Fear and Clothing

In one of my earlier posts, you can see the extent of airbrushing on Madonna. She may be 50, her hands are showing their age (by her minimal body fat), but they remain youthful in her Louis Vuitton campaign. Her real hands (left) are unlike the hands in the Louis Vuitton campaigns. Images of her at premieres and openings wearing gloves are the logical choice for Madonna.

This latest image (below), shows the extent. Her face is porcelain-smooth. Quite unlike the wrong ‘unairbrushed’ batch of images published earlier this year that show the real Madonna - sans airbrush.

Is the continual airbrushing of aged celebrities disappointing? Do fashion houses think that customers will buy it? Of course they do, because they keep on doing it. Is this another ploy by LV’s creative director (Marc Jacobs) to sell more bags? I’d say yes. But they can have high paid photographers airbrush Madonna countless times, it doesn’t hide the fact that she is 50, that - regardless of her money- she can’t reverse time.

I just wonder what this kind of advertising says about Louis Vuitton, and if this kind of marketing works in Asia, where much of Louis Vuitton is sold. I’ve hardly seen any Asian models for Louis Vuitton, and there are many Asian celebrities that Louis Vuitton can select, but they choose western models time after time. Is it racist? But that’s an entirely different, and interesting, topic.