AN online clothing firm has been praised after using pictures of models with their stretch marks proudly on show.
Several pictures of women in swimwear on the ASOS site clearly show their natural blemishes have escaped the usual airbrushing widely practised by the industry.
Customers have commended the firm for helping to make “natural” be seen as “normal”.
Twitter user, Amy Rowlands, shared an image of a model with visible stretch marks with the caption: “So impressed with @Asos for not airbrushing the models’ stretchmarks. She looks amazing!”
Her tweet has now been liked over 58,000 times with nearly 13,000 retweets.
Twitter user, Leah Tudor, shared four photos of the bikini models from the ASOS website with the caption: “ASOS not editing out girl’s stretch marks on their swimwear photos is giving me so much life, look how beautiful they all are.”
The photos show the models posing in the various bikinis with stretch marks clearly visible on their bottoms.
Many other users were quick to praise the clothing retailer.
Beckie Jane Brown wrote: “My bum isn’t that toned at all. Wow. But so happy to see those zebra markings, that’s so normal. Well done @ASOS.”
Dave Charnley commented: “National retailers, magazines take note , brilliant!”
Morgan Taylor Miller wrote: “This is so beautiful. Wow.”
Hannah Rose commented: “Good spot! Love this. My ‘stretch marks’ are my tiger stripes. I’ve earned my markings fair and square.”
Ron Reader added: “Yes, we need more real life photo publication well done.”
Whilst Quattro wrote: “Hopefully this sets the standards of natural is normal!”
But not everyone was completely won over.
Sian wrote: “On a model that is still what? Size 6 Progress but barely.”
While Mrs T commented: “Thouroughly unimpressed by this thin white model with enough stretch marks to count on one hand.”
There have been numerous rows involving large companies ad campaigns and their use of Photoshop to airbrush images.
The use of digital editing techniques to alter model’s bodies and create flawless skin can make men and women feel insecure about their looks.
Research has shown that half of schoolgirls as young as 12 are unhappy with their weight due to exposure to airbrushed images.
Advertisers have been caught using digital techniques to slim waists and arms, perfect teeth and lengthen legs.
Upmarket fashion brand Ralph Lauren came under fire when what appeared to be an altered image of a model and the original both appeared on their Australian website.
What appeared to be the original image appeared alongside the same image which seemed to have been altered to give an impossibly thin waistline.
ASOS is a fashion website dedicated for young people which sells a wide variety of different clothes from different brands.
They sell over 80,000 branded and own-branded products throughout almost every country in the world.
Last year, ASOS bucked the trend of falling clothing sales to report a 30 per cent increase in revenues to £514.6m in the four months to June 30.
