Lovelyish

Why would someone so drastically change the skintone on a woman so well-known? Everyone knows Aishwarya Rai, and everyone knows she isn’t that light.

however it’s the act of lighting one person’s skin to fit the societies perspective beauty. It’s disgusting that photographers and fashion editors want to lighten the skin of the Former Miss World and an amazing bollywood actress

they change it because it looks good with the mood they are setting and the clothes. it’s a high fashion shoot, lighter colors are used for them typically. besides they left her actual appearance alone, they could have made her look like a different person

Yes, it does bother me, because women of color are just as beautiful as those who are lighter skinned.

Rai is hardly “a woman of color.” Yes she’s from India, but there were white people in India, so she’s really half Indian, half white.

But yeah, they photoshop every image you see. Even Caucasian women get lightened. It just depends on the photographer’s personal preference. In Gucci women are very tan.

They do the exact same thing to Beyonce.

I think these “high fashion” shoots would look better if they just left the women’s skin tone a lone. Her skin tone especially would have made the gold dress pop. It looks so bad when they lighten these women’s skin because it’s so obviously photoshopped.

yeah, I’ve noticed that too. It does bother me a little, but oh well. She’s still gorgeous.

I don’t think they made her appear lighter because they think light skin is prettier. If they just wanted a pale chick they would have hired a pale model. It’s just the look the shoot was going for. They wash-out already pale girls all the time for artistic effect. It’s so annoying to play the race card over every little thing. It’s photography, it’s fashion, it’s art. She doesn’t have to look exactly how she does in person, she has to look exactly how the artists behind the shoot want her to look to express what they’re trying to say with the photos and to make the clothes stand out.

@thearyanprincess@xanga - o.O how is aishwariya half white?  She’s def full Indian, South Indian.  

Either way, Aish always looks pretty and I’m sure she’s been photoshopped worse.  She is pretty “white” for Indian standards, but I’m not aghast at these pictures. 

You think too much.

She’s a sexy bitch!! She probably has powder on ^^

I think a lot of it has to do with the lighting they used in the shoot. I agree with everyone that said that I don’t think they were saying lighter skin is prettier, they did it for an artistic effect.

She looks fine… chillout… it’s because of the lighting…. 

I think the Elle magazine cover looks lovely despite the color tone change. sometimes they blend the colors to match the overall ambience of the photo.

I’ve seen photos on display at wedding photo studios where the professional photographer’s lighting was so bright that the couple looked like ghosts. maybe the surreal effect is what they were aiming for.

@quasarglow@xanga - I quite agree

I’m going with the artistic effect for this one.

@Erika_Steele@xanga - Yup. I agree.

They wanted to emphasize the make-up and dress.

she’s so gorgeous already, why change the skin tone? i wish my skin tone was a bit darker like hers! plus, the dresses and her hair don’t have the washout look that would happen if they didn’t photoshop her skin tone selectively but used filters on the cameras for effect

I think its the lighting. When i take pictures, the flash makes everyones skin looks many shades lighter.

it’s annoying because it seems like lighter skin is always in fashion as if darker skin is something to be frowned upon. a lot of people are saying they wanted to show off the make up and what not but that is no excuse . beyonce for example in one of her make up campaigns looks a whole lot lighter . why are you trying to sell me make up that is a false color on your skin? that alone makes no sense.

its probably the lighting , and reflective makeup

Why is everything boiled down to race??? Seriously, people. It has nothing to do with race. It’s a high-fashion photo shoot, and the apparent desired effect was high-fashion glam. The result is meant to be classical,  ethereal, and dreamy. 

How dare a photog be an artist and therefore take artistic license.

she still looks beautiful  

Maybe the “light” of the photoshoot ?

she is beauuuuuutiful

It’s the lighting. Calm down, seriously.

Could be waaaay too bright of flash

omggg she’s so pretty.

Vanity Fair is notorious for Photoshopping its cover models into total whiteness. You know, for the “aesthetic.”

No, thanks.

She’s actually gotten a bit darker in person, than she is in the last picture. Indians come in a variety  of shades of browns and tans, if no one has noticed that before, lol. She’s actually considered lighter, as far as our ethnicity (Indian) is concerned. However, India is nothing but blazing heat, so she tends to put on a tan, such as that of the last picture, and in some cases even a bit more crisp. How do I know this? I’ve seen her around in India plenty of times, lol. But that first picture has definitely been overly photoshopped. I believe it goes back to how Indians are viewed….the lighter the better, unfortunately. But don’t they photoshop everything, now and days? She had recently put on a bit of weight in her face too. But who knows. She’s pretty either way…especially for someone who’s hitting 40. Wow!

Maybe lighting has to do with this but I like her better browny. I would not have recognized her at all if you didn’t say who it was. she looks Caucasian or eastern European now. 

eh, it’s just a photo. it was supposed to be artistic.

I think it’s just to fit the aesthetic of the shoot. Notice she’s surrounded by white walls. In one shot, she’s wearing a cream colored dress and in another shot she’s wearing a black dress. I think that in both cases, her skin being “paler” emphasizes those colors and how they fit together. And realize that in high fashion photoshoots, they’ve got 1000K and 650K lights, softboxes, reflectors, and all that kind of stuff. 

