 Airbrushing Controversy Surrounds Gabourey Sidibe Elle Cover 
 
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 Elle magazine is denying accusations that it digitally lightened the skin of Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, who is appearing on one of the October issue's four celebrity covers. The magazine’s 25th-anniversary October issue features 25 women in their 20s who are really goin’ for it! Would people be less upset if Elle had put each of these four women into the same tiny dress and asked “Who’s wearin’ it best?” They constructed the Sidibe cover in a specific way so that she would look her best, and she looks beautiful. So is the lighter skin a result of her makeup or the lighting used on set? Elle clearly couldn’t handle Sidibe’s real skin color, and traded away her actual color for something dramatically lighter. It’s the kind of unflattering and embarrassingly obvious weave that a fashion magazine should be ashamed to put on anyone. Or did somebody get too eager with the Photoshop?Elle reportedly claims "nothing out of the ordinary" was done. It was back in February that there was an outcry that the actress, at the time reveling in the Oscar buzz around 'Precious, had been left off of Vanity Fair's Hollywood cover in what some called 'The White Issue. But unfortunately for us, fashion magazines don’t operate in a vacuum.
– Precious star Gabourey Sidibe is on the new cover of Elle, and her image has set off a tiff in the blogosphere on whether the magazine used digital retouching to "whiten" her. Here's Julianne Hing at ColorLines: "Elle clearly couldn’t handle Sidibe’s real skin color, and traded away her actual color for something dramatically lighter." (See PopEater for comparison photos.) The magazine is also taking criticism for posing her differently than other models (more of a face closeup than a body shot) in an apparent attempt to play down her weight. Elle says this is all crazy: "We have four separate covers this month, and Gabby's cover was not retouched any more or less than the others. ... If you take a look at the portfolio, each of the women were shot in different ways and for different reasons." At Entertainment Weekly, Annie Barrett thinks the criticism is overblown. Elle's explanation on retouching is sound. On the other point, "they constructed the Sidibe cover in a specific way so that she would look her best, and she looks beautiful. Is it really so jarring to see someone heavy on a magazine cover that people need to freak out over how it 'should look' instead? This is how it looks." For other retouching scandals, click here.