Despite their crucial role in the Great 2013 Pubic Hair Resurgence, American Apparel seems to be using the magic of Photoshop to turn its online models into nippleless, pubeless, anatomically incorrect mannequins. Animal New York spotted the manipulations in the site’s lingerie section, where images of models who previously had visible nipples and pubes no longer did.
A new no-nip-or-pubes mandate would be in keeping with CEO Paula Schneider’s attempt to distance the new squeaky-clean (but still edgy!) American Apparel from Dov Charney’s “borderline pornographic” aesthetic — as she discussed in this New York Times interview. Instead, she said, she wants to keep AA edgy by focusing on issues that actually matter to millennials, like immigration reform and gay rights.
But: Last I checked, Free the Nipple was definitely a millennial concern, so there might be room to rethink this strategy.
