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Looking at Victoria’s Secret ads don’t just give you the urge to buy a lacy new bra – they often make you feel kind of awful about yourself. Like, why are her boobs so perky and her skin so perfect and her hair so mermaid-like?!
As we know, it’s hardly real. There’s a ton of behind-the-scenes work that goes into making those Victoria’s Secret models look like, well, Angels. And one photo retoucher who worked for the brand spilled all the secrets to Refinery29.
Sarah, as R29 refers to her, has worked for numerous brands to edit photos.
1. All the models wear hair extensions
“I don’t think I ever was on a shoot with a model that had real hair,” Sarah told R29. So yes, her hair looks voluminous and has a perfectly wave…but it’s not her hair.
2. No one’s boobs are that perky!
Finally, an explanation for why these bathing suits look so amazing on the model then horrible when you head to the fitting room.
Sarah told R29 that models wear push-up bras under bathing suits, even strapless ones, then the bra gets Photoshopped out. “When you’re wearing a strapless bikini, in no way, shape, or form [can] you have cleavage,” said Sarah. “It’s physically impossible with the way gravity works.”
On top of that trick, the bras have padding and other shaping tools altered into them. “If you hold up the bathing suit in your own hand, it’s so heavy because they have all this sh*t sewed into it,” Sarah revealed.
And, of course, photo editors are told to sculpt breasts to make them more round, larger, and symmetrical.
3. Photo editors are sometimes asked to add weight
The big booty is in, and VS asked Sarah to add more weight to models in the buttox area. That’s why some models have mega curves while maintaining a teeny tiny waist.
4. Victoria’s Secret tried including bigger models
Yup – the brand known for their size 2 models experimented with different body types. Turns out, society is the problem.
“One time, during a swim season, they had these two girls come in that had abs and thick thighs and busts,” Sarah told R29. “But they didn’t sell anything and so they stopped using those girls.”
5. Most brands are guilty of major retouching
There practically isn’t a brand that doesn’t enhance their photos, even the ones they post on social media.
“When you’re manipulating the light and the camera angle like that, that’s technically retouching, because you’re manipulating something to look as if it’s something it’s really, truly not in real life,” explains Sarah.
Although Sarah now has her own standards – for example, she refuses to take in people’s waists – she’s still cool with taking out acne, cellulite, and other imperfections (yes, models have those). Still, it’s a good reminder to have – no one is perfect.
