Another 'alien' model from Lauren

Photo / Herald Graphic

Ralph Lauren has become embroiled in a row over a picture apparently airbrushed to make a model look skinnier for the second time in a week.

An image of Russian-born model Valentina Zelyaeva appeared in a shop in Sydney and on the clothing label's Australian website with her waist digitally squeezed to appear impossibly skinny.

It followed a case last week when a photograph of another Ralph Lauren model, Filippa Hamilton, looking so thin that her waist and hips were smaller than her head, appeared in a department store in Tokyo.

The digitally altered picture of Zelyaeva appeared on the fashion house's website alongside one of her that had not been altered that showed her with a noticeably wider waist.

In the altered photograph her shoulders are clearly wider than her hips.

The image was reposted on a website where it sparked bewilderment, with contributors calling it "alien" and "ugly".

- NZ HERALD STAFF