Ralph Lauren Fires The Model They Photoshopped… For Being Too Fat
October 14, 2009 in Hot Models, Photoshop Job by Versus
OK, the title needs a little explanation. First, I meant to say “photoshopped until a skeletal, inhuman level”. More exactly, a few weeks ago, this Ralph Lauren ad popped online:
The model in the picture, Filippa Hamilton, does not look like that, she looks like in the first picture. No one looks like that. I tried and tried and failed to figure out what possessed the photoshopper to go till this extreme thinspiration-poster-child level. The online response was clear: Ralph Lauren was wrong, the image was all wrong and the brand itself accepted that it was a “mistake” and apologized:
“After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body,” Polo Ralph Lauren admitted.
But the story goes on. Guess what? Filippa was just fired… for being “overweight” (even though her BMI is technically underweight). New York Daily News reports:
Ralph Lauren’s clothing company fired the model whose body looked emaciated in a touched-up ad because she weighed too much, the woman told the Daily News Tuesday.
Filippa Hamilton – whose hips appeared slimmer than her head in the recent altered ad – said her contract was terminated in April because she was too heavy.
“They fired me because they said I was overweight and I couldn’t fit in their clothes anymore,” she said.
The 5-foot-10, 120-pound stunner was amazed to see her body digitally distorted for Ralph Lauren Blue Label.
“I was shocked to see that super skinny girl with my face,” she told the Daily News. “It’s very sad, I think, that Ralph Lauren could do something like that.”
Hamilton, 23, worked for Ralph Lauren since about 2002 and considered the company like a second family – until she was bounced.
Then out of nowhere last week, the altered ad – which appeared only in Japan – caused a sensation and drew the ire of critics who thought it appeared sickly and unrealistic.
Polo Ralph Lauren said in a statement Tuesday night that Filippa is a “beautiful and healthy” woman but their relationship ended “as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us.”
Hamilton’s lawyer, Geoffrey Menin, said the image is “gross distortion of how she really looks and which we fear will be extremely damaging to her.”
“I think they owe American women an apology, a big apology,” she said. “I’m very proud of what I look like, and I think a role model should look healthy.”
So what do you think about all this?
120 lbs at 5′10 is model thin and RL has used Filippa for years…why change now? It they fired her just because of a retoucher’s poor judgment that’s horrendous. Why not lay blame on the one who made her look ridiculous, it’s not her fault they digitally down-sized her to nothing!
Sad because they used to feature models who were gorgeous, fit and healthy looking: http://img262.imageshack.us/i/adv0793dd752dgw7.jpg/
More gorgeous Filippa: Fat? WHERE?
http://img275.imageshack.us/i/adv40042ru.jpg/
http://img11.imageshack.us/i/adv49764zl.jpg/
http://img11.imageshack.us/i/adv49751gd.jpg/
oh wow, she is very pretty.
Wow! She is even sexier than I first thought! I don’t see an ounce of fat on her, she looks like she’s all muscle!
What the hell?! She is amazingly beautiful. I’m guessing there is more to the story than what is being said.
As for the retouched pic, you’ve got to be kidding me. It looks like one of the retouched girls on a pro-ana site. Not something you would use to sell a product. Especially not RL which is supposed to give off an athletic sort of vibe.
I couldn’t agree with you more! There must be more to the story because she is the perfect example of a RL model. And the photoshopped picture is disgusting! The retouching has gotten so out of hand. I’m sure this photo will start appearing on all the pro-ana sites if it isn’t already. Such a shame…
they need to get a grip! its just makes me soo frustrated
Once again, a company trying to shovel shit over our eyes.
On one side they do what helps them sell (and social impact be damned).
And on the other side, they claim to be cuddly wuddly PC life-affirming company that didn’t reallly do that. Nooo, they’d NEVER *cutthroat corporate decision* …..what was I saying….oh yeah NEVER disregard women’s health if it helped them sell 1 cent more.
If she’s 5′10, 120 lbs. and got fired at that weight, WTF was the weight she had to maintain as stated in her contract?
my thoughts exactly
mine too. at my thinnest and most miserable and unhealthy i was 5″11 and 125 pounds. Now I weigh 140. I cant imagine her any thinner. shame on them and good for her. that photoshopping job is obscene.
The photoshopped image looks so ridiculous. It doesn’t look even remotely attractive compared to the real girl.
But I don’t think RL fired her because of her weight. I think after the magazine cover with the photoshopped image, they just felt that they couldn’t use her again, because every time they use her people will be reminded of RL’s mistake, and that’s bad press. Models are intended to bring good press to designers, not bad press. I think that’s why she was fired. Not really her fault, but eh, I doubt she will be out of a job for long.
yeah but it says she was fired in april, i think that’s before this photoshopped image became so controversial.
Oh was she? Then I have no idea why they kept her for 8 years and all of a sudden decided they had a problem with her weight, especially since healthier-sized models are more popular now than 8 years ago. What a shame, but it’s their loss.
5′10″, 120lbs and too fat!!! RIDICULOUS!!!
That puts her BMI at 17.5, which is less than the recommended for her height and size…. which is saying something because that index is ridiculous.
f**k’em.
This is insane for several reasons……I mean at 5′10 you should be able to be at least 145 pounds…….why do we continue to support companies that encourage eating disorders……that is insane and not healthy at all…..then they wonder why women have no self confidence when we are convinced we should look like children……even though people look gorgeous on camera or photo …in real life they look awful because it is not healthy to dip below your recommended weight….it is recommended for a reason……also it does not look like she has muscle to me at all just the basics like organs and bones and the very little amounts of muscle to survive..gosh what happen to the pin-up’s of the 50’s…..
Whoever Photoshopped that picture and thought it looked good, was high, drunk, and likely manic.
you got it.
lol, true, she looks like a Bratz doll.
Also apparently Filippa is 5′8 but still, 120 lbs is very tiny!
She is gorgeous and her natural figure is amazing! Too fat? Where the hell is fat?? They’re totally crazy. That body used with her face is not normal, it’s anorexic! Healthy looking girls are supposed to be good role models, not this mockery… I bet not many of us find this extremely fragile figure attractive…
I reckon RL insulted Filippa very much but hopefully she knows she’s pretty, healthy and slim!
I think it’s because she is JUST underweight.
If she was sickly thin, she would not be fired.
wow this is sad. the fact that they fired her simply because she was fat when she is thin! what kind of society are we living in? normally the modeling agency use women her size as models but the fact she is fired because she doesn’t look like the girl in the magazine is ridiculous. she is a beautiful with no kind of fat on her and we as society need to stop picking on women because of the way they look so young women don’t have to suffer anymore.
Shame on Ralph Lauren clothing company. Hamilton looks gorgeous and is clearly a thin model. Thanks to these perverse notions of what is beautiful and in, you have anorexia running amuck.
actually she’s 174 cm
ralph lauren is CRAZY. she’s so pretty and she has a enviable body!!
If she is fat at 5′10″ & 120 lbs, there is no hope for the rest of us.
OMG! She is gorgeous, how could anyone say she’s fat???? I have lost all respect for stupid ralph lauren and their clothes! Then we wonder why all these young girls suffer from eating disorders!?¿!
If she is fat at 5′10″ & 120 lbs, wt abt me, i’m5′4″ & also 120lbs!! Am I a big fat pig?
he is a sick bastard.. im sorry, but this is just ABNORMAL.. omg, ralph lauren and his sucked-up brand can go to hell with these stupid requirements. he should hire plastic dolls to be his models, when he does not want healthy normal women to wear his clothes… sick, really sick..