Jezebel's tagline is "Celebrity, Sex, Fashion For Women. Without Airbrushing" so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the site felt a need to track down the un-retouched images from Lena Dunham's controversial new Annie Leibovitz Vogue shoot.
What is surprising is that Jezebel offered a whopping $10,000 reward for whoever could produce said images - and someone came forward within two hours of the initial request.
Turns out, the images aren't even that manipulated. But like all Vogue cover girls before her, certain liberties have been taken with Dunham's waistline, jawline, neckline, and other tweaks.
But, as Jezebel points out, "this is what Vogue does, and it's interesting to see what Leibovitz and editor-in-chief Anna Wintour felt that they needed to 'fix' before pictures of Lena could be presented to readers."
Take a look at the below before-and-after GIF and judge for yourselves:
Now let's break that down:
Jezebel notes the following have been retouched:
- Shoulder/back of neck shaved down, lengthening the neck
- Line near mouth on face removed
- Jawline sharpened
- Neckline of dress pulled up - cleavage altered, armpit covered
- Waist/hip smoothed, made narrower
- Elbow shadow/dimple removed
- Hands smoothed
This next shot of Dunham at a subway station in Brooklyn has minor retouching, with lighting and brightening being the main change - standard for any photo shoot.
Jezebel does note, however, that Dunham's "waist was raised a little bit, and her front leg was lengthened."
They say it also appears to be "a composite image - something Leibovitz is known for - meaning there were different shots used for the head and the body."
And here's Dunham with a pigeon on her head on a sidewalk in Brooklyn. Her face seems to have had very minor tweaks, but the body appears to be another one of those Leibovitz and Vogue-friendly composite shots.
Here are the differences:
Now to the cover.
The Photoshop experts over at Jezebel note Dunham's neck was thinned, jawline narrowed, her head made smaller so her eyes appear larger, and right shoulder dropped to give the illusion of a longer neck.
Despite any requisite Vogue photoshopping, Dunham looks great. And as Jezebel points out, "The photographs are meant to be a fantasy, art."
Dunham is not the first, nor will she be the last, Vogue cover girl to be Photoshopped.
For her part, Dunham seems happy with the photo spread.
When the images first hit the Internet, the 27-year-old Tweeted "Dear @voguemagazine: Thank you. Love, Lena"
Since the Photoshopping controversy, she has only tweeted:
Some shit is just too ridiculous to engage. Let's use our energy wisely, 2014.
- Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) January 17, 2014