Beyonce refused to approve retouched versions of photos for her H&M campaign. Credit: H&M
”Many models are too skinny,” H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson told Metro in an interview last week. But his admission doesn’t seem to matter – according to news reports, H&M retouched the photos featuring her in the clothing chain’s summer campaign.
Beyonce seems unable to escape the discussions surrounding her body. Her current world tour has been praised by critics and the audience, but the big topic right now is instead H&M’s efforts to retouch the photos of her in its current campaign. “When Beyonce discovered that they’d retouched the way her body looks like, she hit the roof,” a source tells The Sun. “Her people refused to give the pictures the green light, so H&M were forced to use the originals.”
In an exclusive interview with Metro, Persson admitted that the clothing chain has had problems with models’ efforts to be as skinny as possible. “We have a huge responsibility here,” he said. We’re a large company, many people see us, and we advertise a lot. I don’t think we’ve always been good. Many models are too skinny or obviously underweight, but there are also those who’re just slim, and they’re the ones we’ll keep working with, provided that they look sound and healthy.”
But Beyonce – who’s world-famous for her music, but also for her curves – apparently didn’t look sound and healthy enough. H&M spokeswoman Camilla Eriksson Falk tells Metro that Beyonce was the chain’s top choice for this year’s summer campaign. “Since the very beginning, our goal has been to show Beyonce as the incredibly strong and beautiful woman she is,” she says. “It has been a close and good collaboration. Both parties are pleased with the pictures that we’ve approved together with Beyonce and her team.”
