A photo of Kate Moss taken by celebrity portraitist Sante D'Orazio appeared on the July 19, 1993 cover of Australia's
Who Weekly (bottom -- original in color). The magazine used it to illustrate an article about the super-skinny look being the latest fad in the world of modelling.
Six months later the same photo appeared on the cover of
American Photo. But careful readers might have noticed a few differences. The image was flipped horizontally, reversing left and right. But more significantly, Moss's nipples had disappeared.
American Photo only revealed the deletion in a later issue, in response to a letter to the editor. Its editors stated they had decided to digitally remove Moss's nipples "as a matter of taste." However, a smaller, nippled version of the photo had appeared inside the same issue of the magazine, on the contents page.
Links and References
Hartley, J. (1996). Popular Reality: Journalism, Modernity, Popular Culture. Arnold: pgs 17-20.
