Other people have already pointed out that H&M use Looklet.com to produce these photos, so accusations that this is about saving money or getting a perfect body for display are wrong. It’s about using the virtual dressing room to create outfits.

It sucks, but pretending we’ve moved past it isn’t going to do anything but preserve the status quo.

I responded to a commenter who judged the female ‘ideal’ (a ridiculous concept in itself) by showing the picture to a bunch of men. I don’t think that commenter was doing much to change the status quo.

So? All advertising is a lie.

Thanks to assent by the lied-to.

This is technology that makes perfect sense. People say they are upset because of the shape of the girls, but the models were that shape before they were virtual and no one here said anything about it. It wasn’t news on boingboing until AFTER it was technology-related. It’s never news on boingboing unless photoshop or 3d modeling is involved. 

People are upset because they feel like they’ve been lied to and fake models are just icing on the cake. News flash, some women look like this. Some women look like this without trying to (my girlfriend is skinny in spite of the fact that she eats more than I do due to a thyroid condition. She struggles to gain weight and really appreciates how much people like you stereotype any woman whose body type isn’t “curvy” enough). I think it’s interesting how people on one side of this issue always vilify the superficiality they say is promoted by images of skinny girls while ignoring their own superficial judgements of those same girls.

And why hasn’t anyone complained about the male models yet? The fake men who have perfectly flat abs, perfect skin and just the right amount of muscle definition which is inexplicably visible even through a sweater?

http://looklet.com/create

These ads are just clumsy. The uncanny-ness in these images will become historical. Digital artists of the future will be asked “Can you make it look more uncanny? Like the advertising of the early 21st century.”

I really don’t see the problem.

Once upon a time, clothing catalogs had drawings of people wearing the clothing. Then somebody thought that people might want to see a photograph of a real person wearing the real clothing, so catalogs switched to photos. Then they started fucking around with the photos so that they’re now drawings pretending to be photos. The problem is that it’s a lie.

That’s an ideal body, is it? I polled the three straight men in my office right now.

You define what’s ideal for women based on the sexual gaze of men? Are you a time-traveler from the 60s?

You’re upset because they’re computer generated and not real live anorexic girls?

That is not why we’re upset.

If you want to get angry, get angry about the image

That is why we’re upset.

When they start depicting mannerist-style models with extra vertebrae and truly inhuman proportions, then you can start making a big deal about it being fake.

Thank you for offering your permission, but it is not necessary.