Ultimo Chooses ‘Real’ Women Over Models
Ultimo is branching out. The Scottish lingerie retailer is moving into a more traditional clothing line, and with it, the company is moving away from the sultry models it usually employs for its lingerie shoots.
With a clothing line inspired by Hollywood couture at real-world prices, the company felt that real-world women would best embody the values they were selling. The “Real Women” campaign was launched on Facebook, where thousands of Scottish women applied for the opportunity to model for Ultimo Couture, the retailer’s new line. Out of those thousands, Ultimo picked 14 women of all shapes and sizes, from all sorts of lifestyles. The women range in age from 20 to 53, and one was even visibly pregnant during the contest and shoot. And none of the were retouched.
The winning women received a day of primping and pampering to prepare for the photoshoot, and were given the dresses they modelled in.
This is yet another example of a growing fashion industry trend that looks for real women or plus-sized models, and shys away from photo manipulation and retouching. The Ultimo Couture line will be sold at Debenhams, in fact, which has made headlines this year first for replacing its mannequins with size 14 versions that better reflect its customers, and then for launching an ad-campaign that contained no retouching and showed off many manipulative tricks of the fashion mag trade.
