Can't Touch This

It's refreshing to see an article in the media exposing the digital new world of the fashion industry.
When standing in line at the supermarket I tend to remind myself that the faces and bodies on the glossies are not real, and that they are fictional chararcters based on men and women with lines, blemishes, split ends, and scars. Tracy Nesdoly uncovers the real coverup staring at us from the magazine racks and references Khoa Vu's opinion on the matter:

"As beautiful as models are, nothing is perfect. Sure, we're responsible for creating the illusion of perfection, tweaking or creating an angle in a face or removing a few bumps or blemishes and no, whatever the fashion shot, no one ever really looks like that," says Khoa Vu, a Toronto-based retoucher. "The need for this is set by common everyday consumers who would rather buy something advertised with a beautiful model than someone ordinary. There's no way to escape it. Too much money would be lost."

I beg to differ, as many would. Indeed, Chatelaine recently opted for less "egg" in response to reader demand. I always prefer to see 'real' images of models; however I do appreciate art and I appreciate graphic skill of manipulating images, but how do we respond and how should we respond to this art if it is having a negative impact on the way we are able to self identify?