

Miss Kidd, 31, who stands at a lofty 6ft 2 ins tall, as accused of being anorexic when she started modeling as her weight was a mere 105 lbs – and also faced criticism that her looks were provoking eating disorders.

But speaking about the Holland & Barrett scandal, Miss Kidd said that retouching to correct minor blemishes was acceptable, but added that: ‘Putting weight on, taking weight off, that goes too far.’

Eleni Renton, the director of Leni’s Model Management, said that airbrushing models to make them bigger was ‘crazy.’

She said: ‘Rather than take a chance on a different size model who actually fits the criteria for a shoot, it’s much easier for magazine editors and casting directors to book a girl who is a known quantity in the industry, even if she might be slightly too slim or large for a job, and then retouch her later.

‘But when magazines start changing body shape, it becomes unhealthy. They are not acting responsibly. That girl probably should have been sent home from the shoot – she’s supposed to be representing a ‘healthy’ magazine as their cover girl and they retouched her to make her look healthier. It’s false.’


Slender: Miss Wladyka is described by her modelling agency as 5ft10, with a 24inch waist
Holland & Barrett currently has nearly 550 stores throughout Britain and charges £1.75 for its Healthy magazine.

The Holland & Barrett Group generated over U.S.$560 million net sales (£385 million) and its same store sales growth in 2006 was over 4 per cent, leading the company to be named the most profitable chain in the UK High Street in 2006.

The company was unavailable for comment today.

Susan Ringwood, the chief executive of the eating disorder charity Beat, who has campaigned for magazines to use models of different sizes, said the Healthy magazine airbrushing row was ‘hugely disappointing.’

Miss Ringwood said: ‘It’s just not helpful and puts huge pressure on people to keep up a hyper-perfectionism that isn’t real.

‘If you can’t trust the health industry to be healthy, how can you expect the fashion magazines to put their house in order.’


source: dailymail