Un-Retouched Photos of Madonna for Louis Vuitton Emerge

Madonna is the face of one of the most recent campaigns for Louis Vuitton, which features her in very small outfits and striking her best fierce poses for the cameras. Clearly, the final photos are retouched to make them more cartoonish, but just to what extent they are so has only now emerged, as the “before” pics have made their way online, the Daily Mail says.

The original photos show Madonna just for what she is: a 50+-year-old woman who is in top shape and still looks better than most women of the same age, in part thanks to her special beauty regime and in part due to professional makeup. Still, the woman one can see in the before pictures has almost nothing in common with the one featured in the final ads, which, again, brings to the table the ever-burning question of the kind of liberties should advertisers take when presenting a model to the general public.

“That heavily-airbrushed Louis Vuitton advertising campaign made her look 20 years younger. But as the natural image shows, Madonna can still cut a striking – if far less polished – figure without the aid of photo trickery. Although the smooth, sleek look of the advertising shots is gone, the 51-year-old’s more natural, virtually wrinkle-free glow will be the envy of many women her age. The image comes from the same shoot as the £7million campaign and was published by a New York fashion blog,” the Mail writes.

“But Madonna’s look has not come cheap. The singer has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds trying to stave off the years, enduring a strict diet free of fat and a grueling exercise regime. Add an on-off Brazilian model lover Jesus Luz, who is just 23, and she has even more reason to stay in shape. However, some have criticized her for wearing outfits more suitable for a teenager, and she continues to live a hectic social life, dancing until the early hours in London nightclub Aura just two weeks ago,” the same tab goes on to say.

For looking this good at her age (with or without the help of plastic surgery), Madonna can’t but be envied. For retouching her within an inch of her life, the Louis Vuitton people should be ashamed at the very least, some say. Below are two more shots from the same campaign, including a final ad. You be the judge.