The wondrous Lorde appears on the cover of Teen Vogue‘s May issue, wearing a bold plaid look from the Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2014 runway (the collection marked the debut of a new design duo tasked with reinvigorating the line, Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley).
The publication bills the 17-year-old singer Lorde as the leader of a “revolution,” and quotes her saying that “prescribed ideals of how girls should look are over.” Probably? Except the message comes with a touch of hypocrisy on the part of Teen Vogue. As forum member KingOfVersailles pointed out, it looks like the glossy went a little heavy on the makeup and Photoshop, considering the accompanying tagline.
Lorde has been vocal about the way photos are often distorted to sell a false image of physical perfection to fans. Two weeks ago, she shared photographs of herself before/after airbrushing on Twitter, reminding her followers that “flaws are okay.”
i find this curious – two photos from today, one edited so my skin is perfect and one real. remember flaws are ok 🙂 pic.twitter.com/PuRhxt2u2O
— Lorde (@lordemusic) March 31, 2014
And although Lorde hasn’t addressed whether her Teen Vogue cover was itself Photoshopped, she did speak to the “new nose” which had been fashioned onto her face in an editorial shot in the Canadian publication, Fashion:
apart from the fact that i’m pretty sure this magazine gave me a new nose (:|), i really like this photo pic.twitter.com/Ehk9QMYPjf
— Lorde (@lordemusic) April 16, 2014
I’m not even going to mention the fact that apart from this Photoshop business, it’s a little ridiculous for Teen Vogue to align itself with an evolved ideal of beauty, when a quick glance at its cover gallery shows an array of predominantly white, thin and perfectly-coiffed starlets. So progressive! Ra ra ra.
Related: Lady Gaga’s Unretouched Versace Campaign Outtakes Prove It: Fashion Advertising Is Bullsh*t
