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Debenhams Catalog: People Come in All Shapes and Sizes

Debenhams Catalog

British retailer Debenhams took a risk with their new catalog, and the results are beautiful!

I’ll be honest with you guys: I had never heard of Debenhams before last week when I saw their catalog images on Upworthy. The women in these photos are beautiful, stylish, and they’re not airbrushed or touched up. And it’s beautiful.

I know, it seems crazy to say that a company is taking a risk by not Photoshopping their models or by including anything but size zero women, but that’s the fashion marketing landscape. Debenhams is bucking that trend with their newest catalog.

Debenhams CatalogAfter reading the Upworthy piece, I headed over to the Debenhams website to see more photos, but it looks like their online catalog hasn’t quite caught up to the print one yet. I kind of get that: hiring a photographer is expensive, and rephotographing your whole line doesn’t make a lot of sense financially. I hope that as they phase out old products and phase in new ones Debenhams will include more photos like the ones you’re seeing here!

Beyond Debenhams: Our Unrealistic Beauty Expectations

So, why are we so moved when we see photos like these? The problem is that most of the images we see in fashion marketing are drastically altered. I shared a photo last spring of a group of models without Photoshop, and in the year before that I shared this eye-opening video showing how much retouching it takes to make a fashion photo look “perfect.”

It felt relevant enough to share again here:

What do you guys think about the new Debenhams catalog photos?

Written by Becky Striepe

My name is Becky Striepe (rhymes with “sleepy”), and I am a crafts and food writer from Atlanta, Georgia with a passion for making our planet a healthier, happier, and more compassionate place to live. My mission is to make vegan food and crafts accessible to everyone!. If you like my work, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, and .

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