Madonna for Louis Vuitton, pre youth-Photoshop (or post ageing-Photoshop depending on your take)

[click on image to enlarge]

Shock horror, Madonna’s ads for Louis Vuitton was photoshopped!

In a Photoshop world, I’d like to think that the photo on the right is a “real photo” of Madonna as she looked before the bright lights and heavy airbrushing came to cross her skin for her Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2009 ad campaigns. But before we all start yelping about how we should be embracing the natural aging process instead of hiding it, on closer inspection the photo looks a little suspect when you look at the evidence.

There is no denying that in the “before” shot, Madonna is definitely showing signs of age, but why are there wrinkles all over her face and neck with old-woman arms to boot – but her legs look perfectly smooth? Yes she could be wearing sheer tights, but isn’t that all too convenient? A good airbrush artist can age you just as easily as they can make you look young again.

We found a behind the scenes image (below left) from the Louis Vuitton shoot where Madonna is pictured with Marc Jacobs where there is hardly a wrinkle on the Material Girl‘s face. Though the photo was probably taken post-make up, we do have to take into consideration that it may have been touched up slightly before being officially released, but Madonna’s arms are toned and not old-woman-skinny.

[click on image to enlarge]

Then there are the pictures of Madonna in the same get-up for the Costume Institute Gala 2009 – her arms are still toned, albeit there are noticeable aging around the décolletage.

And lastly, as much as we searched, we couldn’t find anyone who said where they sourced the original photo from. Just a whole bunch of websites who say they found it on DashUsLand.com.

That’s just our two cents worth, what do you think?

9 Comments

  • Jackie says:

    nice to see people before and after photoshop.

    the unretouched photo ‘per se’ is not that good 4 the luis vuitton ad.. definitely!

    the photo retouched is much better… the photophop art makes the pic catch our attention for the photo and the nice handbag 😉

    guess that is the goal, not madonna aging

    the ad is for the handbag, not a kind of anti-aging moisturizer or plastic surgery, where photoshop should not be used, in my opinion.

    actually, madonna she still looking great, healthy and beautiful without airbrushing.

  • Cheryl says:

    Eat your hearts out, girls. Photoshopped or not
    she is ageless, timeless, talented. Way 2 go, Louis V!

  • Charlotte Young says:

    We should be seeing more of this kind of stuff. ‘The before and after’ and then maybe we wouldn’t have such a big problem with people feeling body conscious about themselves.

  • Christine says:

    The funny thing about ageing is that whether you look as though you are or not …..you are. So whether she looks or wants to look 10,20,30 years younger…she isn’t. Ageing is a gift. Looking great any age is nice but just getting a year older and being able to find things to smile about is more important than how you look.

  • cem kongur says:

    fantastic look, fantactic shape, fantastic photo

  • griffin says:

    I am a photographer and no professional especially Steven Meisel would shoot Madonna in flat lighting…the photos that are supposed to represent Madonna “Untouched” are actually retouched to make her look unflattering.
    Intentionally adding larger pores, skin texture and bags/wrinkles.
    Yes dont believe everything you see people, in this case Madonna has been altered to look BAD.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYt_-OY07DI the proof is in the pudding. Madonna looks pretty impressive, toned and tight.

  • Angelina says:

    It’s pretty sad that all this retouching is done. What image are we sending to the youth? What? That we aren’t good enough being ourselves and in our own skin. I wonder why the majority of young girls have eating disorders and diet before reaching the age of 10. it’s quite lame. If I was a woman in the media, I would refuse the retouching and most people will say, will you won’t stay in the industry too long but what if all women took a stand on this, then there would be no choice but then again you always have those dump air-heads that will still do it so they can be considered “the hottest woman”. haha Oh my…power to every day women out there, all the moms and all the woman in the workforce, it’s us who make a difference in the world. 🙂

  • Katja Schmolka says:

    I think she´s still a beautiful woman, who does a lot for beeing in shape. It´s not nice to present her like this, unretouched.She´s a personality and stands for the things she does and I think we need more people who act the same way.

    Katja, publisher of zip magazine

  • Turan says:

    It’s funny how things come back and even thgouh they are so sterilized and commercialized people still think their crazy. I mean, i was wearing black lipstick when the only people that made it was wet n wild ( or sometimes it was just black eyeliner and chapstick). Now its every where but peeps are still like, oh, my goodness gracious, black lips? are you goth? Haha! Chicks with shaved heads are not wild and crazy (unless your from the Bible belt, i guess). For some of us with really heavy hair it’s a neccesity in the summer so I don’t see how this is a crazy, punk look. And besides, It’s just hair! It grows back! Sheesh! The models is, of course, gorgeous but this post really annoyed me. Oh well, I guess squares will always be squares.

Comments are closed.