Ralph Lauren model in emaciated photo dropped for being 'too fat'
Alexandra Frean, US Business Correspondent

Filippa Hamilton: a digitally altered photograph of her which was used in Japan caused controversy

A model who featured in a fashion photograph for Polo Ralph Lauren, which was doctored to make her look abnormally thin, has been dropped by the clothing label, she says, for being too fat.

In the latest row over distorted body images in the fashion industry, Filippa Hamilton said yesterday that her contract with the luxury brand had been terminated after six years because she was too heavy.

“They fired me because they said I was overweight and couldn’t fit in their clothes any more,” she said. The company disputes her claim.

The 5ft 10in (1.79m) and 8½st (54kg) model who is a US size 4 (a UK size 8), found herself at the centre of a controversy after a digitally altered photograph of her appeared in a Ralph Lauren advertisement in Japan. In the image, which spread quickly via the internet last week, her waist had been reduced to almost the width of her head.

This is obviously more than just someone being slightly excitable with Photoshop - it’s obviously a marketing/styling decision made by whoever is in charge of such things.

Vogue was frequently “retouching” photographs of models to make them look larger, she [Alexandra Shulman, Editor of British Vogue] said.