A spread from Pylot magazine
In a bid to represent “real beauty”, fashion magazines have long been partial to occasionally featuring celebrities without make-up or Photoshop. What about a magazine that bans retouching in its manifesto?
It reads like a pitch from another era. But it’s no joke: London-based Pylot is an analogue fashion photography magazine promising beauty without Photoshop tricks.
This means no spot removing, no eye brightening, no teeth whitening, no major hair changes and no body shape alterations (liquefying).
The most important issue Pylot faces is: are people interested in imperfection? Will visible spots and dark under-eye circles hurt the aesthetic sensibilities of readers used to sleek and polished mainstream fashion publications?
Fashion magazines are a fairy-tale world of expensive dresses, flawless skin and glossy hair. Many of their readers have none of those things. After all, we’re only human. We read fashion magazines because we’re seduced by the image of who we could be — if only we bought that £10,000 watch or that Valentino red dress.
Imperfection doesn’t sell dreams.
Is fashion and its readers ever interested in unretouched honesty?
3 comments
I find this concept extremely novel, and such novelties only have two options in the fashion world - they either fail, or become the next great thing. I've just searched for magazine's Kickstarter page, and will definitely pledge them. The issue zero is apparently already sold out! So I do think this is a fantastic idea, and that the fashion world is ready for some unretouched honesty. After all, perfect models with perfect make up shot under perfect lightning are quite aesthetically pleasing without Photoshop too.
I don't mind the use of photoshop in fashion photography. What I do object to is the over use of ps. There seems to be a dependence on it rather than actual artful lighting and a skilled photographer etc.. I don't know if I would buy a non-ps mag. I go for fashion as an escape. Guess is have to see first.