Fashion industry urged to ditch the airbrush used to make celebrities look thinner

But now the British Fashion Council wants magazines and advertisers to kick the airbrush habit.

In a letter, it yesterday called for a voluntary agreement to restrict the use of digitally-enhanced photographs.

The move follows an independent inquiry into the health of catwalk models in London, which found in September that such images could "perpetuate an unachievable aesthetic".

Scroll down for more...

Commentators have long pointed out that airbrushing promotes unrealistic expectations about female - and increasingly, male - bodies.

Perhaps the most infamous example of the airbrusher's art was lingerie manufacturer Ultimo's 2004 advertising campaign. Its star, Rachel Hunter, appeared on billboards and in magazines with a pancake-flat stomach.

In real life, the mother-of-two seemed much more generously rounded.

The adverts gave Miss Hunter - the ex-wife of Rod Stewart - bosoms which even Victoria Beckham might have considered unrealistically pert and spherical.

The Amazonian model's waist, upper arms and hips also appeared to have benefited from a digital nip-and-tuck.

When the real Miss Hunter posed next to her airbrushed alter-ego at the campaign launch, the differences were glaringly obvious.

"The promotional pictures show a toned, almost muscular stomach," an onlooker said at the time.

"In the flesh you could see a much fuller stomach through the slip she was wearing."

Some celebrities have been more upfront about having a little digital help in their publicity photos.

Scroll down for more...

Keira Knightley spoke of her shock at appearing with a bigger bust in the U.S. version of posters for her 2004 film King Arthur. "Those things certainly weren't mine," she told a U.S. magazine.

And Kate Winslet, who was digitally slimmed-down for a GQ photoshoot, said she preferred her natural curves.

The Council has written to the British Society of Magazine Editors, the Periodical Publishers Association and the Advertising Association to get their views on restricting the use of airbrushing.

The letter will inform the recipients about the inquiry panel's calls for a new code of practice and ask them what, if anything, can be done.