Prom dress store changes photo of dress

Why did lightinthebox.com remove this photo of a prom dress and replace it with a different shot of the same model in the same dress?

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Stephen

The poor photoshop edit does misrepresent the dress. When they sell it wholesale it looks like this:
http://image.lightinthebox.com/images/v/200807/1259170502487c3c7d12d54.jpg
In the wholesale shot, the photographer had the model hold the fabric to avoid the visual effect.
stuhfoo

R rated dress at prom…
chgoliz

I so want to tell a local (Chicago) joke right now, but it can only be told in the company of women.
Rezpect

Best Week Ever has this on their site last week I think. Thanks for the follow up. It really is an unfortunate design.
Jake Bullet

Am I the only one who thinks we should try to get the designer of this dress and the designer of the sipper dress together so that they can design the most awesome dress in the history of the universe?
Jake Bullet

Me @ 43

That should be “zipper” dress, not “sipper” dress!
Anonymous

@53 I also thought about the movie “teeth” the minute i saw that picture.
needless to say that model must be mortified. I can only imagine what my parents would think if I decided to be photographed in a dress with large woman parts on it.
Anonymous

what we need is to find actual prom pictures of someone wearing that dress. …then post that picture on Failblog
Ske

Hmmm…I think photos of the model in this dress are illegal in the UK under the new anti-child porn laws… :-p
Anonymous

I do appreciate that they’ve called this the “jam-clam”.

They have to know what they’ve made there.
Wingo

@Chelvis #22: Were we friends in high school? ;)
Anonymous

A girl at my school is going to wear this to prom. Vag detailing and all. Except she’s getting it in nude.
Praline

ANTINOUS

Re: ‘Vulva. Not vagina. Vulva.’

I think we have “The Vagina Monologues” to thank for putting paid to this important distinction. The show was one long cringe for anyone who knows the difference. It probably won’t be long before the lexicographers concede–if they haven’t already.

I’m trying to adapt, if only because of the unsettling image I get when I hear the words “shaving my vagina.”
Sean Eric FAgan

Looking at the “original” and current picture… I find myself doubting the linked-to article. The overlaid text style is different in the vagina-dress than it is in any of the other pictures at http://www.lightinthebox.com. (Okay, different in style from the four or five I clicked at random.)

One of the pictures is fairly obviously photoshopped… I think the only question is who did it, and when.
Anonymous

Take a look at the “new” image at this link:

http://www.lightinthebox.com/Spring-2009-Column-Sweetheart-Asymmetrical-Satin-Prom—Evening-Dress–HSX329-_p24996.html

Clearly, this isn’t two shots but rather one shot with digital alterations of one or the other. You decide which one is closest to the original but there is not doubt they are the same shot. Every little wrinkle, fold and shadow are exactly the same.
phillamb168

Is this rhetorical question day at BoingBoing?
Anonymous

has anyone defined “flange” yet?
Anonymous

Yeah, sorry to all the MDs but this is another term that’s drifting from proper use in common use. Vagina, particularly as terms like “trimming my vadge”, just seem to mean “general female genital area” to most people nowadays.

On the other hand, “labia” still means “outer lips” to everyone, rather than “entire genital structure”, and would only be appropriate here if “it looks like foreskin” were an appropriate description of something phallic.
jahknow

I’m not much for high fashion, but that might be the most artful dress I’ve ever seen… Would I let my daughter wear that? Hell no.
Anonymous

Actually, I think it’s a pr0m dress.
Anonymous

http://www.yoursurgery.com/procedures/laryngectomy/images/VocalCordAnat.jpg
Lauren O

Oh, I know, I know, pick me!

The answer is a giant vagina!
Manooshi

The dress is selling only for 99 dollars. If it really comes with satin pink labia, clit, and all– then I frickin want one!
Rick.

That gal’s a sure thing after the prom.
bbonyx

Because it looks like she’s showing us all her tasty hoo hah. Light In The Box indeed!

/Yes, I know it was obvious, I just don’t get to use the phrase “tasty hoo hah” every day.

//And my captcha is “pulled off”…. huhuhuhuh
Anonymous

#1: But isn’t that the answer to pretty much every question?
dross1260

Certainly one for her modeling portfolio!
Anonymous

That’s the best drag queen outfit EVER.
adonai

No dentata? Bah!
obeyken

…and her prom date was never seen or heard from again.
Falcon_Seven

Despite the ‘obvious’ suggestive nature of the dress, she really needs a pair of shoes that actually fit.
Brainspore

Wait until you see the matching tux.
elk

Hmm…same dress…

The big vagina’s still included though, RIGHT?
blueelm

That is the ugliest dress I have ever seen. Seriously, and the giant vagina doesn’t help either.
bbonyx

@ #6 – And now we know what Falcon Seven’s fetish is. ;)
Anonymous

It’s about time women got their equivalent of the codpiece. Now, about that pay inequity …
Teller

Brainspore: The tux with the Eldridge Cleaver pants.
http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/2007/09/eldridge-cleaver-fashion-visionary.html
Xopher

