In a move that the rest of the high street would do well to follow, Debenhams Ireland has pledged to stop using airbrushing on lingerie photography.

Store bosses, who have previously run trials with size 16 mannequins in windows and worked with disabled models and paralympians, regard the move as another step that highlights the retailer’s ‘long standing commitment to encouraging positive body-image’. 

In an era where certain designers and high street stores find it necessary to alter even the shapes of stunningly beautiful celebrities, the use of some digital photography techniques to create unrealistic body shapes and flawless skin has been blamed for making men and women feel more insecure about their natural looks and size. 

Says Sharon Webb, Head of Lingerie buying and design for Debenhams: “We want to help customers feel confident about their figures without bombarding them with unattainable body images.

“As well as being a positive from a moral point of view, it ticks the economic boxes as well. Millions of pounds a year are spent by organisations retouching perfectly good images.

“As a rule we only airbrush minor things like pigmentation or stray hair and rely on the natural beauty of models to make our product look great.

“The model is naturally gorgeous and doesn’t need any retouching but the before (above, left) and after (above, right) images show an example of just how much the image could have been altered; using all of the following techniques:

      Face and neck slimmed

      Under-eyes smoothed and lightened

      Teeth whitened

      Eyes whitened

      Waist pulled in

      Arms slimmed

      Tidy hands

      Underarms tidied

      Legs made thinner

      Stray hairs tidied

      Skin tone changed, smoothed and brightened

      Cleavage enhanced 

Comments lingerie designer, Aliza Reger: “Airbrushing and other trickery are not necessary in order for women to look beautiful.

“Hopefully this act will demonstrate that products such as lingerie modelled by real women who have not been retouched can sell just as well as products advertised with extensive airbrushing, which has become the norm.   

“Men and women can feel good about themselves knowing that beauty is not about achieving the unachievable."

70% of women and 40% of men report that they have felt pressure from television and magazines to have a perfect body image.