Her New Elle Cover Is a Cautionary Tale

I am just as tired of writing about Photoshop scandals as you are of reading about them, but sometimes an image comes along that we just can't ignore. Amanda Seyfried's new Elle UK cover is one of those images. Her face is nearly unrecognizable due to some overzealous contouring.

Seyfried, who is naturally stunning, would look amazing on the cover without a stitch of retouching. Of course, that isn't good enough for Elle, and so she's rocking some serious alien cheekbones and a case of "big-head-little-body." Despite the adorable crop top and awesome studded jacket she's sporting, one can't help but be distracted by her dramatically small chin and, most creepily, her missing belly button. I suspect a case of the heavy-handed photo editor. To quote Seyfried's Karen Smith from Mean Girls, "It's like I have ESPN or something."

But you don't need ESPN or something to tell just how Photoshopped this cover is. We don't want our celebrities and models altered to the point where we can't recognize them. We've said it before and I'm sure we'll say it again: calm down with the Photoshop. When will the fashion industry pay attention? Seyfried was gorgeous to begin with, but now the shape of her face has been thrown off so that she looks like a creature from the set of Prometheus.

Elle UK's photo editors need to take a page from Regina George's book (no, not that book): you can make anything work if you have confidence. Even un-contoured cheekbones.