I have to admit, I don’t actually know the difference between a vagina and a vulva. Not a big fan of either up close (nothing against them for those who are), so, like distinctions between fine wines, these niceties are lost on me.
LumpyDog

@#6 – She’s wearing shoes?
Anonymous

same shot, just some photoshopping
Lauren O

Anatomically accurate commenters, you are correct. I retract my previous comment. It is not a giant vagina. It is a hulking vulva.
Ratdog

Yeah,

This is going to show up on Failblog soon enough.
apoxia

I suspect this was done on purpose by the photographer/model when it became apparent that the dress could look quite rude. There is no way the dress would sit like that naturally, unless the edges were tacked back onto the body of the dress. After the photo passed through editing (which must have been done blindfolded), the little joke turned into a problem with some quite well-executed photo editing to put it right. Quite funny.
grahamers

Echo…..

Echo

You could get lost in there!
Palilay

Vagina-licious.
Grunt

I wonder what Old Gregg would have to say about this dress?
Caroline

For the information of Xopher and anyone else who may be curious:

“Vulva” denotes the external genitalia of women.

“Vagina” denotes the birth canal. It is inside the body, and you can’t see it without a speculum and a light. You can’t access it unless you insert something. Hence, Praline’s discomfort with the idea of “shaving a vagina” — you really, really, really wouldn’t want to insert a razor.
ctp

Oh, come on you guys. Making that dress was obviously a labia of love for the designer.
alowishus

This line from the linked article is hysterical:

“Which now clearly shows that the vagina as crawled back up inside – like a snail retreats into its shell when it feels attacked.”
Johnny Cat

Too funny, and I’m going to be saying Jam Out With Your Clam Out all night.
Anonymous

I’m feeling a little inadequate.
grahamers

@#7 “Wait until you see the matching tux.”

LULZ. Funniest comment yet!
Chelvis

How many BB readers even went to prom? I spent that night like many other nights in High School, with my friends. At a certain point, we were driving around with ski masks on, doing donuts and lawnjobs, blasting horrorcore rap and old school NYHC. And then, on to the graveyard to smoke cloves, tell spooky stories, and read aloud from the Necronomicon. End the night with a 44oz gas station soda and and episode of Star Trek TNG, For The god***n Win.
nehpetsE

oh no’s!!!
It sooooooo biiiig!
I are intimidated!!!
ctp

and it just dawned on me that if you wore this dress with a big orange strap-on in front, it’d look exactly like an anthirium flower. Hmmm…okay, this dress has some potential now….
mappo

I’m afraid to ask what it looks like from the back. goatse?
ec brown

The dress is just straightforward and to-the-point.
It’s prom night after all.
DanielZKlein

Lauren @#1:

Oh, I know, I know, pick me!

The answer is a giant vagina!

Isn’t it always?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Vulva. Not vagina. Vulva.
cinemajay

@55, a vulka?
ctp

“The answer is a giant vagina!”

that is TOTALLY going to show up on a button at SnarkyMcF.com sometime soon…just so you know :-)
jimh

Punchline: “Hell, if you’ll help me find my keys, we can DRIVE out!”
nutbastard

is her name Mulva… or Delores?
ctp

with vulva like that, I bet her name is actually Dolores.

Yea, I pun in Spanish too.
kleer001

Penis!
Mindpowered

@44 He’s missing the “t” in sipper.
relgin

I’m not sure why they would change the picture, it’s a bit tacky but it does look like that girl has a pussy monster hiding under that dress.
Ocker3

Nice find Stephen, I think that’s actually the best photo of all of them (by best I mean the one actually most likely to sell dresses)
blueelm

“How many BB readers even went to prom? I spent that night like many other nights in High School, with my friends. At a certain point, we were driving around with ski masks on, doing donuts and lawnjobs, blasting horrorcore rap and old school NYHC. And then, on to the graveyard to smoke cloves, tell spooky stories, and read aloud from the Necronomicon. End the night with a 44oz gas station soda and and episode of Star Trek TNG, For The god***n Win.”

Haha. My “date” went off and got really high. I wondered around the hotel a bit and crashed a wedding party before coming back for some chocolate covered strawberries.
eustace

That’s not a prom dress, it’s a pr0n dress!
Sephacus

“Giant Vagina” makes a good tongue twister so does that mean its good practice for cunnilingus
Anonymous

pretty flower

geeeez… ‘happen deepest’ is my captcha.
ctp

“”Giant Vagina” makes a good tongue twister so does that mean its good practice for cunnilingus”

Or for Gownalingus at the very least
Anonymous

I’m only a guy, but I’m pretty sure vaginas are on the inside of women. But I do see the big VULVA. And maybe a bit of clitoris
newe1344

In the future, please do not post things like this. I started laughing out loud at work and my coworkers looked at me suspiciously. Maybe, they think I’m wasting my time at work, instead of, well…working.

That is hilarious!
Anonymous

How was the prom honey?
Vaginarrific Mom!!!
empirechick

Nutbastard @ #30

FTW!
saint_al

Prom Dress sports honkin’ Camel Toe!
; )