@thearyanprincess@xanga - She’s entirely 100% Indian. If you’re referring to generations back of Aryan blood mixed with Indian blood, then yeah okay. I have green eyes and lighter skinned but I am 100% Indian. It’s just those Aryan genes from way back when resurfacing. 

she looks great to me!

THANK YOU for realizing that lighting doesn’t do this.

elle did the same thing to the fat girl from precious.

Nice lighting and make up. Can do the trick.

@arriviste@xanga - You do realize that the Aryan Invasion Theory is a myth, if that is what you mean by Aryans being mixed with Indians?

http://archaeology.about.com/od/indusrivercivilizations/a/aryans.htm

i dont know why everyone has their panties in a bunch. its very indian to want to be white; they have all kinds of whitening and bleaching cremes and even thought there are some light skinned indians (rajputs) the majority of indians however are what some call “tan” or “brown”. so im guessing that  she probably asked for the extra lighting/makeup.  and after all this is a white girl magazine….whaduya expect!?

You’re analyzing this way too hard. This is merely the photographer’s artistic vision. As everyone said, this is a high-fashion photoshoot. Faces are always pale like this. 

@quasarglow@xanga - Maybe but they got her because they wanted to interview her! They don’t just replace people like that unless its a catwalk magazine or something..

It;s a shame. When she’s pale she looks average, below average and fake. In real pictures she looks exotic and beautiful.

We all know pale is in! 

But seriously, who cares? I wouldn’t have noticed it if you didn’t bring it up. Thanks for ruining a pretty good looking photo shoot. I hate people.

These don’t bother me as much as when people bright up their photos so much that all you see is their eyes and nostrils. Seriously, is that supposed to be attractive..? 

In eastern countries especially, light skin is seen to be beautiful as it’s a sign of good background, the richer families didn’t go out in the sun as much and therefore didn’t get tanned, so light skin is fashionable. However I think she looks much more alive with her natural skin tone.

@StacyREdwards@xanga - Prove that it has nothing to do with race. If it had nothing to do with race, why bother making her look lighter when she’s OBVIOUSLY way darker than that? If they wanted if for the effect of the shoot why choose a woman who’s skin color you have to lighten to fit the mood? They might as well have just hired a white model.

I’m so not buying all this bull shit about the photographer’s vision. Why would a photographer whose vision it is to do a shoot where their subject is PALE, bother to do said shoot with an obviously brown person? What’s the point of that? If that was the case why not just use a pale person? I mean come the fuck on people are you all really that naive and retarded?

Um…I don’t think it has to do with “lighter is better” so much as it’s just some sort of technique. Are there not any photoshoots of her with normal skin?

@thearyanprincess@xanga - I agree with this

Well she has medium skin tone to begin with, and when a lot of light gets reflected to an olive person……they end up looking almost quite fair! I’m light tan, and sometimes I end up looking lighter in my photos.  

Well, I think Nelly Furtado put it best “Paint my face in your magazines, make it look whiter than it seems… paint me over with your dreams, shove away my ethnicity…”

Sigh… the things we do to culture…. only to satisfy yet another culture. Twisted.

who the fuck cares?! I don’t! I don’t even know who she is! she is a NOBODY. some people have wars in their country and THIS is what you obsess over?! go find something productive to do.

So darker skin tones can’t be high fashion?
Artistic effects my ass. Lightening celebrities’ skin has become too common in the media.

@thearyanprincess@xanga - And you would know this because…? I’m pretty sure Ash came from South India. There are lightskinned people in India too. We’re not all dark.

They washing out the photos with light is not uncommon. I’m pretty sure they’re not discriminating her skin colour. 

@thearyanprincess@xanga - Half Indian, half White?? I’m pretty sure she’s 100% Indian…

@elvish_fairy@xanga - Lol, I just said the same. I’m pretty fair, and Indian from both sides

@thearyanprincess@xanga - …if she’s from india, she’s not half white – she’s indian! 

i don’t like how they’ve changed her skin tone. i get what everyone is saying about it being artistic licence, but surely if they wanted a pale model, they should have hired one – it seems wrong that a darker skinned woman is being digitally manipulated to have paler skin.

it could be really harsh lighting. her skin isnt that dark and could easily change due to lighting.

@dansucksdicks@xanga - hahahaha you obviously do care about this post.

@LillimNo9@xanga - What worries me that you’re so shallow and flaky that you don’t care about anything substantial or RELEVANT TO THE WORLD.

@quasarglow@xanga - I completely agree with you. It’s for the feel!  sheesh people.

Make up. Lighting. Strategic angling. It happens. 

HER HAIR ALSO LOOKS DARKER!!! that clearly means that the magazine (and therefore society as a whole) discrimates against light hair, because they CLEARLY photoshopped her to look a couple shades darker for the shoot.

RACISM AFOOT ! ! !

In that last picture her skin is actually looking too tanned in my opinion. And her eye shadow is ridiculous. Keep it simple, woman.

@Zamante - ditto